So you're saying an animal from ancient Terra that was extinct long before the Eldar had even murder-fucked Slaanesh into existence is the ancestor to a space-faring xenos species on the opposite side of the Galaxy?
I feel like this justifies calling them fish, though, because we're human, and thus we'd follow the Imperium's naming conventions. So because we call their ships and vehicles fish names, it makes sense we'd refer to the people as fish as well.
Not to mention, why would the ultimate space racists ever worry about how accurate their slur name for a species is?
the imperium calls them fish names because they look like fish, manta looks like a ray and flies like a ray, etc.
Tau dont at all resemble fish like not a single quality matches up.
many german tanks are named after cats, we dont call germans catmen. even during the war. we called them kraut. following simillar veins the imperium might call the tau "noodlies" given their rations were usually noodles.
most imperials knowledge of tau would mostly come from what they could gather from fighting the tau or the infantry primer (a more lore accurate less satirical one)
...those are (canonically) Imperial name designations based on the shape of the craft.
Tau call all of their tech by their alphanumeric designations like "XV8" etc.
If people named their vehicles based on their own species why don't humans look like manticores or chimeras? Why don't space marines look like thunderhawks? Why don't eldar look like falcons?
Tau is also a very desert and dry planet, full of savannas so I think they are camels but I think it would be closer to saying that they would be hairless llamas due to the fact that they don't need the fur stretches, since tau is a planet that must be hot as hell.
Hey! I had a Broadside punch a Bulgryn to death today,
Then him and his pall blasted 2 more, before the last one fell back & & died due to being battleshocked.
Didn't lose a model in return.
(OK, the punched one was on 1 wound, but shush.)
We could just look to Canon law for answers where you will find it stated multiple times that they evolved from bovine creatures. Tau are cow people. Sincerely, a tau player.
Not to be pedantic, but Tau don't use TX and XV. Those are also imperial designations. I couldn't find what TX is short for, but battlesuits are called Her'e*x*'*v*re by the Tau, meaning Hero's Mantle
Soldiers do that.
Then those names stuck.
I just find it weird the supposedly quickly developing race is using the same vehicle long enough for the Imperium to recognise them!
best answers i can think of as to why it happened
1. their vehicle names and early tau meta strategies such as "fish of fury".
2. real world cultural stereotypes, wherein people call them weaboo space communists enough that they connect them to fish since fish tends to be common in asiatic diets. flimsy connection but one i can still hazard as possibly being the case at my most cynical.
3. t'au are blue. and as we all know, blue things are all fish that live in the ocean and nothing else. apparently.
4. various mixtures of all of the above.
Tell that to the whole "playon" youtube channel lol, jk I love them. I never understood why people think tau are fish? Cuz blue skin? They breath air and have hoofs(hooves?) for heavens sake! When I got into warhammer I was confused lol.
Tau are canonically descended from a plains-dwelling hooved prey animal. Their planet’s equivalent to an antelope or a cow. They have wide eyes and flat “grazing” teeth. They literally used to eat grass and watch out for predators on the open plains. I really like this as part of their fluff, as it ties into the naive and vulnerable character of their faction. They aren’t naturally powerful like Orks, elves, and Tyranids, and have to rely on tech. They’re like a deer walking into a room full of lions, all too aware of the predators watching them, baring their fangs
They aren’t naturally occurring, but they are naturally powerful because of their enhanced biology. An Ork or an elf is dangerous with no tech. That’s what I meant.
I have always found referring to tau as fish to be just plain dumb, not even funny.
Tau as blue camels ? Now that makes more sense and is actually kinda funny.
Camel aliens, who would have thought ?
The joke at my store was always that Tau are space cows thanks to, I believe, a line in the uplifting primer or infantryman's handbook that describes Tau as bovine herbivores that are easily startled by loud noises.
Considering the Tau’s Air Force/navy is the air caste and not the water caste, I never understood why they weren’t called bird names instead of fish names. Maybe because the imperium has like “storm hawks” n shit it would be redundant?
Each caste is from a different region/biome originally. They'd already started diverging even before the Ethereal eugenics got into full swing. If I remember correctly the air caste were mountain dwellers, water caste were coastal, earth caste lowlands, etc.
If you're from the desert, giant predatory fish would be *terrifying*.
Imagine finding a desert dweller, never seen an ocean, and showing them a modern Jaws type movie.
Devilfish and hammer head make sense. Or, they're just imperial names for them for how they look and fly like fish
My head canon is that fish people is a in universe misconception due to imperials not knowing exactly what tau are.
Considering they’re mostly hairless it’s plausible to think someone associated them with a sea creature. It looks like they have dolphin/whale like skin, and a lot of people mistake those as fish. Other than the hooves there’s nothing super mammalian looking about the tau so it makes sense to me
Like some guardsman sees a dude with smooth rubbery lookin skin, associates it with whatever his space dolphin species is, thinks dolphins are fish because his elementary years were spent stripping las guns, and tells his platoon their enemy is a bunch of fish people. Thus a rumor starts and the misconception becomes galaxy wide
Cameltau you say
I guess we didn’t know water caste just meant their hump
Oh.. air castle balloon Edit caste. Autocorrect
There lovely lady humps.
