I HATE the term GISH

[Slaved]

Would the plural of gish be gishes? I can see a group of adventurers raiding a githyanki lair and, conscious of the ability of spellcasters to rain fiery death on them, yelling "do the gishes! Do the gishes!"

The plural of gish is gish. This was designed purposefully so that the enemy would never be able to communicate just how many were coming and the confusion would help them win.

It did not actually work out that way however, it merely enraged their enemies for having to use a word that they so despised.

I like the term personally. Gish me friend!

It doesn't clearly communicate anything.

It seems to for those who have heard the term before. Shorthand pretty much always works that way. You learn the jargon and then you can use the jargon but hearing it out of the blue with no reference point makes it useless.

The same is true for F/W really. Even someone who has played d&d for awhile may very well have to ask what that is the first time they see it. I prefer gish as it has some reason for being and can mean more than a simple fighter+wizard build.

 

[glass]

Hey, Gish was a good album.

Indeed it was, but Mellon Collie was better.


glass.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It seems to for those who have heard the term before. Shorthand pretty much always works that way.

Military shorthand can be parsed out, as can most shorthand.

I actually do use shorthand on my job, as a reporter. If someone found my police log notes, they might have to stare at "76 Ford Taurus black o/n d/w u/l" before figuring out it's an unlocked car stolen from a driveway overnight, but with context, it can be figured out.

Gish is impossible to parse, as it has nothing to identify it. It's dorkese, not English and not shorthand. I have no problems with dorkese per se, but I can't agree that it's useful shorthand by a longshot.

 

[Slaved]

It has historical precidence

Nicknames can be shorthand ways of describing something and often those are descriptive in some way. Sometimes you have to know the history to understand the reference as well.

Knowing the term makes it an easy reference, I know that there are a lot of examples of things like this out there but I am currently coming up blank for a good example that is suitable for these boards

 

[glass]

It doesn't clearly communicate anything.

Except greater than normal geekiness.


glass.

 

[Ghendar]

EDit

 

[Ghendar]

As implied, it's a term from 2E for a fighter/mage githyanki. It has been used without the githyanki context to mean any fighter/mage build or class.

I don't like it either.

Since we are talking about Githyanki here then why "gish" instead of the more logical "gith"

I've been playing off and on since 1984 and I've never heard of "gish" before this very thread. <shrug> From now on I'll say "puppy" wherever "gish" would apply.

 

[Agamon]

Except greater than normal geekiness.

I'd rank it up with taped glasses and pocket protectors. Maybe even higher.

 

[Ghendar]

Actually, when I hear "gish" I think of......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillian_Gish

 

[Cthulhudrew]

This is who comes to mind for me. You know, Scully's replacement?