What is a "gish"?
- Thread starter Ahnehnois
- Start date
Scrivener of Doom
Adventurer
Personally, I would only use it as a specific githyanki term but I am hardly offended when I see it used on messageboards as shorthand for fighter/wizard combinations.
My pedantry only extends to the blatant misuse of the apostrophe (especially for plural nouns), the inability of game publishers to correctly use parlay and parley and the American use of insure instead of ensure. That last one just bothers me inordinately.
My pedantry only extends to the blatant misuse of the apostrophe (especially for plural nouns), the inability of game publishers to correctly use parlay and parley and the American use of insure instead of ensure. That last one just bothers me inordinately.
Ahnehnois
First Post
AFAIC, wizard, sorcerer, warlock, mage, necromancer, enchanter, and a variety of other terms are virtually interchangeable in common usage. D&D has a way of making them very specific. To me, magus is simply one good variant that hasn't been taken yet.
The upside to me is that at least it sounds like a word in the English language, whereas "gish" sounds like "gith".
Personally, I see the "gish" term (and the githyanki and githzerai in general) as being 2e relics.
I have also always preferred that they come up with a specific term to describe the fighter/wizard combo that was not just a compound word like 'swordmage' or 'eldritch knight'. Over time, I wish that 'mage' or 'sorcerer' might've become that term... but they've both now been used in other forms and are off the table.
If indeed Pathfinder has decided to use 'magus' as the class name for a weapon-wielding spellcaster... I find that much more appealing that using a made-up word like 'gish'.
TwoSix
Everyone's literal second-favorite poster
And Oxford commas. Stop dropping them!My pedantry only extends to the blatant misuse of the apostrophe (especially for plural nouns), the inability of game publishers to correctly use parlay and parley and the American use of insure instead of ensure. That last one just bothers me inordinately.
The true problem with "gish" is that it's too close phonetically to "giff", the gun-wielding British Empire knockoff humanoid hippos that have a lock on the title of "best race ever."
Vyvyan Basterd
Adventurer
Language grows and changes whether people like it or not. What started as a specific term for githyanki has grown into a larger meaning. I voted #2.
delericho
Legend
Honestly, the only time I've heard the term "gish" is right here. Apparently it is technically the proper term for a Githyanki Fighter/Wizard, but it seems to have come to mean any Fighter/Wizard - one of those technical inaccuracies that has entered common usage. (Well, as common as you get when you're talking about an obscure made-up word from a game familiar to a small subset of the population.)
Nah. Magus is the singular of magi, the wise men of Old Testament fame*. Better to use a made-up word - the connotations of the real-world one are wrong.
* And other sources, of course - I'm not making any claims of exclusivity here!
Nah. Magus is the singular of magi, the wise men of Old Testament fame*. Better to use a made-up word - the connotations of the real-world one are wrong.
* And other sources, of course - I'm not making any claims of exclusivity here!
Savage Wombat
Hero
Prescriptive language is just as valid a viewpoint as descriptive.
Vyvyan Basterd
Adventurer
Never said it wasn't, in fact that would be the 'or not' in my response. IME, I don't see the proponents of prescriptive language being very successful in their endeavors, especially within the English Language. As to how that applies to made up gaming terms, I don't really care. I was just giving the reason why I voted the way I did.
