Celtic Heroes

The title of this post is from a song by Elvis Presley. My wife loved both his voice and his body. Well, not the voice and body of the Elvis who sadly ended up obese and dead aged only 42 (due to his joint addiction to beef burgers and sedatives), but rather that young stud whose thick black hair, curled upper lip and a singing voice like dark honey, had a generation of young girls buckling at the knees. My wife said, 'The way he moved his hips...it made knicker elastic across the Western hemisphere snap!'.

Kissing in game has a different meaning of course. Does anyone know why someone, or a group, taking down a training target or boss which others have started is called, 'ksing'? This game term has always puzzled me. Way back when I was in a clan for the first time, I remember a young chap announcing that he had been, 'ksed' in game. I thought he meant a player had blown him a kiss (as there is that feature in the game). I couldn't understand why he was so angry especially as he said it was a girl player who had done this. I told him he should feel flattered. There was silence and then he replied on clan chat, 'What the fk do you mean Zapper?'. So I said I wouldn't be angry if a girl player blew me a kiss. He got even more annoyed, responding with, 'She ksed me, not 'kissed' me!' 'Oh, I see', was my reply (not in fact having a clue what he was on about).

Game terminology was something that took me a long time to get my head round, and I am still confused by some of these terms. I remember in that first clan I was in, another guy saying he was going 'camping'. I wished him well and said I hoped the weather was nice! There was silence. The following day he was playing again so I assumed he was playing on his phone while on his camping trip. I asked him how his camping was going and was he fishing? He said, 'I am not camping today and there aren't any fish in Liers!'. I thought he was simply being humorous. It took my brain a long time to understand that, 'camping' was a term for waiting for a boss to spawn.

'Toons' was another long time mystery word to me, also 'ammy' and many more. Nor did I know until I was nearly 100 level that you could sell your training drops to traders at castle. I kept either giving away stuff or simply dumping it. The one clan I was ever booted from, Taimoth (the day after I joined because Neo decided I was Skullcrusher), a frost orb dropped to me when clan did an OW boss. I handed it to Neo straight away and asked her what it was for...she didn't answer. That afternoon I joined a mixed group, MageKate was in it (she was also in Taimoth) but it was mainly Dubstep guys. We were doing Spearhorn and afterwards I got told off for grouping out of clan. I didn't even understand the grouping system back then!

As I am being honest about my game stupidities, another term I still do not understand is 'ticket' (as in sending one to Support). Perhaps someone would enlighten me.

I started this post by talking about Elvis, so will end by saying that I found it a horrible irony that the 'King' died on the toilet....a throne of sorts I guess. It is strange to me that we live in an age obsessed with fame when those few who have it are in some cases totally destroyed by it. Imagine the absolute hell of almost complete loss of privacy (your home a guarded, security fenced luxury fort) and never being able to walk in public places without being approached constantly. To me that would be a living hell.

As I wrote that last sentence there was a tapping sound coming from the kitchen in my cottage. Puzzled I went to investigate to find a large male pheasant sitting on the exterior sill of the window and tapping the glass with his beak. He has been here awhile now, usually at the front as that is where I put out food for the wild birds. I forgot to do it this morning so Barny (as I have named him), obviously decided to give me a reminder. There have been quite a few 'Barnys' down here over the years, but sadly they end up being shot by wealthy solicitors and bankers who pay large fees to come over from Edinburgh and shoot on the Laird's vast Estate. One year there was an absolutely stunning boot polish black pheasant here. Sadly he ended up with one badly mauled leg (courtesy of one of the farm dogs) and he didn't last long after that.

Better go and feed Barny before he breaks in and pecks me to death! There is a lot to be said for obscurity....I love it!

PS. Crimex...As it is Sunday I fried some smoked bacon and put it between thick cut farmhouse bread, with plenty of butter! It was bloody wonderful.....I know you are a fan of bacon butties, so just wanted to torture you!

Ks k.s. kill steal

I remember when i first started playing. I asked my clan where i could find spell tomes. I was told to farm in Fingals. I searched for probably an hour all over Fingals looking for a place to buy seeds or find a garden spot!

