[pferde]

The connection is that Mastodon is just one of the "applications" built on top of ActivityPub protocol. Others are Pixelfed, Pleroma, Peertube, Writefreely, and several more.

Being based on the same protocol, they are all to some extent interoperable - e.g. you can follow Pixelfed users from your Mastodon account.

"Fediverse" is the umbrella term for all of these applications working together. It is a portmanteau for "federated" and "universe". The "federal police" association is unfortunate, but it is something USA only - rest of the world doesn't really see this.

[Barrin92]

>but it is something USA only

The US holds no monopoly on the concept of a federation. Germany (Föderale Bundesrepublik) is one too, so is India or Russia.

It's the first time I hear someone take offense with the name. I think it's nice honestly, captures the essence of the network well.

[malermeister]

It doesn't hold a monopoly on the concept of a federation, but it does (as far as I know) hold a monopoly on the association of "fed" = (federal) police in people's minds.

[pmyteh]

Intriguingly, "fed" is British youth slang for the police despite Britain not being a federal state and there being very few national police. A US cultural import, presumably.