There is a video game coming out sometime this year (2008) that will enable parkour moves in a first person perspective. Called "Mirrors Edge", it looks to be very cool.
I have a large collection of computer games that I play regularly, (the PC variety not the shiny expensive console variety) but there has always been a certain aspect of "gaming" that has bothered me.
Dictionary.com describes a game as 1."An amusement or pastime". or 2. "A competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators".
In computer games it is an accepted practice that when you get "stuck" you can cheat your way out of your situation if you know the proper arcane commands. Game developers build cheat codes into the game to give it's players the ability to "play God", for example, and take no damage, such as from a hail of bullets that would otherwise call up the "you have died" screen.
If I define a PC game as in the second definition above (because they do have rules and involve skill) and take away the elements of skill and chance by cheating, am I still playing a "game"? What do you call a game that is not a game?
This is the word I love to hate. It has gone from meaning a female dog to a vulgar reference to a angry woman to a mainstream reference for an upwardly-moble woman. Lately I heard it used as a non-gender reference for someone who does general tasks ("He is the office bitch.") Altho I personally wouldn't use it, "Bitch" is a truly amazing example of the organic ability of language to change in context over time.
Laudanum is opium and was once used as a pain reliever before people realized it was addictive. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was taking this when he went into a reverie and wrote "Kubla Kahn", one of the great poems of the late 17th century.
I am a long-time bike nut. Recumbent bikes put your feet in a forward position as you lie semi-prone on it. Uses some different muccles than an upright bike. They are best for flat roads and fast downhills, but climb like dogs.
Ahhh Superheros! Few genres are better suited to studying archetypes. Take Bruce Wayne... This guy has issues up the wazoo. He fights crime, but only as a panacea to escape the pain of his parent's death. The best deconstruction of the superhero mythos I've read (aside from "Watchmen") is Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns". This graphic novel has Bruce going head to head with his old nemesis Clark Kent; still regarded as the classic hero despite attempts to "flaw" his character in recent years.
All archetypes have their roots in antiquity, but for the *most part* the anti-hero is a product of post-modernism. The anti-hero struggles with personal demons, wanting to do right but cannot rise above his faults. Holden Caulfield, Travis Bickle, Batman, Han Solo and many Clint Eastwood characters are modern anti-heros.
Happy 30th birthday STAR WARS! I left the theatre feeling that my fundamental outlook towards movies had changed... Gone was the squeaky-clean future of Star Trek. SW opened my mind to new and exciting vistas of the imagination!
I’m not sure I would call feminist semiotics “frightening revisionism�?. It is one of many well-established theories on language as a cultural phenomenon. I highly suggest a great book that explains semiotics in an easy to read format. It was written by one of my former profs. “The Signs of Our Time�?, by Jack Solomon (Harper and Row). It was written in the 80’s and his examples seem a bit dated now, but the principles are easily applied to modern situations. Have a great Memorial weekend!
The only feminists that want superiority over men are the Amazon archetypes you see in books, movies and TV. (I hate to bad-mouth comic books, but...)
Semioticans are scientists who follow established standards within the scientific community. Some of them are involved with research from a feminist perspective. They are scientists, that's all.
I am making observations and drawing conclusions on the use of language as it pertains to cultural, social and political influence. What's the point of "shunning" one language mode over another?
Sounds like you had a bad experience with a feminist... or perhaps your religious upbringing colors your perspective? In any case, I enjoy discussing language with you!
Uselessness... your use of "radical" to preface the word "feminist" has got my attention. Many acute language scholars (for example)would identify themselves as feminist but not "radical". They don't even have to be female (I'm not).
There are plenty of examples in the lexicon to indicate that language is biased towards the male. If that observation makes me sexist, so be it, but isn't that redundant?
A fundamental change in approach or assumptions. Acceptance by a majority of a changed belief, attitude, or way of doing things.
Ok so it's 2 words... but this is one of those examples that bring to mind the old song... "but this is tell 'ya brother, you can't have one without the other".
Uselessness, I appreciate your comments. As far as judging patriarchal language use as good or bad, I am an impartial student of language. I feel it’s umm… useless to make value judgments on language conventions that were being established before we went bipedal. Sorry if I gave you that impression!
