Way to get girls (?!): the new column for the new Dragon.

[Simia Saturnalia]

I don't think it's unreasonable, when writing for the internet audience, to assume the audience is capable of looking things up on the internet.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

It's not onomatopoeia.

Yes, it is.

It's the sound of a sword unsheathing (c.f. Wayne's World), and can also double for the sound that you get when you swing something metallic into something else metallic (as in, a swish followed by a ring).

I'll do the three foods I know:

Define the following foods (mostly from Wikipedia):

Grinder
Jimmies
Sweetbread

Grinders are what most people call submarine sandwiches or heroes [or hoagies]. They go exceptionally well with a coffee cab.

Jimmies are what most people call chocolate sprinkles. They are only chocolate. If someone offers you jimmies, and they are rainbow colored, that person is wrong and may be mocked.

Sweetbreads are one of two things: 1) actually sweetened breads, usually with sugar or honey, or 2) lungs or other internal organs. I, naturally, prefer the first. It always makes me nervous when I go into a restaurant and see something served with sweetbread, because I'm never quite sure which one they mean (especially as one moves further South)!

That being said, any argument I would make that someone should not use the word jimmies in their article because of "the international audience" would be ridiculous, and I would expect to be mocked shamelessly for it.

 

[delericho]

I don't think it's unreasonable, when writing for the internet audience, to assume the audience is capable of looking things up on the internet.

Now that's just crazy-talk!

 

[Mark]

They'll have me at "Sex and the City-State."

City-State of the Invisible Underwear?

 

[Mark]

It's not onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is when a word is formed in such as way as to describe the sound it references, like "knock" or "boom". Schwing (and variations thereof) are suggestive of an action, not a sound. Also, not everyone watched late-night American television in the 90s.

Oh, SNAP!

 

[fuindordm]

Grinders are what most people call submarine sandwiches or heroes [or hoagies]. They go exceptionally well with a coffee cab.

Jimmies are what most people call chocolate sprinkles. They are only chocolate. If someone offers you jimmies, and they are rainbow colored, that person is wrong and may be mocked.

Could it be? Another Rhode Islander?

Quick--what's a bubbler?

 

[Mark]

Could it be? Another Rhode Islander?

Quick--what's a bubbler?

That's a drinking fountain, no?

 

[hexgrid]

To answer earlier replies, I believe that ‘informal text’ belongs on message boards, blogs, personal emails and glossy magazines aimed at fashion clones, not in articles in a professional publication.

You can believe what you want, of course, but a more informal style is perfectly acceptable to the type of article referred to (in the United States at least,) as a "column."

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Could it be? Another Rhode Islander?

Quick--what's a bubbler?

No such thing.

Bubblahs, on the othah hand, are what you drink watah from.

My mom's family is from Fall Rivah, and I spent a couple years in high school at Rogers in Newport.

 

[Brentos]

Loved It!

I loved it in the same way I enjoy reading articles by Dave Barry or Garrison Keillor -- a strong, personable written voice that is interesting, distinct, and enjoyable! Add to that the article was about change and D&D, and that is a great bonus!

Regarding brownies and the ilk: should we never use any word that is in common usage in all countries that a magazine is published in? Go back to the last several print issues of Dragon and you will find several words that fit this category. I always see challenging new words as a chance to learn, not a chance to be frustrated.