*drools*

I have a friend who calls bacon the "gateway meat" and says you can gradually seduce vegetarians into carnivorism with bacon.

Being a middle-aged novice gamer, I have had those same struggles. I joined my first clan back in the days when you could still "AFK" (that one means Away From Keyboard in case you don't know). My chief was forever standing in dustwither. I'd go stand there and talk to him and could never understand why he always ignored me. I finally left in a huff.

KS stands for "Kill Stealing".

i do not know the origins of this but the term "ticket" seems to be used by computer service people in much the same way one might use the term "case" or "file". Each complaint is it's own ticket. I always envision some techie person writing the complaint in a little notebook with carbon pages -- much like the RCMP officer who gave me a ticket for seatbelt violation last fall :p

I still run into gaming terms I don't understand and either google them or ask a clanmate. There is actually quite a bit of info about gaming language, history, and culture out there for us oldies.

I also like learning slang from clanmates and occasionally get to enjoy the shock on my teen daughter's face when she catches me using some up-to-the-minute term or when I know something about technology.

Ks k.s. kill steal

I remember when i first started playing. I asked my clan where i could find spell tomes. I was told to farm in Fingals. I searched for probably an hour all over Fingals looking for a place to buy seeds or find a garden spot!

You're a massive plat buyer though, you're fairly new.

I've played since 2011 mainly buying and selling. I have knowledge

No, not calling you stupid.

I once dropped a black mask of lugh when I was a new player. I still have to ask about in game terms sometimes, too.

Another thing in this vein, learning the names and locations of bosses can feel overwhelming. I give boss tours to new players regularly because I know how annoying it is to get lost when things are trying to kill you at every step!

Imagine the non-English speaking players who must likewise contend with our idiomatic language atop eveything else!

A decade ago, I spent several weeks in OZ and NZ touring universities and researching the educational systems therein. It was an amazing lesson in communication as I watched some of the most intellectual and intelligent people from US and Australia talked at each other rather than with each other, all because English is not really a pure, single language anywhere that it is spoken. We figured it out and had amazing end results, but it was a process.

When you throw local taxonomy, culturally perceived connotation, regional dialect, conflicting idiomatic terms, empathy and non-verbal cues into the fray and top it off with the short, character-limited communication in acronyms and snippets that has evolved in our twitter and vine universe, it is no wonder online communication in a nightmare waiting to happen for many.

I, for one, have said things that accidentally offended others and I'm sure it happens to us all. I'd opine that if we all remember how complicated communication is, stop assuming others can read our full intention in a tweet, exercise more patience and just smile more, we'd all feel kissed rather than ksed.

Just for a giggle at my expense, a recent term that threw me at first blush was people shouting "alts for sale" . Yes, yes, I know, books of alt.

Now, someone please tell me what this face means? :3

Ks k.s. kill steal

I remember when i first started playing. I asked my clan where i could find spell tomes. I was told to farm in Fingals. I searched for probably an hour all over Fingals looking for a place to buy seeds or find a garden spot!

You're a massive plat buyer though, you're fairly new.

I've played since 2011 mainly buying and selling. I have knowledge

No, not calling you stupid.

Geeez for a second there I thought you were calling me a stupid plat junkie noob! Not stupid, phew. Thanks for your knowledgeable insight.

Ks k.s. kill steal

I remember when i first started playing. I asked my clan where i could find spell tomes. I was told to farm in Fingals. I searched for probably an hour all over Fingals looking for a place to buy seeds or find a garden spot!

actual farming is my favourite part of other mmorpg

Farm for me <3

Kes, in your reply to this post you say:

A decade ago, I spent several weeks in OZ and NZ touring universities and researching the educational systems therein. It was an amazing lesson in communication as I watched some of the most intellectual and intelligent people from US and Australia talked at each other rather than with each other, all because English is not really a pure, single language anywhere that it is spoken. We figured it out and had amazing end results, but it was a process.

