Dear 4e, Please Stop with the Horrible Portmanteaus!

[knifie_sp00nie]

Can someone please point the way to the Deep Dark Shadowdarkest?

This reminds me of a video clip- Adult Swim Video : The Xtacles : Rapier Ape

 

[Rechan]

Would you also be more annoyed if it had a name that was merely a little bit different, such as "Utterfell?"

Y'know. I want to take that and spin it juuuust a little more:

Utterdark.

Most darkness is the absence of light. The Underdark is dark simply because there's something in the way (the ground) from preventing the sun from shining into it.

In the Utterdark is true darkness, utter darkness. It is not the absence of light; light is the absence of Darkness in the Utterdark. The Utterdark is in truth the source of Shadowy magic (such as the Assassin's shadowy powers), for here darkness has actual Power; the Darkness is quasi-sentient, hunting down and snuffing sources of light. It's consuming, a thing that seeps into the very being of everything that lives there.

 

[MrMyth]

I believe that the main reason that some people have for wanting the place of overlap NOT to be named the "Shadowdark" it that that name is both redundant and nonspecific, because all shadows are dark.

Would you also be more annoyed if it had a name that was merely a little bit different, such as "Utterfell?"
Wouldn't that work as well in-game as "Shadowdark" does?

I can imagine some words that would be close enough to fit without having the potential redundancy of Shadowdark - though Utterfell doesn't really work for me. Something like the Shadowdeep, perhaps? But it's hard to say - while I agree that symmetry isn't needed everywhere in the cosmology, it is the basis of the Feywild and Shadowfell, and thus drawing on that for naming mirror elements within them just seems to fit.

Yes, out of context, the word is meaningless. Shadow and Dark are nigh-identical words, and merging together to make them sound 'darker' would be rather silly. But it isn't the merging of the words themselves, it is the merging of the names of specific locations - and in reference to those names, it has meaning.

I can certainly understand why it still sounds ridiculous to some people. But it seems logical to me, and not because I am unable to recognize the objections being made against it.

 

[I'm A Banana]

FWIW, "Shadowdeep" and "Feydeep" would be better.

I can certainly understand why it still sounds ridiculous to some people. But it seems logical to me, and not because I am unable to recognize the objections being made against it.

For me, that logical meaning (which I certainly recognize) doesn't trump all the objections I personally have against it. To forgive it on the basis of making a little bit of sense is kind of like, to put it in patently ridiculous hyperbole, a man who has killed hundreds of innocent children by putting them in a sack and dragging them behind his Ford Truck then being forgiven because he helped and old lady cross the street once as a boy scout.

Doing a little something right doesn't invalidate all that wrong.

Perhaps that is because I am hyper-sensitive to it, rather than because you are under-sensitive to it, but regardless, it is petty and deeply subjective.

 

[Dire Bare]

FWIW, "Shadowdeep" and "Feydeep" would be better.

Out of all the alternate suggestions I've heard, I like these two the best.

For me, that logical meaning (which I certainly recognize) doesn't trump all the objections I personally have against it. To forgive it on the basis of making a little bit of sense is kind of like, to put it in patently ridiculous hyperbole, a man who has killed hundreds of innocent children by putting them in a sack and dragging them behind his Ford Truck then being forgiven because he helped and old lady cross the street once as a boy scout.

Uh, wow . . . . you weren't kidding with the ridiculous hyperbole . . .

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Utterdark has a nice flavor to it. Definitely sounds like someplace that angels would fear to tread.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Slap an umlaut on that U and you got yourself a deal.

As someone born in the Dairy State, however, "Utterdark" just conjures up images of low-hanging cow mammary glands.

Which, given how often things with T&A get commented on 'round these parts, might serve WotC just fine.

 

[Celebrim]

Ixitxachitl isn't a difficult word to say. No matter how you say it, it's not going to sound any different to a casual listener. Anyway, it's not like a sahuagin is going to rise up out of the sea and slap you if you don't put the accent on the right syllable.

No, but one might if you do.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

 

[MoxieFu]

Not that everything in the RW passes that test- the anti-osteoporosis drug Boniva sounds ridiculous...and not just because of "bone-itis" from Futurama.

I have to wonder what happened with the makers of ACIPHEX?

Did they never say this word out loud before deciding on the name? It comes out as...

ASS EFFECTS

Then again, it's a drug used for treating ulcers of the stomach and duodenum, gastroesophageal reflux disease!

I can't believe I am not making this up!

 

[BryonD]

Actually, I think what you're calling "placeholder names" often sound more authentic than made up fantasy names.

People don't go around calling Dogwood trees Cornaceae Cornus trees. They use the common (portmanteau) name because it's easy to remember and say.

Likewise, in a fantasy world, it would make perfect sense for common folk and adventurers to call a bow-wielding demon an Arrow Demon. If a horrible creature rose out of the Abyss and started firing arrows into my face, the last thing I would be worried about is inserting a cool, creative, interesting name into the phrase "Run for your lives it's a ...........". In that situation, I think Arrow Demon would be perfectly satisfactory.

I disagree.
Calling it an arrow demon is the same as calling a dogwood a "white flower tree". Cornaceae Cornus would be the same as some technical name that sounds like fake abyssal.

Placeholder names are purely descriptive, such as "arrow demon" or "white flower tree". Real world names tend to a bit more folksy, like dogwood.