It’s strange, I see the humor tag but all I see is maudlin. Do you know what the real joke is here? The people who made the joke that spawned this thread are PLAYING fourth. What’s more, most of their jokes originating with things re: their fake fantasy setting are a product of publications predating 4th, so relax guys.
I have an idea: why don’t you go and publish YOUR ingenious home campaign setting and then WE can tell you how much it sucks and is uninspired. On the bright side, if you made a product so awful that no one buys it, you can avoid the tirade of people accusing you of caring more about the business than the game.
Furthermore, as someone who takes the English language and its ability to convey ideas (rather than to prove how awesome you are via the number of words you can use), let me take a stand. Making a decoupage out of your thesaurus does not make a good story or even description! Context context context. If you are trying to impress upon your PCs or potential readers the significance of your setting, they had better either know the word or be able to deduce it’s meaning. Language is a means of conveying ideas, and when your audience goes “huh?” you have failed. I know that the underdark is a) under something and b) dark in there. I know the feywild is a)full of fey and b) has untamed sprawls of nature.
It’s freakin D&D guys. I’m glad you take your setting so seriously and can’t handle that *gasp* people might laugh at things in D&D (never mind all the people on the OUTSIDE laughing), but most of us are ok with these being flights of fancy that don’t always carry a serious tone. But honestly, I would go read pitchfork if I wanted to see so many people take themselves seriously and talk about how cool their passion was before it got all sold out and mainstream.