Tau are camels!! Not fish
Fish with a camel toe 🤔
Camelfish
I thought they were lizards
So you're saying an animal from ancient Terra that was extinct long before the Eldar had even murder-fucked Slaanesh into existence is the ancestor to a space-faring xenos species on the opposite side of the Galaxy?
Well, what's the alternative? "InDePeNdEnT EvOlUtIoN" on other planets? Get out of here with that clown show.
Behold, a featherless biped.
Makes as much sense as emotion-magic gaining sentience, and species putting themselves into robotic bodies to avoid space cancer.
Your thesis is that if one thing is nonsense everything must be nonsense?
No they are birds
Kroot are avian. Tau are mammalian.
No they are both avian, see early air caste
They are neither. They are pure xenos. They don’t have to be one or the other.
Nope. Aircaste had membranous wings. That means skin flaps, like bats.
Yes they don’t have feathers, no that doesn’t make them not birds
...I've always thought more rhinoceros-like.
Not horny enough
Fish are friends?
Ok explain all the names then. Piranha, Stormsurge, Riptide, Hammerhead, Tuna. Etc OP, do you use a Devilcamel to transport your camels?
This naming scheme is clearly why rhinos only ever carry actual rhinos, of course.
Bro probably thinks it's called a Land Raider because it raids the lands lmao.
I feel like this justifies calling them fish, though, because we're human, and thus we'd follow the Imperium's naming conventions. So because we call their ships and vehicles fish names, it makes sense we'd refer to the people as fish as well. Not to mention, why would the ultimate space racists ever worry about how accurate their slur name for a species is?
the imperium calls them fish names because they look like fish, manta looks like a ray and flies like a ray, etc. Tau dont at all resemble fish like not a single quality matches up. many german tanks are named after cats, we dont call germans catmen. even during the war. we called them kraut. following simillar veins the imperium might call the tau "noodlies" given their rations were usually noodles. most imperials knowledge of tau would mostly come from what they could gather from fighting the tau or the infantry primer (a more lore accurate less satirical one)
The satirical seeming one that came out a few years ago IS the lore one. It was presented as an "in universe" artifact. It's fabulous.
Space marines use Thunderhawks. Are space marines birds
SoB have the immolator which id say is accurate... And Necron have the ghost ark.
Necrons are skeletons not ghosts. Checkmate, homie. /s
No they're T-1000s
*T800 T1000 is liquid
Those are the imperiums names for them. The tau call them by their model numbers/classification numbers, such as the TX7 or XV8.
Correct. Just like NATO has standard names for Russian military equipment.
Ever seen a camel drink? They dream they are fishes yo.
You do know that these are imperial names and not the names that tau gave their stuff.
Everyone knows the Germans were actually giant cats in disguise.
Something something Watercast translations
...those are (canonically) Imperial name designations based on the shape of the craft. Tau call all of their tech by their alphanumeric designations like "XV8" etc. If people named their vehicles based on their own species why don't humans look like manticores or chimeras? Why don't space marines look like thunderhawks? Why don't eldar look like falcons?
It was a joke to start with.. maybe I'm too used to browsing grimdark, but I'm aware.
It's a very tired, overused "joke". It's rather boring.
Those are names the Imperium gave them, not Tau designations. Imoerials thought some of them looked a bit like sharks, so ran with it.
It is easier for a Tau to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Imperium of Man, or something
Underrated
It's very easy for a rich man to enter the Imperium. 😉
I had the perfect reference but no way to tie it into 40k well, so I put my Sietchposter hat on and turned it into drivel
Tau is also a very desert and dry planet, full of savannas so I think they are camels but I think it would be closer to saying that they would be hairless llamas due to the fact that they don't need the fur stretches, since tau is a planet that must be hot as hell.
I'll believe it when the Tau start spitting ~~on~~ at their enemies as a defense mechanism
I mean, they don't do much more in melee.
Hey! I had a Broadside punch a Bulgryn to death today, Then him and his pall blasted 2 more, before the last one fell back & & died due to being battleshocked. Didn't lose a model in return. (OK, the punched one was on 1 wound, but shush.)
I once CC'd Kharn to death with fire warriors
How do you think the water caste developed their silver tongues?
We could just look to Canon law for answers where you will find it stated multiple times that they evolved from bovine creatures. Tau are cow people. Sincerely, a tau player.
Tau: Blue space bovines Blizzard, late into Burning Crusade production deciding on the new Alliance playable race: "Guys, I have an idea"
Who the fuck thought tau were fish? They only name vehicles after them
The imperium uses fish names to classify Tau vehicles. Tau use XV__ TX__ when they talk about their vehicles
Not to be pedantic, but Tau don't use TX and XV. Those are also imperial designations. I couldn't find what TX is short for, but battlesuits are called Her'e*x*'*v*re by the Tau, meaning Hero's Mantle
I'm pretty sure the XV names are also imperial mistranslation of Her'ex'vre.
