Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
#58707 02/26/02 12:54 PM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
B
Bean Offline OP
old hand
OP Offline
old hand
B
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
This has been on my mind for a while...parents are always complaining that video games ruin a child's mind. Well, not when they contain interesting words! I can think of a few words I've picked up from video games that I would have not encountered otherwise, or else learned much later. Here's a sampling:

bandicoot: would this animal be as well-known without Crash Bandicoot bringing it to fame?
ocarina: from The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time for N64. I played the whole game wondering if they'd made up the word ocarina, which was this flute you played as part of the game. I said to Dag one night, it sounds Italian, but it means "little goose". Lo and behold, I looked it up the next morning - the name refers to the egg-shape of the instrument, and it's a real instrument!
prophylactic: from Leisure Suit Larry. I played this computer game when I was too young to know this particular euphemism for condom. Of course by the end of the game you've figured it out, but you can't figure out how to pronounce it!
lemming: from the game Lemmings (you have to lead a group of Lemmings to a goal, as I recall, without them all falling off a cliff). Otherwise who would have heard of this particular animal?
minesweeper: I played this game for years, not thinking about the name, until seeing something on the news about minesweepers, sweeping the land for unexploded mines. It took me that long to realize that the game was named after this activity.

Anyone else got any video game (or other game) words you can think of?


#58708 02/26/02 01:46 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
A personal favourite is "lay down misere" from 500.

OK - it wasn't a video game for hundreds of years but it is now....

stales


#58709 02/26/02 02:56 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,502
Likes: 1
W
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,502
Likes: 1
re minesweeping -

I think the phrase applied originally more to clearing of ocean/harbor mines than land mines, though of course mankind's fiendish ingenuity expands and language duly follows.

Any Navy people out there who can comment?


#58710 02/26/02 03:09 PM
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
R
addict
Offline
addict
R
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 679
Any Navy people out there who can comment?

Well, I'm not navy but I have read quite a bit about naval activities.

Mines were first used in great numbers during the first world war. Since the British navy depended on clear shipping lanes to transport troops and equipment to France, Flanders and the Dardanelles the German, Austrian and Turkish navies promoted the production of specialist mine laying ships. To counter this the British developed a new type of small ship to accompany destroyers and carriers - the minesweeper. The first ones probably consisted of nothing more than hastily converted sloops but, as the war progressed, it was clear that equal priority had to be given to minesweeper production as to the production of destroyers.

The intervening years between the wars allowed for more advanced naval teachniques, technology such as the sonar and ship designs to evolve and the present minesweeper design came into being.


#58711 02/26/02 03:19 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
R
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Pooh-Bah
R
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Canasta gave us the verb, "to MELD" - a wonderfully evocative word, which has crept into the language, quietly and unobtrusively and has now melded with all the other incomers.


#58712 02/26/02 04:40 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,502
Likes: 1
W
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
W
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,502
Likes: 1
Long before Canasta was invented (I remember the Canasta craze as 1950 or so), didn't we meld in Gin Rummy, and Pinochle, and probably a lot of games even more venerable? Maybe even Mah Jongg, which is going back quite a way indeed.


#58713 02/26/02 06:20 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
M
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
M
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409

#58714 02/26/02 06:33 PM
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
K
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
K
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Interestingly, bartleby lists the two meanings of meld as coming from two different sources:

meld = to present a card-combination for scoring: probably German melden, to announce
meld = merge, or merger: perhaps blend of melt and weld.


#58715 02/26/02 07:47 PM
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526
veteran
Offline
veteran
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,526


I've never played Leisure Suit Larry, but I know the guy who wrote the original program.

I haven't played many video games. But I did learn of the word mugwump (political independent) in a text-based game maybe 25 or 26 years ago. I remember assuming for years that it was a complete fabrication. Had to write our own version of the program on a pdp8.

I learned of the word plover (some kinda bird, maybe a sea bird, if i recall) a few years later from a text based game called adventure that ran on a pdp11/34.

I'm sure there are other words, but I can't recall at the moment.

I strongly encourage my own kids to play video games (as well as other computer games) and don't limit their kind or usage. Let them play Duke Nukem, for example, and introduced them to Rogue Spear. Neither interest ever took off (they're girls), but they're really into The Sims these days.


k



#58716 02/26/02 08:05 PM
A
Anonymous
Unregistered
Anonymous
Unregistered
A
I've never played Leisure Suit Larry, but I know the guy who wrote the original program.

how odd, i just sold a bunch of old PC games on eBay, including a LSL. so you know Al Lowe? do me a flavor and ask him why he never made a LSL IV. those were fun =)

i also remember the text-based games ~ remember how avant garde they seemed? my dad and i spent hours playing "escape from rungistan" and "mission impossible" (anyone recall either of those?). The *really advanced ones would have ASCII graphics, or even timers (in Escape from Rungistan, towards the end, you found yourself in a pot of boiling water surrounded by cannibals, and had to *quickly type "predict eclipse" {try typing that fast as a 6 year old!) in order to save your skin.)

okay, here's the word part of this post:

i thought you guys might get a kick out of a brochure for "Prodigy" (the fledgling internet) i found in one of the old games boxes this morning. the system requirements:

~ at least one megabyte of RAM
~ Operating System 4.1 or higher
~ at least one 800K disk drive, or hard drive with 750k (that's not a typo) available space
~ 1200 or 2400 bps modem (!)
~ monochrome or color monitor (remember when they were green on black?)

The frightening thing is that this form was printed in 1990

tempus fugit

my, how time flies!


Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,271
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 399 guests, and 3 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,502
LukeJavan8 9,915
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5