RPG Buzzwords that have effectively lost their meaning due to poor over-use

[Umbran]

• -punk - this has been a pet peeve of mine for years. Unless it's related to a dystopian worldview and an anti-establishment youth street movement, it's not -punk. Steampunk gets a grudging pass because it's obviously a derivative evolution of cyberpunk, where -punk was actually used correctly. People who think that they're clever talking about hope-punk, or calling Eberron magi-punk do not.

If "punk" were to have a flaw, it is in that it focused on nihilism in the face of dystopia. But, when the establishment is cynical, there's nothing more anti-establishment than hope. In a way, hope-punk is punk... against established punk tropes