既然Applejack这个词有苹果白兰地的意思，那么用它来做卡通角色的名字真的合适吗？

原标题：Why is AppleJack (pony) named after an alcoholic beverage? I think it’s inappropriate for a cartoon. Why did you make a nice pony have an inappropriate name?

Skye Rathke在Quora的回答：

说实话，作为一名24岁的四有青年，这还是我第一次知道applejack还有苹果白兰地的意思，所以我不认为看这部动画片的小朋友会知道，除非他们的父母就是饮君子，不过那就是另外一个故事了。

照我看来，我会更倾向于吧applejack这个单词理解为那个谷物早餐，就是那个红红的（或者说橘黄的？）和绿绿的小圆粒、尝着像苹果、主要卖给小孩子的那个，我认为孩子们也会更倾向于联想到这个谷物早餐，而不是你所说的白兰地。

作者提到的AppleJack谷物早餐

其实，我认为官方以Applejack来起名，不是因为什么谷物早餐或者白兰地。苹果是一种常见的水果，而杰克是一个常见的名字，或者一种常见的东西（*jack也有千斤顶的意思），几乎苹果家族所有成员的名字都或多或少与苹果（或其他水果）有关联，比如Granny Smith（*青苹果）、Apple Bloom（*苹果花）、Big Mcintosh（*麦金托什苹果）……就算这里的Applejack真的是指苹果白兰地，那也是在部分人看来不妥，因为白兰地本身又不包含什么负面的意义。如果官方给这匹橘黄色的小马安排了个酒的名字，还让她一天到晚迷迷糊糊的净干错事，那才是真正的不妥。

回答原文：

Well… I’ll be honest until I read this post I didn’t know an ‘apple jack’ was an alcoholic beverage. Being that I’m 24, I’m going to imagine most children who watch the show don’t know either – unless it’s their parent’s favorite drink. But that is a whole other story, and really up to that parent, not you.
When I think of applejack I think of the cereal. You know, AppleJacks? Marketed for kids? orange/red and green round bits that taste, you know, kinda like apples? I bet most kids do too – it’s a lot more widely advertised than this drink you’re talking about.
Chances are they didn’t actually name it after the alcohol or the cereal. Apple is a common fruit and jack is, well, a name, and an object. All of her family members have apple (as in the fruit) related names (Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, Big Mcintosh…). Even if they *did* name her after the alcoholic beverage, I must say that ‘inappropriate’ is in the eye of the beholder, and it’s a pretty innocent name, frankly.
Now if they had this character that drank and acted “silly” (drunk) all the time, that would be inappropriate.

相关链接：

• 既然applejack这个词有苹果白兰地的意思，那么用它来做卡通角色的名字真的合适吗？ ——Skye Rathke的回答
• Skye Rathke的Quora主页
• 头图来源