I am leaning toward the belief that no language is truly gender-neutral. An infant learns the “language�? of the mother first and then the dominant father’s language.
According to what I have been reading and studying on this subject, semioticans posit that a “mother tongue�? would consist non-symbolic and a-logical soothing sounds and touches such as hums, croons, and caresses. A “mother word�? might consist of a combination of sounds and touches. Patriarchal language classifies and concerns itself with order and recording events. Matriarchal language is based on feeling and does not classify or record. These non-words are passed on to the nursing infant but are lost as the child grows and absorbs the dominant patriarchal language.
Of course, attempts to gloss such a female-centric language is problematic; you can’t classify a language that wasn’t meant to be ordered. Doing so would bring it under control of the patriarchal language. This is similar to American Sign Language, a purely visual language, which looses it’s meaning when you try to gloss it, (record it by writing it down).
You say you wonder if such a language would be practical. Regardless of whether a mother tongue is a true language or not, it is absolutely essential to the cognitive (including language) development of the infant. Research shows that babies deprived of this important sensory input suffer severe delays in developing cognitive growth (ex.Deaf children of hearing parents). In other words, without the mother tongue hard-wiring our brains at infancy, there ain’t no language. And we all wouldn’t be wasting time trying to impress each other by creating new words here on wordie.
Thanks for playing the Devil's Advocate, uselessness. It helps to clarify my muddled thinking! I'm really interested in word meanings that change over time; "guy" refers to a male but "guys" seems gender-neutral. It got me to thinking about my teachers comment. Can any word be truly gender-neutral?
We had discussed semiotics is the science of interpreting signs and their codes (words) from a social and cultural perspective. A feminist branch of semiotics posits that all languages are patriarchal. Language springs from the male libido which names and classifies all things in order to bring them under conceptual control. Women have their own non-symbolic language which they pass on to their children. Unfortunately the knowledge of this language is lost to the infant who gradually learns the dominant symbolic language of the father.
It's an interesting idea, and I'm not sure I'm fully in agreement, but it is certainly food for thought.
According to feminist semioticans, "guys" can't be gender-neutral either. Oh well...
I think what my teacher meant was that writers, consciously or not, will use gender specific language to describe people or events. The recording of history has been particularly susceptible to bias (his-story).
I think the plural "guys" is an example of a word that is becoming gender-neutral. Have you watched "Friends" on TV? characters of both sexes refer to the group as "guys", even when they are talking about women.
In a feminist literature class I once took, I was told that in the broadest sense, there are no words that are not gender-specific. I see this word on TV referring to both sexes. Is this an exception that proves the rule?
Comments by samoritan
samoritan commented on the word Stonk
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sto3.htm
April 29, 2010
samoritan commented on the word frak
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/02/tv.what.the.frak.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
September 3, 2008
samoritan commented on the word fab
...also shorthand for "fabricate"
April 23, 2008
samoritan commented on the word dudgeons and dragons
There's always a spell available to keep your sword in one piece if you have a good wizard in your party.
April 19, 2008
samoritan commented on the word squidney poitier
Guess what's coming to dinner?
March 16, 2008
samoritan commented on the word squidney poitier
Guess who's coming to dinner?
March 16, 2008
samoritan commented on the word krakenstein
A kraken is a giant squid.
March 16, 2008
samoritan commented on the word squidware
Squindows, for example...
March 15, 2008
samoritan commented on the word squid quid
I was in a social club (?) in high school called the Squid Squad. This was our official currency.
March 15, 2008
samoritan commented on the word game
There is also "Ender's Game", a much-lauded science fiction novel by Orson Scott Card.
March 7, 2008
samoritan commented on the word parkour
There is a video game coming out sometime this year (2008) that will enable parkour moves in a first person perspective. Called "Mirrors Edge", it looks to be very cool.
March 4, 2008
samoritan commented on the list public-list-a-horse-is-a-horse
Asprasil was a racehorse in a Wonderful World of Disney special I recall.
February 2, 2008
samoritan commented on the word game
I have a large collection of computer games that I play regularly, (the PC variety not the shiny expensive console variety) but there has always been a certain aspect of "gaming" that has bothered me.
