Zombies, anyone?

[REBerg]

Maybe this topic has been discussed in these forums, but why doesn't anyone on The Walking Dead call theses resurrected corpses zombies?

Even if none of the survivors have knowledge of Haitian voodoo folklore, surely many must be familiar with 1978's Dawn of the Dead or the many reincarnations of these mindless shufflers that have since appeared. Somebody should be calling them zombies.

Here's a rundown of the other names the zombies have acquired in the series.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/62572/13-ways-saying-zombie-walking-dead

 

[Judderman]

It's as if Zombie folklore or cinema never existed in their version of earth. Maybe Robert Kirkman didn't want the story to be too closely associated to the likes of the Dawn of The Dead, despite the similarities. Undead is another term you may expect to be used, but isn't.

 

[REBerg]

Well, considering that the spin-off is set in LA, "zombies" will be a mandatory label.
Cliff Clavin-type sidenote: even Romero originally called his Living Dead "ghouls."

 

[Gnrevolution]

Ed: Any zombies out there?
Shaun: Don't say that!
Ed: What?
Shaun: That!
Ed: What?
Shaun: That!! The "z" word. Don't say it!
Ed: Why not?
Shaun: Because it's ridiculous!

 

[REBerg]

Ed: Any zombies out there?
Shaun: Don't say that!
Ed: What?
Shaun: That!
Ed: What?
Shaun: That!! The "z" word. Don't say it!
Ed: Why not?
Shaun: Because it's ridiculous!

That explains it!

 

[galanx]

Yeah, in the TWD world, Romero never made "Night of the Living Dead" so the word zombies would only apply to hypnotized voodoo victims- somebody may make the connection somewhere.

In Chinese for example, the term for zombie is zhangsi, but it refers to a green-faced resurrected ghost that hops with its arms extended in front, sucks blood, can be evaded by holding your breath, and paralysed by sticking a Buddhist sutra on its forehead.

 

[REBerg]

In Chinese for example, the term for zombie is zhangsi, but it refers to a green-faced resurrected ghost that hops with its arms extended in front, sucks blood, can be evaded by holding your breath, and paralysed by sticking a Buddhist sutra on its forehead.

​

I'd like to see Rick do that, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[Dave]

ctg will know better than me, but it is deliberate. Kirkman has been quoted in an interview that "Night of the Living Dead" was never made in the TWD universe. Obviously, they want no comparisons made between "walkers" and your traditional zombies, however, as REBerg and others point out, zombies are traditional folklore all over the world in various guises, including the Jewish Golem. It is a much stranger universe where nobody has heard of zombies than simply one where a film was never made.

 

[ctg]

Romero's zombies and his zombie worlds has nothing to do with TWD. He finally got his own show, where he's an executive producer, so tune in whenever that comes available.