Saturday, 6 March 2010
Catabloging
Some of the more eagle eyed readers may have noticed that I've been adding extra tags, and revising some of the posts I've made.The reason for this is that I write a blog to get comments, and engage in idle chit-chat with like minded people. Now while I don't mind writing a review and having no one comment on it, after all what is there to say other than I wish I had been able to go, or I shall try and catch that movie, I do want as much chat developed as possible. partly because this site is a relief valve from my work stresses. Now, while I sit at work, I sometime have idle thoughts, as one does, and in these idle thoughts I imagine blogs I've want to write, which is one reason for writing this piece on catabloging. A word I've made up, but assume that others have already thought of it before me, as it describes cataloging a blog with tags quite eloquently.
Anyway, another thing you will start to see are strange combinations of letters like WGIAGH , or WGIAWOL (edit). These respectively stand for War Gaming Is A Goddam Hobby versus War Gaming Is A Way Of Life (edits). This is my attempt to transfer some science fiction fandom geek speak into the wargamers lexicon. One of my favourite authors, Robert A. Heinlein, use to do this with such examples TANSTAAFL, which stands for There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, and this has become a bit of SF fandom culture over the years. More to the point the short hand is useful in identifying those posts where I'm getting my geek on with numbers and calculations, compared to more fluffy pieces about pink battlemechs.
Edits: Yep, I mucked up the contractions, so I've edited them here as noted.
PS: OSR added to my catabloging, which just indicates an article that is Old School Retread stuff.
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Chit-chat, eh? That opens whole new horizons for my comments! :D
ReplyDeleteI like the acronyms, especially how "A Way of Life" turns into AWOL. These supposed to be opposed points of view?
Of course I've just noticed that I have been inconsistent in my contractions, as WIAGH should be WGIAGH, if it is to match WGIAWOL.
ReplyDeleteIf one agrees, and I certainly agree with myself (most of the time) then I'd suggest Geeagh for the pronunciation of the first, and Geeawol for the second contraction (with soft gs please) :-)
Easy, Pink. TANSTAAFL is showing your age. Hell, mentioning Heinlein is showing your age.
ReplyDeleteWhich brings me to my point - why can't we get a Heinlein, a Jack Chalker, a Joe Haldeman, a Keith Laumer or a Mack Reynolds to write the BattleTech fiction? I would even settle for a young Alan Dean Foster.
I know, they're mostly dead, but really, there are writers of that caliber out there. Why the heck can't they write something in the BT universe?
Instead, we have to settle for some of the lamest fiction this degraded planet has ever seen. And it doesn't have to be that way.
Doesn't that caliber of writer usually write in their own IP instead of doing franchise tie-in fiction? I get the feeling it's similar to the difference in prestige between acting for movies and acting for TV.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm going to eat humble pie and say a couple of things I'd never thought I'd say. I'm currently reading Trial by Chaos by J. Steven York, and it is a ripping good read. Lots of characterisation, action, bad guys, good guys who may be bad, and worse thing is I think I found a Clan faction I could like in the Ghost Bears. Me, a confirmed Inner Sphere OSR who thinks the game ended with the introduction of the Clans, and yes I do know how ironic that position is too, given that I wrote and designed all the Clan second line mechs for the 3055 TRO.
ReplyDeleteHeaven help me, I'll be starting to play MWDA clicky-tech next! Oops...