Instead of 'touring universities' (which after all, are stuffed full of 5th rate pseudos desperately trying to cast themselves as 'intellectuals'), I think your time would have been better spent among the people who actually live in NZ and OZ.

You say, 'It was an amazing lesson in communication as I watched some of the most intellectual and intelligent people from US and Australia talked at each other rather than with each other, all because English is not really a pure, single language anywhere that it is spoken.'

This makes no sense, how exactly do people talk 'at' rather than 'with' each other. Are you suggesting they were talking at the same time, so over each other? Are you saying there were only two people present...as in you say 'each other' rather than 'one another'.

I loath these pseudo phrases of very small minds that somewhere along the line you have mistakingly interpreted as being gems from the holy grail of intellectual thinking:

' throw local taxonomy, culturally perceived connotation, regional dialect, conflicting idiomatic terms, empathy and non-verbal cues into the fray and top it off with the short, character-limited communication in acronyms and snippets that has evolved in our twitter and vine universe.....'

Why not just say it is a shame that language has become debased in many ways due to the Internet and text speech format.
Your readers might then have some idea what you are actually saying. Why is there any need to refer to a bunch of pretentious fools farting about on an excuse for a holiday in some Oz and NZ low league educational establishment? Is it done to validate or impress, it serves no other purpose.

You will see this as harsh criticism and it is......in the days of real education it used to be called debate. In them thar old days, you just couldn't write nonsensical verbiage like that and not get hammered for it.

I don't like pseudos, and that includes in the world of academia. One of my sisters trained as a nurse and she was damn good at her job. Down the line she also decided she wanted to belong to 'planet intellectual' and off she went to some third rate university and finally emerged with a BSc. She bored the entire family witless with such crap as 'logic and ethics' and would visit friends with her little library of 'intellectual' books so as to try and impress them...it didn't. An elder brother of mine, a brilliant army officer, also decided to enter the world of academia and ever since gaining his Masters degree he writes exactly like you do....sentences that are so contrived they have no meaning.

As to, 'English not really being a pure language anywhere it is spoken', talk about stating the obvious! It isn't, and never has been a 'pure language' even in its birthplace, England. It's origins lie in ancient Saxony (Germany) and also in France (if you care to do a quick Google you will see England was invaded by the Normans in 1066, and they had a massive effect both on English architecture, culture and language). For something like 300 years we had Plantagenet Kings of England (the last being Richard III, immortalised by Shakespeare). The Plantagenets were all of French descent. The only reason English is the most spoken language around the globe is because of our once gigantic Empire, and that is not going to change any time soon (unless America loses its super power status to China, which is quite possible).

What bloody well annoys me is that these 'experts' you speak of, some of them US, aren't really achieving much are they. The educational system both in the US and UK has become a joke; illiteracy among children is at all time highs. So while these 'experts' you are so impressed with, trot off on endless sabbaticals abroad (all paid for by the tax payer), so as to theorise about 'language', our actual educational systems are in collapse (thanks to these very arseholes who spout crap).

A young and brilliant man wrote, ''For axioms in philosophy are not axioms until they are tried upon our pulses'. Go look up what it means, it is one of the wisest statements ever made. The author of that is the English poet, John Keats. He didn't dwell in the world of the fake, he dealt in reality. He died of consumption (TB) at the age of 25. The true and greatest thinkers are never the product of any university. Their genius is as much a part of them as the colour of their eyes. Yes, there are some brilliant teachers and lecturers but it saddens me to see this skimmed milk style intellectualising. Give me red meat of thinking or none at all!

One last thing, if you are going to attempt to write in 'academic mode' about the English language and its use, at least make the effort to check your own grammar!

Examples: You say spanner and I say wrench. In Oz they say course and in the US they say degree.

I was referring to the fact that, often, those who speak English and make assumptions that they will automatically be understood are likely to misunderstand one another and that technology has made communication even more complicated.

I observed and documented the discussions of these educators as part of my job; it was not a vacation by any stretch of the imagination. I wish it had been! These people were arguing because of semantics and langauge barriers though they actually agreed upon concepts.