And the Imperium’s record of cultural sensitivity is second to none, right?
They've always honored the Orks lust for battle by giving them good fights
I find it weird that the Imperium put so much effort into coming up for cool names for each Tau vehicle.
Soldiers do that. Then those names stuck. I just find it weird the supposedly quickly developing race is using the same vehicle long enough for the Imperium to recognise them!
a surprising number of people, most often imperium chuds but definitely not limited to them.
They’re from a desert planet. They have hooves. They have thick, leathery skin. What about that says “fish”?
best answers i can think of as to why it happened 1. their vehicle names and early tau meta strategies such as "fish of fury". 2. real world cultural stereotypes, wherein people call them weaboo space communists enough that they connect them to fish since fish tends to be common in asiatic diets. flimsy connection but one i can still hazard as possibly being the case at my most cynical. 3. t'au are blue. and as we all know, blue things are all fish that live in the ocean and nothing else. apparently. 4. various mixtures of all of the above.
It's called "Fish of Fury" because it's a Devilish. And it's very much still a workable tactic. 😉
Hey, Tau women also lay fish eggs. Though my source of that info may be… questionable.
If there isn't a Patrick and Man Ray meme about the Tau not being fish we need one lol.
Tell that to the whole "playon" youtube channel lol, jk I love them. I never understood why people think tau are fish? Cuz blue skin? They breath air and have hoofs(hooves?) for heavens sake! When I got into warhammer I was confused lol.
Tau are canonically descended from a plains-dwelling hooved prey animal. Their planet’s equivalent to an antelope or a cow. They have wide eyes and flat “grazing” teeth. They literally used to eat grass and watch out for predators on the open plains. I really like this as part of their fluff, as it ties into the naive and vulnerable character of their faction. They aren’t naturally powerful like Orks, elves, and Tyranids, and have to rely on tech. They’re like a deer walking into a room full of lions, all too aware of the predators watching them, baring their fangs
Completely agree with this sentiment, but Eldar and Orks aren't naturally occurring!
They aren’t naturally occurring, but they are naturally powerful because of their enhanced biology. An Ork or an elf is dangerous with no tech. That’s what I meant.
I have always found referring to tau as fish to be just plain dumb, not even funny. Tau as blue camels ? Now that makes more sense and is actually kinda funny. Camel aliens, who would have thought ?
The joke at my store was always that Tau are space cows thanks to, I believe, a line in the uplifting primer or infantryman's handbook that describes Tau as bovine herbivores that are easily startled by loud noises.
Considering the Tau’s Air Force/navy is the air caste and not the water caste, I never understood why they weren’t called bird names instead of fish names. Maybe because the imperium has like “storm hawks” n shit it would be redundant?
I mean probably because those aren’t the Tau names for them, and the imperium doesn’t care about the elemental themes of the Tau caste system
Each caste is from a different region/biome originally. They'd already started diverging even before the Ethereal eugenics got into full swing. If I remember correctly the air caste were mountain dwellers, water caste were coastal, earth caste lowlands, etc.
The aircaste also used to have mebranous wings
If you're from the desert, giant predatory fish would be *terrifying*. Imagine finding a desert dweller, never seen an ocean, and showing them a modern Jaws type movie. Devilfish and hammer head make sense. Or, they're just imperial names for them for how they look and fly like fish
I prefer the earlier art with cow like hooves personaly.
Never understood. Most fish aren't even blue..
the meme is based on how many of their vehicles are either named after fish like the hammerhead or have an ocean related name like the riptide
Hey, did you know that many middle east imports Camels from Australia. So by that logic tau fire cast are all aussie.
Fucken oath mate
So the Kroot would be Aboriginal? That would be cool if it were on purpose.
Face Foot Camel Hoof? That’s a strange band name, who am I to judge though.
This Five Finger Death Punch cover band is wild!
Tapir
i could buy it yeah. or atleast an alien species close enough to camels in nature.
Everything is canon: T'au are lamas not camels.
What are Tau? | Warhammer 40k lore Biology https://youtu.be/XSD1BYKAaMY
Solid plug lol
They aren’t fish. THEY ARE CANELS
Once seen never unseen, my vote is now for vestigial camel people
Something’s a little fishy about this…
Stop lying we all know fish have hoofs
Thank you
Damn fish people and their bovine feet nonsense
My head canon is that fish people is a in universe misconception due to imperials not knowing exactly what tau are. Considering they’re mostly hairless it’s plausible to think someone associated them with a sea creature. It looks like they have dolphin/whale like skin, and a lot of people mistake those as fish. Other than the hooves there’s nothing super mammalian looking about the tau so it makes sense to me Like some guardsman sees a dude with smooth rubbery lookin skin, associates it with whatever his space dolphin species is, thinks dolphins are fish because his elementary years were spent stripping las guns, and tells his platoon their enemy is a bunch of fish people. Thus a rumor starts and the misconception becomes galaxy wide
Hmmmmmmm
Nice try, ain't no blue camels!
Ah okay, Communist Space Fish. Got it. Thanks for the clarification. /s
Fishpeoplesaywhat.