# How bad is the jargon in your hobby? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2011, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-the-jargon-in-your-hobby/581251 "2011-05-09T10:03:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-the-jargon-in-your-hobby/581251/21 "2011-05-10T18:15:04Z")
A peculiar distinction exists with younger-generation videogame hobbyists, in that unlike most other jargon-laden hobbies (and sailing comes to mind particularly), they do _not_ seem to care much for precise use of said jargon – or even approximate use. I’ve seen thousands of posts in which players do not just misspell or mis-use terms of art, but completely subvert them, saying things _entirely unrelated_ to what they turn to to have intended, and often enough, asserting the exact opposite of what they later are revealed to have been trying to communicate. When this is brought to their attention, they typically insist that even though their poor understanding, horrific spelling, sloppy usage, and inattention to detail resulted in their communication going completely astray, it doesn’t matter. I’ve been doing it for years, and IMHO a significant portion of all online-game-related communication is spent trying to interpret, refute, correct, or explain online-game-related **mis** communication. “I wonder what _that_ meant?” and “Well, _my guess_ is the OP meant X,” are _extremely_ common elements of such discussions. And that’s just limiting the topic to the communication itself. Misunderstanding, making up, and lying about the way the actual game **rules** work is also flagrant, even on easily-testable and long-established game functions. It’s baffling to me, but it happens. I suppose a thick layer of emotional fantasy and egotism impairs a lot of players’ ability to accurately describe what they’ve seen happen the same way thousands of times, night after night. Or maybe it’s related to the more general “eyewitnesses are notoriously unreliable” issue. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-the-jargon-in-your-hobby/581251/22 "2011-05-10T18:28:58Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > **Sailing** , the entire activity is jargon. > **Wargaming** , stuff like enfilade, melee, phase line and such is of course not specific to the hobby but ASL is an entirely different language. \* > > - ETA: I meant Advanced Squad Leader. I don’t think I need to tell anyone American Sign Language is a different language. 🙂 And that’s not even coming close to scratching the classic wargaming jargon like ZOC, CRT, TEC, soak-offs, AH, and SPI. The you get the games themselves - TSS, BB '65, PB/PL, SL/CoI/CoD/GI, Quad Series, flatpacks, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-the-jargon-in-your-hobby/581251/23 "2011-05-10T19:50:08Z")
Pretty bad, I guess! I breed a variety of small animals for pets and showing, and when I get together with another group of breeders at a show I pity anyone who isn’t part of it trying to make sense of it. We can have whole conversations in genetics, draw Punnett Squares on bar napkins, recite pedigrees back umpteen generations, talk about health issues and necropsies (yes, while we’re eating, lol) and generally if you aren’t involved in animal health or genetics, you just won’t have the slightest clue what we’re on about. I’m also a gamer (online, tabletop and wargaming, yay!) so it can get pretty crazy there too. My family’s pretty used to just letting me vent without having the slightest clue what I’m talking about. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-bad-is-the-jargon-in-your-hobby/581251.md?page=1)