Who put the "punk" in "steampunk"?

[Tuzenbach]

Specifically, why are settings involving steam technology labeled steam "punk"?

Why not either steam "tech" or steam "mech" or something similar?

Why "punk"?

Who the hell thought it would be cool to call it "punk"?

Are these the same rapscallions who foisted "my bad" upon us?

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

It's a derivative of 'cyberpunk'.

 

[Bayushi Seikuro]

I've always taken the -punk as meaning more of a style thing. Steamtech or steam-mech still work, but, when I hear '-punk', I think I automatically start thinking of a bare minimum, scraping-by type setting.

For me, that reason is because of all the cyberpunk games. To me, cyberpunk is a world where they have VERY high tech (the cyber part), but any of it that might have fallen into the players' hands is outdated, banged-up, 'fell off a truck', bought with favors for a favor from a friend of a friend.

To me, when I think steampunk, it's the same way more or less. Fantastic devices powered by steam/magical energy/ghost rock/you name it (the 'steam' of the setting), that any of it in PCs hands is second-hand or obscure prototypes.

I'm rambling, and it's early. I guess another example of the 'punk' part of a setting would be Rebel Alliance tech in the Star Wars movies; the Empire (NPCS and the BBEG) have all the high tech, the Rebellion gets things that are older (X-wings looking generationally behind any other ship), cantankerous to upgrade (the speeders on Hoth), or are stolen tech they managed to finagle (the Shuttle Tydirium).

And yes, I generally agree the term -punk was foisted off on the public. It's the same way a movie can't seem to be made, or a book published, without going into at least one meeting saying, 'It's like X and Y and Z all together!'

Back to sleep for me.

 

[Pbartender]

K.W. Jeter coined the term.

Effectively, its a half-joking reference to the fact that most of the genre's stories boil down to "Cyberpunk during the Victorian Industrial Revolution"... Or Cyberpunk with the cyber replaced by steam.

 

[Shadeydm]

K.W. Jeter coined the term.

Effectively, its a half-joking reference to the fact that most of the genre's stories boil down to "Cyberpunk during the Victorian Industrial Revolution"... Or Cyberpunk with the cyber replaced by steam.

Its moments like these that really make me appriciate Wikis. Good stuff!

 

[WayneLigon]

Why "punk"?
Who the hell thought it would be cool to call it "punk"?

The same as Gothic Punk; it emphasizes individualism and anti-authoritarianism.

 

[el-remmen]

Are these the same rapscallions who foisted "my bad" upon us?

Digression: Having seen "my bad" diffuse many situations among young folks that might have been a fight when I was a younger man, I like the term.

It is a way of saying "I'm sorry" without coming off like a punk.

As for "cyberpunk", what other people said. . .

 

[kaomera]

It's a derivative of 'cyberpunk'.

One of the key aspects of cyberpunk fiction is the changes that rapid technological advances have on the characters / the world / humanity / etc. Steampunk fiction tends to have the same theme running through it.

Of course, cyberpunk gaming tends to drift towards guns and chrome, while most steampunk gaming seems more of a magitech thing...

 

[Pramas]

Why "punk"?

Who the hell thought it would be cool to call it "punk"?

Terms like this are usually coined by people who know nothing about punk rock.

 

[Faraer]

The original term 'cyberpunk' was apposite enough (though its authors usually called it 'the Movement' instead) -- less applicable to its 'guns and chrome' degradations. Similarly, calling all fantastic Victoriana/Victorian-influenced fantasy 'steampunk' is your usual sloppy language drift.