Who is this person, and why do they not know what a gish is?

[Starglim]

AFAIK, the term appeared a couple of years ago on the wizards.com boards in the Character Optimization forum, where a short, handy term was desired to avoid having to type FMU every time.

Heh. Irony.

 

[Pale Master]

While I am aware that Gish is a githyanki profession, I always thought that the current usage of "gish" was an abbreviation of "gestalt" - i.e., the "gestalt characters" from Unearthed Arcana.

I think the usage of "gish" derives from people routinely hearing the word "gestalt" in conversation at the game store or whatever, with reference to these characters (and most often with reference to fighter/wizards because I would imagine few people use the gestalt rules to make cleric/bards or similar); but not being familiar with that word, they abbreviated it and spelled it foe net ick ullee.

Note that while English has words for wizard, rogue, cleric, etc., we have no word that accurately describes a warrior / wizard (well, until now, but that's an appropriated Githyanki word or possibly a contraction of a German word). Calling Drs. Sapir and Whorf.

 

[Hairfoot]

Expecting others to somehow magically know the meaning of a monosyllabic word which has zero resemblance to any common word and only a single indefinate similarity with a fictitious word used by a small number of hobbyists of an unusual hobby. I don't often say this about my fellow gamers, but wow, that's pathetically nerdy!

Quite so. I hope the OP is shortly going to acknowledge that this thread was started in good humour.

Everyone in my game group has been playing for 15 years+, and I am the only one among them who is likely to know what "gish" means, because Iim the only one geekish enough to frequent D&D message boards.

 

[DragonLancer]

The only time I've ever heard/read the term being used, is here on ENworld.

 

[Nikosandros]

Quite so. I hope the OP is shortly going to acknowledge that this thread was started in good humour.

That's what I was hoping for, but looking at the reply that I got, I don't think that it's very likely....

Everyone in my game group has been playing for 15 years+, and I am the only one among them who is likely to know what "gish" means, because Iim the only one geekish enough to frequent D&D message boards.

I've been playing since 1985 and for me also the term (as a generic word) is a very recent acquisition through this boards...

 

[Flynn]

I never heard of the term until a few months ago, and it sounded stupid then (as it still does now.) Apparently it not only means Fighter/Mage, but a specific kind of Fighter/Mage, and not just any class build of that type. I barely recall that it is associated with Githyanki, and since I have never used them in the 21 years that I've been gaming, I have really had no reason to ever learn the term. Now that I know about it, and purely from a 4E perspective as a reference to a very specific concept type, I still won't use it, because I think it reeks of... well, I simply think it reeks.

However, I understand that this is only my opinion, and there are those that think the phrase is the shiznit, simply because it's popular with one developer in particular, and if it's used by that developer, then it must be hip and cool. Here's a hint: only people who actually use the term think it's cool. The rest of us probably don't use the term for a reason.

I do find it insulting that someone feels the need to tear others down for not knowing or using the term, when it is evident that the term is not a very well known or popular one, and I think it shows poor judgment to bring the matter up. However, that too is only my opinion, and I hope that the OP now understands that not everyone needs to be fluent in or use the same terminology that he himself does.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Hairfoot]

I never heard of the term until a few months ago, and it sounded stupid then (as it still does now.)...only people who actually use the term think it's cool

It sounds onomatopoeic, but of something slushy and unpleasant. It's also only a short vowel away from a word which, in these parts, is crass and vulgar.

When people use it on the boards, it reminds me of when I was ten and first learned about swear words. We felt so cool using them.

 

[EricNoah]

Why is my name in that quote??

Besides, when I think of Gish, I think of...

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Why is my name in that quote??

Besides, when I think of Gish, I think of...

Really? Not...

Or...

Or...

 

[thalmin]

I have been playing D&D for over 30 years, own a game store for 25 years, and drop by these boards on a daily basis. Only recently have I encountered the word gish as a D&D term, and then only on the boards. I don't believe I have heard any of my customers, and certainly not my players, ever use the word gish in reference to D&D.
But then I am about the only one at the store to call them splat books.

And I'm the old fogie.