What is a "gish"?

[Umbran]

... you'll see just how traction it has.

So? I turn to my favorite pundit, Opus the Penguin, who after an anecdote about penguins watching jets fly over the Falkland Islands opined, "If a million people do a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing."

 

[Ahnehnois]

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.

All true, but if you're not on those charop boards, it might very well be a hypothetical usage.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

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

I couldn't agree more, it sounds downright moronic. Maybe that's why I never cared for the 'yankis.

Still, I hear 'gish' and I think 'character who can swing a sword and sling spells passably well.' Whereas if I hear something like 'mage knight,' 'eldritch warrior' or whatever, I immediately begin trying to remember some prestige class with that name. Weird.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Maybe we need a different sample group. Maybe there's a fighting wizard type on League of Legends - do they use the word "gish"?

 

[Starfox]

First time I saw the word was in Dungeon, used in an editorial speaking about fighter/magic-users. Only later was the origin of the word clear to me. Sure I did have the fiend folio, but Githyanki never seemed like a monster I needed to get overly familiar with.

From that PoV, the gith use of the word is the oddity.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

So? I turn to my favorite pundit, Opus the Penguin, who after an anecdote about penguins watching jets fly over the Falkland Islands opined, "If a million people do a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing."

I'm honestly amazed at how much hate the generalized meaning of gish is getting.

Why don't phrases like 'I could care less' and terms like 'near miss' get this much hate? They certainly deserve it!

 

[Savage Wombat]

I'll bet if you start a thread on "I could care less" you'll get some passionate hatred.

 

[Umbran]

I'm honestly amazed at how much hate the generalized meaning of gish is getting.

Good. A solid dose of amazement now and then helps us keep perspective on our universe

Why don't phrases like 'I could care less' and terms like 'near miss' get this much hate? They certainly deserve it!

"Near miss" makes sense to me as "a miss that was still near the target." However, "I could care less," ranks right up there with the not-literal, "literally," in my disdain. However, since this is a gaming board, those don't come up that often, and certainly not as the subject of threads where people are actively asking what our opinions of them may be.

 

[Henry]

Good. A solid dose of amazement now and then helps us keep perspective on our universe



"Near miss" makes sense to me as "a miss that was still near the target." However, "I could care less," ranks right up there with the not-literal, "literally," in my disdain. However, since this is a gaming board, those don't come up that often, and certainly not as the subject of threads where people are actively asking what our opinions of them may be.

I agree - this talk of "gish" as a generic term literally makes my blood boil. When i'm dead and buried, I won't care what it's called; until then I'll keep pointing and snickering when it's used, because it looks silly. I've never used it with githyanki either, because of how "weak" the word sounds to my ear.

It's like hearing the next Sith Lord in the new Star Wars movie will be called "Darth Flabdoodle" - he could murder a hundred Jedi babies, and burn Leia at the stake, and I'd still call it a stupid name for a villain.

 

[Ahnehnois]

De gustibus non est disputandum