Dictionary.com describes a game as 1."An amusement or pastime". or 2. "A competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators".
In computer games it is an accepted practice that when you get "stuck" you can cheat your way out of your situation if you know the proper arcane commands. Game developers build cheat codes into the game to give it's players the ability to "play God", for example, and take no damage, such as from a hail of bullets that would otherwise call up the "you have died" screen.
If I define a PC game as in the second definition above (because they do have rules and involve skill) and take away the elements of skill and chance by cheating, am I still playing a "game"? What do you call a game that is not a game?
January 5, 2008
samoritan commented on the word merry christmas
Season's Greetings to all!
December 23, 2007
samoritan commented on the word bends
Bend it like Beckham...
December 21, 2007
samoritan commented on the word bitch
This is the word I love to hate. It has gone from meaning a female dog to a vulgar reference to a angry woman to a mainstream reference for an upwardly-moble woman. Lately I heard it used as a non-gender reference for someone who does general tasks ("He is the office bitch.") Altho I personally wouldn't use it, "Bitch" is a truly amazing example of the organic ability of language to change in context over time.
December 19, 2007
samoritan commented on the list words-that-remind-me-of-monty-python
You need Killer Bunny ("look at the bones, mate!")
December 18, 2007
samoritan commented on the word pit pony
My mind can't imagine anything sadder than a pit pony. Wikipedia has some info on them, evidently they were well taken care of.
Now I find myself thinking of pit bulls...
December 15, 2007
samoritan commented on the word fester
Fester Bestertester! I remember him! (said Uncle Fester)
December 15, 2007
samoritan commented on the word duress
Why thank you!
December 15, 2007
samoritan commented on the word duress
The word "duress"
Seems to suggest
"Ur dress".
And "under duress",
"Under ur dress";
More or less.
December 6, 2007
samoritan commented on the word unobtanium
Yes.. and don't forget swankonite!
June 13, 2007
samoritan commented on the word skorange
This words only purpose is to give orange a word to rhyme with.
Use it as a placeholder word in a poem! It can mean anything you like.
It can even have multiple meanings, which makes limericks a snap.
June 12, 2007
samoritan commented on the word laudanum
...Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass.
Get back, get back.
Get back to where you once belonged...
June 12, 2007
samoritan commented on the word farce
Not for her!
June 11, 2007
samoritan commented on the word unobtanium
Bicyclists use this term to describe material used in a bike frame or component that is way light and too expensive.
June 11, 2007
samoritan commented on the word laudanum
Laudanum is opium and was once used as a pain reliever before people realized it was addictive. Samuel Taylor Coleridge was taking this when he went into a reverie and wrote "Kubla Kahn", one of the great poems of the late 17th century.
June 11, 2007
samoritan commented on the word farce
The farce thickens... She's back in jail and quoted as saying, "I feel like I'm in a cage!"
June 11, 2007
samoritan commented on the word farce
Paris Hilton is out of jail! Justice for pretty people!
June 7, 2007
samoritan commented on the word paradigm shift
40 years ago "Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" re-invented the rock album- or so we are being told in the news lately.
June 5, 2007
samoritan commented on the word recumbent
I am a long-time bike nut. Recumbent bikes put your feet in a forward position as you lie semi-prone on it. Uses some different muccles than an upright bike. They are best for flat roads and fast downhills, but climb like dogs.
June 1, 2007
samoritan commented on the word clusterfuck
I've seen this word used as a synonym for the war in Iraq.
June 1, 2007
samoritan commented on the word concupisent
adjective vigorously passionate syn: lustful
May 31, 2007
samoritan commented on the word archetype
Ahhh Superheros! Few genres are better suited to studying archetypes. Take Bruce Wayne... This guy has issues up the wazoo. He fights crime, but only as a panacea to escape the pain of his parent's death. The best deconstruction of the superhero mythos I've read (aside from "Watchmen") is Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns". This graphic novel has Bruce going head to head with his old nemesis Clark Kent; still regarded as the classic hero despite attempts to "flaw" his character in recent years.
May 31, 2007
samoritan commented on the list tess-of-the-d-urbervilles
Thomas Hardy had such a wonderful way with language! Thanks for this list!
