Are Smurfs named after their predominant characteristic emerges? If so, what if they exhibit a characteristic that has already been applied to an existing Smurf? If their inherent manners are indeed redundant, is the new Smurf then slain to preserve order within the community? Or do they just break out the thesaurus?
Or are they christened with a pre-determined designation and are therefore destined to exhibit those characteristics? And are those characteristics are truly written into the Smurf’s SNA, or is the individual Smurf law-bound to exhibit those characteristics whether or not that behavior truly represents the type of Smurf they are?
If indeed, the appellation does indeed instill a particular behavior into a Smurf’s character, it calls into question the ethics of christening a new Smurf “Grouchy,” “Greedy,” “Scaredy,” “Sloppy,” “Dopey,” “Weakling” or “Stinky.” Examples.
Further consideration suggests that neither of these seem to necessarily be the case as some Smurfs’ behaviors are at odds with their labels: Take Jokey Smurf. His explosive-gift gag isn’t a particularly good joke in the first place and his obsessive adherence to the M.O. and maniacal glee upon delivery of his “joke” call into question that these are even meant to be jokes in the first place. Upon objective evaluation, one would imagine “Crazy Smurf,” “Antosocial Smurf,” “Histronic Smurf” or even possibly “Terrorist Smurf” to be more appropriate to his conduct. Brainy Smurf is likewise at odds with his name. One would expect him to be learned, insightful, and erudite. Wheras in practice he is little more than a sycophantic pain in the ass.