"Ohhhhhhh! Down....?!"

God, I still remember listening to this podcast and I was laughing so hard. Not at Jeff for not knowing, but the stark realization of it.

"Down" isn't a common enough word for it to be immediately recognizable as a tuft of bird plumage.

Also, what the hell is a "Buster" Sword? A Turbo Ether? Atomic Scissors? Materia? A Soft? FFVII is filled with things that don't make sense or at least are strange uses of terms we don't normally come across. Phoenix Down, as it turns out, is one of the more straight-forward uses of language in the entire series. That's probably why most people don't notice.

@bernard_bernoulli: This has been a common word for the US since probably the early 70's. Buying a pillow, a comforter, any fluffy bed clothes - what down is it and later is it synthethic.

Yeah, 'down pillows' were just 'pillows' around my parts. Down comforters? Comforters. 'Down comforter' I might've heard at my grandmother's or something, but never with the context of "IT'S CALLED THIS BECAUSE IT HAS FEATHERS IN IT." Basically, I wasn't ever told or taught that 'down' could have that meaning until I eventually absorbed the knowledge somewhere in my teen years.

And I'm still not even sure how that happened. It just never comes up!

It's mostly all "synthethic." It was probably a common word in the area you lived when you were growing up. Not so most places.

Ohhhh... Damn what a beautiful thread.