May 31, 2007
samoritan commented on the list the-awakening
An excellent novel, and one that captured the feelings of many woman at the time. Revolutionary to the point of being banned!
May 31, 2007
samoritan commented on the word archetype
All archetypes have their roots in antiquity, but for the *most part* the anti-hero is a product of post-modernism. The anti-hero struggles with personal demons, wanting to do right but cannot rise above his faults. Holden Caulfield, Travis Bickle, Batman, Han Solo and many Clint Eastwood characters are modern anti-heros.
May 31, 2007
samoritan commented on the list the-feminist-outcry
I have seen most of these words in general usage for a long time. A very good thing!
May 29, 2007
samoritan commented on the word catassing
Online games are a bane for some people...
May 29, 2007
samoritan commented on the word archetype
The anti-hero is an interesting modern day archetype.
May 29, 2007
samoritan commented on the word paradigm shift
Happy 30th birthday STAR WARS! I left the theatre feeling that my fundamental outlook towards movies had changed... Gone was the squeaky-clean future of Star Trek. SW opened my mind to new and exciting vistas of the imagination!
How has the paradigm shifted for you?
May 29, 2007
samoritan commented on the word falwellian
Pertaining to a dystopian society in which all thought and expression are controlled by a fundamentalist Christian sect.
May 29, 2007
samoritan commented on the word falwellian
Pertaining to a dystopian society in which all thought and expression are controlled by a fundamentalist Christian sect.
May 29, 2007
samoritan commented on the word guys
I’m not sure I would call feminist semiotics “frightening revisionism�?. It is one of many well-established theories on language as a cultural phenomenon. I highly suggest a great book that explains semiotics in an easy to read format. It was written by one of my former profs. “The Signs of Our Time�?, by Jack Solomon (Harper and Row). It was written in the 80’s and his examples seem a bit dated now, but the principles are easily applied to modern situations. Have a great Memorial weekend!
May 25, 2007
samoritan commented on the word guys
The only feminists that want superiority over men are the Amazon archetypes you see in books, movies and TV. (I hate to bad-mouth comic books, but...)
Semioticans are scientists who follow established standards within the scientific community. Some of them are involved with research from a feminist perspective. They are scientists, that's all.
I am making observations and drawing conclusions on the use of language as it pertains to cultural, social and political influence. What's the point of "shunning" one language mode over another?
Sounds like you had a bad experience with a feminist... or perhaps your religious upbringing colors your perspective? In any case, I enjoy discussing language with you!
May 24, 2007
samoritan commented on the word guys
Uselessness... your use of "radical" to preface the word "feminist" has got my attention. Many acute language scholars (for example)would identify themselves as feminist but not "radical". They don't even have to be female (I'm not).
There are plenty of examples in the lexicon to indicate that language is biased towards the male. If that observation makes me sexist, so be it, but isn't that redundant?
May 24, 2007
samoritan commented on the word paradigm shift
A fundamental change in approach or assumptions. Acceptance by a majority of a changed belief, attitude, or way of doing things.
Ok so it's 2 words... but this is one of those examples that bring to mind the old song... "but this is tell 'ya brother, you can't have one without the other".
May 24, 2007
samoritan commented on the word guys
Uselessness, I appreciate your comments. As far as judging patriarchal language use as good or bad, I am an impartial student of language. I feel it’s umm… useless to make value judgments on language conventions that were being established before we went bipedal. Sorry if I gave you that impression!
I am leaning toward the belief that no language is truly gender-neutral. An infant learns the “language�? of the mother first and then the dominant father’s language.
According to what I have been reading and studying on this subject, semioticans posit that a “mother tongue�? would consist non-symbolic and a-logical soothing sounds and touches such as hums, croons, and caresses. A “mother word�? might consist of a combination of sounds and touches. Patriarchal language classifies and concerns itself with order and recording events. Matriarchal language is based on feeling and does not classify or record. These non-words are passed on to the nursing infant but are lost as the child grows and absorbs the dominant patriarchal language.
Of course, attempts to gloss such a female-centric language is problematic; you can’t classify a language that wasn’t meant to be ordered. Doing so would bring it under control of the patriarchal language. This is similar to American Sign Language, a purely visual language, which looses it’s meaning when you try to gloss it, (record it by writing it down).
