What is a "gish"?

[DEFCON 1]

You know the real reason why I think 'gish' doesn't gain traction with a lot of people to be the name of the fighter/wizard comboclass? It's not that it's supposed to be specific to the githyanki... it's really just because it's kind of a dumb looking and dumb sounding word.

'Gish' is like a bad Star Wars race name, not a cool class identifier.

 

[TwoSix]

But no matter how many children call a cow a dog, it remains a cow.

If enough children (say, the majority) call the mooing ungulate that provides milk a "dog", than that becomes what the word "dog" means, and the use of "dog" as a word for the barking domesticated canine becomes an amusing anachronism found in old books.

 

[Morrus]

But no matter how many children call a cow a dog, it remains a cow.

No, it becomes called a dog. The language changes. The animal doesn't transform.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

...excuse me..."He"...I will have you know I am a scorching hot hermaphrodite!

Then you and I should par-tay! (Oh no! Now someone will smack me for using party as a verb! )

Sometimes when a child is learning to speak, he will point at a cow and say "dog." Now, you can pat him on the head and call him a good boy, and he'll be calling cows dogs when he's 40, or you can call him out on it and teach him what a cow is.

That is an example of someone not understanding the commonly used term. People that started using the term gish new full well what it meant and applied it to any Fighter/Wizard build. Apples and Oranges. Although continuing to teach people what the origin of the term was is great practice. I understand many less commonly used words when I read because I know their Latin roots.

 

[Balesir]

Sometimes when a child is learning to speak, he will point at a cow and say "dog." Now, you can pat him on the head and call him a good boy, and he'll be calling cows dogs when he's 40, or you can call him out on it and teach him what a cow is. But no matter how many children call a cow a dog, it remains a cow.

I agree, the consequences would be unimaginable. Someone could just start calling cows something that sounds like gish - "vash", for instance. Before you know it, you'd have hundreds, thousands or even millions of people erroneously calling cows "vashes".

Wait a minute...


Note to Francophones: I know I spelled it wrong. I'm sorry, but it wouldn't look like "gish" if I spelled it properly, would it?

 

[Ahnehnois]

I don't think there's any question that language can change over time and is defined by words that are used in practice, not just in a dictionary. I do not, however, think that children are usually the arbiters of these things.

The thread question is not whether change is possible, it is more whether that has happened in this particular case.

Personally, my belief is still that most rpg players out there have never heard the word (obviously, ENWorld selects for certain players). So this poll is never really going to address that. I guess what this poll tells us is that ENWorld is pretty split on whether the specific or general usage is recognized.

 

[Umbran]

Do remember that in either form, "gish" isn't a "commonly used term". It is jargon - specialized language, often created by technical specialists to discuss the subject.

Language drift happens, sure. But failure to maintain your jargon, or willfully bastardizing it, makes it difficult to have your technical conversations. You willfully choose to misuse jargon, the other technical specialists have every right to give you the hairy eyeball for it, because you're willfully making communication annoying.

Plus, I have to agree with Defcon 1, above. "Gish" (like "blog") is a stupid sounding word.

 

[Morrus]

Well, it's slang; gaming slang, at that. And slang is the most morphable of language elements. Just look at your speech vs. that of an 18 year old. It's not willful; it just happens.

 

[TwoSix]

Language drift happens, sure. But failure to maintain your jargon, or willfully bastardizing it, makes it difficult to have your technical conversations. You willfully choose to misuse jargon, the other technical specialists have every right to give you the hairy eyeball for it, because you're willfully making communication annoying.

True, but it isn't as if this is a hypothetical usage. "Gish" has been used in the generic manner for close to a decade, by my own observation. Google gish site:www.enworld.org, or some other sites with a bigger build/optimization forum like giantitp.com or minmaxboards.com or brilliantgameologists.com, and you'll see just how traction it has.

 

[Herschel]

It is either githyanki-specific, or the sound made when the gods trod upon the person misusing a canon term

Amen!