Request: Limiting the number of blatant Game of Thrones references in future?

[Serilda]

A book or TV series using a commonplace term or phrase does not make other uses of that phrase a reference to it.

No; it's not the general English phrase "a little bird told me", it's numerous references (by different characters in FFXIV) to "my little birds", in this case specifically referring to a spymaster's hidden network of trusted informants. Obviously the root is identical, but in the context of all of the other references it's difficult for me to read it and not imagine the characters who say it in the series. I mean, few of the words in ASoIaF are completely made-up. It's the popularisation of certain obscure lines and references which are being relentlessly plumbed by the writers here, and I personally think it would be nice if things were dialled back just a little.

As I said in my first post, if they varied the references more (i.e. using a broader mixture of fantasy series as inspiration) it wouldn't be so jarring.

[Daralii]

No; it's not the general English phrase "a little bird told me", it's numerous references (by different characters in FFXIV) to "my little birds", in this case specifically referring to a spymaster's hidden network of trusted informants. Obviously the root is identical, but in the context of all of the other references it's difficult for me to read it and not imagine the characters who say it in the series. I mean, few of the words in ASoIaF are completely made-up. It's the popularisation of certain obscure lines and references which are being relentlessly plumbed by the writers here, and I personally think it would be nice if things were dialled back just a little.

As I said in my first post, if they varied the references more (i.e. using a broader mixture of fantasy series as inspiration) it wouldn't be so jarring.

How does a spy having a network of carrier birds have to be a SoIF reference in regions based on Edo-era Japan and Turkey?