I HATE the term GISH

[William drake]

I hate the term....I have always hated it. The name sounds quite lame,
it inspires no fear, ohh stay away from him he is a "gish".
My contempt rises.
I truly wish people would stop calling their Fighter/Magic Users "Gish".
If you are playing a Githyanki, fine Gish away. Just know that if you played a Koa Toa Cleric/Thief you could of called yourself a Monitor, which is cool....or is a Koa Toa Cleric/Thief a Whip?....which is also a title of a position in Congress but still sounds cooler than "Gish".
Gish is the sound you make when you ate too many taquitos.
Gish is a spelling mistake when talking about the migration of salmon.

Funny part is, I suspect that those old timers, you know us people in our 30's all hate the term, and it is the 13 year olds on the net that think , Gish is cool.

How do you feel about the term?

Well, I don't care, but understand why you think it sounds funny. It does, but Game On.

 

[Darklone]

I don't like the word and the sound of it and I see no reason to use it. I'm nerd enough, I don't need to talk like a nerd.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Maggan]

There are so many strange words in the hobby that I never gave thought to Gish as a special abomination.

We all use a codified language when talking about the game, and to someone who's never played, a lot of our other words sound just as strange as Gish.

At least it doesn't mean anything else, like "PC" does.

It's never bothered me the least. I don't use it, and the first time I saw it it took a short while to figure it out but then I knew the word ... for a while and then I forgot about it.

/M

 

[Musrum]

Let's see: A succinct piece of gamer jargon that not only clearly communicates the concept it also annoys a good smattering of grumpy old (age independent "old") gamers.
What's not to love?

 

[Aaron L]

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.

Well, that was exactly my point. The name of the current concept of the Paladin is derived from something that it no longer has any connection to, an etymological maze has led to the current word, which has nothing to do with the original root of the word anymore.

Paladins have nothing to do with Palatine Hill; we just use a derivative of the name for holy knights without caring (or usually even knowing) about the origins of the word.

 

[Holy Bovine]

In 20+ years of gaming I've never heard of a 'Gish'. I've heard of 'Gith' for Githyanki and Githzarei but that is about it.

That said I just couldn't muster the emotion to hate the term Gish. Whatever.

 

[hong]

Well, that was exactly my point. The name of the current concept of the Paladin is derived from something that it no longer has any connection to, an etymological maze has led to the current word, which has nothing to do with the original root of the word anymore.

Paladins have nothing to do with Palatine Hill; we just use a derivative of the name for holy knights without caring (or usually even knowing) about the origins of the word.

Look ppl, it's obvious that paladines serve Palpatine.

 

[FireLance]

Look ppl, it's obvious that paladines serve Palpatine.

I thought those were the Knights of Solamniakin.

 

[DaveyJones]

Look ppl, it's obvious that paladines serve Palpatine.

i had always assumed it was from Charlemagne's time

or maybe a bastardization of Salah al-Din Yusuf.

but i read Bullfinch's Mythology as a yute.

 

[satori01]

Gish is a term that exists on the internet. It has no majesty, and lets face it part of fantasy and sci-fi are cool names. Uruk-Hai, Stormtroopers......Killer Gish from Outer Space?

As an aside and an edit, the term "gish" is used in table describing the levels and what is found in a Githyanki lair in 1e Fiend Folio. Now compare "gish" to "Zerth" which is the Githezerai equivalent.
For the record Githyanki Knights were Anti-Paladins.

Moreover the term is also:
1)The name of the 1st album of the Smashing Pumkins. That alone means it could never be used my table for name recognition and the ensuing jokes.

2) The name of a silent movie star...and the reason why the Pumpkins called their 1st album what they did.

3) The last name of a prominent Creationist author. To quote the movie Nacho Libre, " I believe in Science".

4) Someone would rime "Gish" with "Swish". It is politically incorrect, but someone would do it, and probably one of my fearless female players that have no sense of propriety.