I HATE the term GISH

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Perhaps you are confusing the Duskblade and the Beguiler?

Yep!

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I've never really liked the term, especially when 12 year olds use it to catagorize your build into a general archetype that means exactly nothing. Lots of other terms like this, but this one is one of the more annoying to me

 

[Agamon]

all words are "completely made up" at some point.

how many of you type out "FWIW" or "LOL" or even "IMHO" any of the other internet shortcuts? Why does "Gish" annoy you and not those others?

Personally, those text-speak things get my hackles up far more.

Apples and Oranges. I have no problem with Ftr/Wiz or even F/W.

 

[Prince of Happiness]

Now normally, if I heard anyone using "gish" in the context of this thread, I would kick the person in their nuts repeatedly until my legs got tired.

On the other hand, I've never heard it used in the context this thread is using it for.

 

[Hurtoc]

I hadn't heard this before either, but I immediately hated it, and to be honest I feel better now having gone through it. Kudos to the OP.

 

[Sejs]

I wonder why 'gish' was chosen over 'zerth'.

At least 'zerth' doesn't sound slimy and pliant.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wonder why 'gish' was chosen over 'zerth'.

At least 'zerth' doesn't sound slimy and pliant.

Githyanki are far kewler.

 

[FireLance]

The only thing I can possibly imagine it being due to is a sort of smug sense of inclusion in groupthink. It's a completely made-up word, even if it does come from a Githyanki example of a fighter/mage character, and thus its sheer unintuitive nature demands that you either be in on the jargon-joke or left scratching your head in the uncool crowd.

Well, here are a few other reasons that I can think of:

1. It's the shortest term to express the concept that has a reasonable amount of traction among gamers. Some people just like short terms, nicknames or abbreviations.

2. The fact that it has a "historical" basis could be a bonus factor to some, as they feel it is a nod to the richness of the material that has been published before. It's probably related to the thrill some people get when they find references to an event, item, location, or NPC from an old module or book in a current product (the "easter egg" factor).

3. Some people use it simply because the same people who explained to them what the terms "bulette", "slaad", "saving throw", "Spellcraft", "egoist", and "ki strike" meant within the context of D&D also stated that it meant "warrior-mage".

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

OTOH, (heh) I don't mind pally, simply because it's quicker to type than paladin, which you have to use both hands to do the last few letters.

Why not just type "pal" instead? Why type two more letters? When I first started playing in 1977 and continuing throughout the entire '80s and into the mid-90's my friends and I used such abbreviations as pal, barb, wiz, etc. Adding suffix of 'y' or 'ie' at the end makes it sound like baby talk to me. It was only after playing online RPGs that some of my players became infected with AOL baby speak.

As a side note, why they Hell would anyone refer to their wife as 'wifey' or their transmission as 'tranny' instead of 'tran'?!? At this rate all nouns will end in -y or -ie by our grandchildren's generation. Or should I say 'aty thisy ratey ally nounies willy endy inny -y ory -ie byie ourie grannie childy genny.'

Stoppy theie insanitie!!

Postscript: It just struck me that in some weird and ironic way English is taking on some of the characteristics of Ye Olde Midle Ynglisshe with the incessant need to attach a vowel at the end of each noun.

 

[Gez]

(duskblade, warblade, swordsage, spellsword, battlemage, soulknife, etc)

"Swordsage" in particular is terrible. It always make me think of sausages.

Heck, many non-geeks wouldn't likely know the meaning of "Paladin" or "Bard."

C'm'on! "Hear the voice of the Bard" -- classic literature! Don't people read Blake in high school?

I realized that the derivation of Paladin is from the name of a hill...

That's a bit too fast, since the first paladins had no connections to that hill at all. The hill gave its name to the idea of rulership, like people nowaday use words such as "Washington" to describe the leaders of the USA; and is also the root word for "palace." Once the original association was completely forgotten, then it gave birth to paladin.

As a side note, why they Hell would anyone refer to their wife as 'wifey'

I've seen people do it on the 'net. As for tranny, it wouldn't happen because it's already short for "transexual"...