You say you wonder if such a language would be practical. Regardless of whether a mother tongue is a true language or not, it is absolutely essential to the cognitive (including language) development of the infant. Research shows that babies deprived of this important sensory input suffer severe delays in developing cognitive growth (ex.Deaf children of hearing parents). In other words, without the mother tongue hard-wiring our brains at infancy, there ain’t no language. And we all wouldn’t be wasting time trying to impress each other by creating new words here on wordie.
May 24, 2007
samoritan commented on the word pellucid
This word has to be on my short list of all-time faves.
May 23, 2007
samoritan commented on the word powerfuller
No, the word is "powerfuller" ;)
May 23, 2007
samoritan commented on the word guys
Thanks for playing the Devil's Advocate, uselessness. It helps to clarify my muddled thinking! I'm really interested in word meanings that change over time; "guy" refers to a male but "guys" seems gender-neutral. It got me to thinking about my teachers comment. Can any word be truly gender-neutral?
We had discussed semiotics is the science of interpreting signs and their codes (words) from a social and cultural perspective. A feminist branch of semiotics posits that all languages are patriarchal. Language springs from the male libido which names and classifies all things in order to bring them under conceptual control. Women have their own non-symbolic language which they pass on to their children. Unfortunately the knowledge of this language is lost to the infant who gradually learns the dominant symbolic language of the father.
It's an interesting idea, and I'm not sure I'm fully in agreement, but it is certainly food for thought.
According to feminist semioticans, "guys" can't be gender-neutral either. Oh well...
May 23, 2007
samoritan commented on the word guys
I think what my teacher meant was that writers, consciously or not, will use gender specific language to describe people or events. The recording of history has been particularly susceptible to bias (his-story).
I think the plural "guys" is an example of a word that is becoming gender-neutral. Have you watched "Friends" on TV? characters of both sexes refer to the group as "guys", even when they are talking about women.
May 23, 2007
samoritan commented on the word guys
In a feminist literature class I once took, I was told that in the broadest sense, there are no words that are not gender-specific. I see this word on TV referring to both sexes. Is this an exception that proves the rule?
May 22, 2007
samoritan commented on the word pale with penis
(n) My ex wife had a wonderful way with words. This is the blanket title she would give to a politican when the spirit moved her.
May 19, 2007
samoritan commented on the word fou fou
Also fou-fou. Used to describe a "high society" event or person.
May 18, 2007
samoritan commented on the word frickin
I've heard this word used since the late 90's, but it is starting to come into the mainstream now.
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word evanescence
Emily Dickinson used this word to refer to the delicate shine of color in a hummingbird:
A route of evanescence
With a revolving wheel;
A resonance of emerald,
A rush of cochineal;
And every blossom on the bush
Adjusts its tumbled head, --
The mail from Tunis, probably,
An easy morning's ride.
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word the bomb diggity
Street slang will use "bome" for bomb. I found it in a slang dictionary.
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word doomsters
Another word from Thomas Hardy's "Hap" see powerfuller. You can tell I like this poem...
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word instant classic
My favorite oxymoron! A true classic will withstand the test of time. This is really just a marketing term to sell Disney videos.
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word powerfuller
From Thomas Hardy's poem "Hap"
If but some vengeful god would call to me
From up the sky, and laugh: “Thou suffering thing,
Know that thy sorrow is my ecstasy,
That thy love’s loss is my hate’s profiting!�?
Then would I bear, and clench myself, and die,
Steeled by the sense of ire unmerited;
Half-eased, too, that a Powerfuller than I
Had willed and meted me the tears I shed.
But not so. How arrives it joy lies slain,
And why unblooms the best hope ever sown?
--Crass Casualty obstructs the sun and rain,
And dicing Time for gladness casts a moan….
These purblind Doomsters had as readily strown
Blisses about my pilgrimage as pain.
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word screwery
This word is begging for a limerick... Anyone want to try?
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word moxie
This is one of those words that I would love to see come back into general usage. It's just so retro!
May 17, 2007
samoritan commented on the word crepuscular
In a strongly-worked essay on gun violence, Harlan Ellison once referred to Ronald Reagan as a "crepuscular old fart".
May 17, 2007