by Alucard_FoN » Tue Oct 22, 2002 6:20 pm
car·toon Pronunciation Key (kär-tn)
n.
1.) A drawing depicting a humorous situation, often accompanied by a caption.
2.) A drawing representing current public figures or issues symbolically and often satirically: a political cartoon.
3.) A preliminary sketch similar in size to the work, such as a fresco, that is to be copied from it.
4.) An animated cartoon.
5.) A comic strip.
6.) A ridiculously oversimplified or stereotypical representation: criticized the actor's portrayal of Jefferson as a historically inaccurate cartoon.
These are the definitions given by dictionary.com. The first one refers only to comedy, but since we are talking about animated shows in general, we need not concern ourselves with it. THe second one also is irrelevant to the discussion. Same with the third, it doesn't even refer to TV shows. The fourth definition supports my argument, saying that anything animated is a cartoon. The fifth doesn't refer to TV shows. THe sixth one also doesn't mean anything to this discussion.
In short, every animated TV show or movie or whatever is a cartoon. The way the word is used, the word cartoon is synonamous with the words animated entertainment media. Therefore, animes are cartoons, but cartoons are not necessarily anime. Anime is a sub genre of the genre cartoons/animation.