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Full disclosure: I'm becoming an old fogey, but I still pick up slang without thinking about it.

Fuller disclosure: I've started liking the "Spes Mehrens" meme more because it's been run into the ground and people complain so much about it these days.

I'm prepared to accept that that means I'm a bit of a .

To be honest i'm fast turning into an old git, but the only real issue I have with slang and abbreviations is when I don't understand them.

I'm relatively new to the hobby, don't use the internet much and only play imperial guard. So as you can probably guess this means that I don't understand a lot of them.

Why I do find the use of "Spes Mehrens", and "libbies" odd I don't find them as annoying as some because its not too difficult for me to work out what they are talking about, hell I think I may have even used the term "vanilla" to describe a basic Leeman Russ.

For instance I have no idea what these mean ASSCAN or fzorgle. I'm not convinced I truley understand the terms meme or 4chan and to be honest I'm not sure I know what a leaf blower list exactly involves.

and yes I do live in a cave.

Leafblower is from BLOS. ASSCAN is just a shorthand way of saying Assault Cannon. Fzorgle was the term used to describe Lash, created by Dakka member Abadabadoddon.

None of these are Chanisms.

H.B.M.C. wrote: ASSCAN is just a shorthand way of saying Assault Cannon.

Because you can't just have AC as that's Auto Cannon.

Personally I never called them ASSCAN's.

I prefer Donkey Cannon.

And there's a Dakka-centric reason behind that.

H.B.M.C. wrote:Personally I never called them ASSCAN's.

I prefer Donkey Cannon.

And there's a Dakka-centric reason behind that.

Links or explination?


You think its bad to have to deal with the 4chan memes on the internet. I have to sit next a /b/tard (N: someone who frequents the 4chan board of random, or /b/) during math class. Hes a nice guy, but he uses EVERY SINGLE meme in real life.

I dont mind jargon once I know what it is. Because untill I read this thread I thought fatecrusher was a chaos daemon unit.

Happygrunt wrote:Links or explination?

Back when Dakka first moved to this type of board software, when our fancy (READ: useless) word filter was new, it was... very very sensitive. On top of that, whoever wrote it decided that the word "ass" was a bad curse and that children might be corrupted and turn into murder death rapist Nazi's should they ever see the word, so the board would change it to Donkey. And, as I said, it was an overly sensitive censor, so glass would become gldonkey.

Anyway, as this was 4th Ed, and the time of the 4th Ed Marine Codex where 6-man Terminator Command Squads w/2 Assault Cannons were the squad de jour of all Marine players, they were talked about quite a lot. Ass Cannons became Donkey Cannons, and the name stuck so much people started typing "Donkey" rather than "Ass".

chromedog wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:Double tab is actual military or special forces/SWAT jargon, isn't it?

Police, para-military/military.

To put two rounds downwind into x is "double tapping". Easier to do with modern guns than older wheelguns (lighter triggers, etc).

I only use it around people who know what it means, and only in certain situations (eg, playing a military/para-military or security contractor type in an rpg).

With regard to rapid-fire weapons, it's "this unit, rapid-fire weapons, two shots each into them."
I don't think I've ever referred to it as "double tapping".

Almost. Its more like shooting a round into a downed enemy while clearing an objective to ensure the enemy is really down. Side note putting a second round into a down enemy after clearing an objective is murder...LOL G convention.

Nurglitch is 100% spot on.

The explosive growth of Dakka Dakka is partly to blame, but believe me, the standards we have are good ones and we do try to enforce them.

Also:

Nurglitch wrote:Or the whole "Spes Mehrens" crap.

Now that is probably my number 1 pet peeve.

If I could issue warnings for using it, I would.

Just know that if you use it, you bring shame upon yourself, and your entire family.

And, I like cats just fine.

Meh.

Any niche hobby, community, or interest develops jargon. High school debate, military, sports teams, politics- you name a group, and I guarantee you you'll find shorthand/jargon terms in regular usage. Dakka's no different.

As for "chanisms"... Get over it?

I mean, sometimes it's funny... most of the time, not so much.

But, if someone starts a thread about "40k epic fails!!1" I know to stay away. For the most part, nonsense of that sort doesn't spill over into "real" threads; I've not noticed it being problematic in YMDC, for example (although there are certainly other issues in that cesspool [cesspool used here to denote my favorite subforum to post in]).

TL;DR - Meh.

A double tap is two successive shots off of 1 site picture as opposed to two quick shots off of two separate site pictures. Clearing an Objective is an example of its use. It also means double checking something.

I like the X Wings like Logan Wing and Deaf Wing. To me, they're similar to the use of MEQ and GEQ, especially in the army list section. If I'm about to enter a thread titled Logan Wing, I instantly know it's an army from the Space Wolf Codex based around Wolfguard etc. Double Wing? Dark Angels Codex with Terminators and Bikes/ Speeders.

Spes Mehrens

Didn't we just have this thread?

Oh. There it is.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302945.page

You said then that you were going to continue using full words like a literate person. I'm happy for you, and it makes your posts more readable. I'm going to argue that, while maintaining proper English is important, in any sort of environment where there are lots of cumbersome terms and definitions, jargon and abbreviation become essential. A 40k discussion without jargon would be like trying to use English to describe "a computer" without actually using any words invented post 20th century. You can describe it as a "fabulous adding machine that allows for moving pictures and can telegraph messages to the other side of the globe" but it doesn't really do it justice. Same thing with trying to fit a full explanation of Leafblower into a three sentence paragraph and keeping it flowing. Really, if someone knows where their shift key is, and they're aware of which "their" they're using there, then I'm happy.

Myself, two months ago wrote:
Seriously, the company I work for has so many acronyms, financial industry standard and proprietary alike, that we have an online Acronym translator database. It's bad, because if you talk to anyone who's been in the biz for more than six to ten years, all the acronyms they use are different, so you have to have at least two sets of them memorized. I think we're second maybe only to manufacturing and the military. There's at least three different things I can think of that could be described as being a RSS, for example, and none of them are even the http feed reader thingy that most people would be familar with. Acronyms and abbreviations aren't wrong or bad. AOL-speak is bad. Not understanding that your writing style is saying as much about you, good or bad, as the actual message you are writing is bad.

To expound upon this, I would say that the "memes" such as "spesh mariens!" and all of those are humorous to me, but mostly because of the fact that I can't help but envision a grown man wearing a helmet and water wings shouting it out awkwardly like Sloth from the Goonies as he's playing Warhammer. To be perfectly honest, it didn't actually occur to me that it was from DoW.

Unfortunately, the internet functions miraculously as an echo chamber, and it is so very, very easy to see entire threads become consumed by such lack of content. It's tragic, really.

The jargon term that is most often abused is 'meta game' (often shortened by our American colleagues to 'meta'). This is a very specific concept, which involves looking behind the rules at the game mechanics (probability etc), but it's bandied about without any understanding of what it means by people who want to come across as having a deeper grasp of the game than they really have (thus, any discussion about a unit, no matter how obvious, invariably involves a reference to how it affects the 'meta'). It's particularly common on BoLS - BoLS also likes to claim to have 'invented' various fairly obvious maxed-out army lists, the 'leafblower' being the best known.

I'm only a few years older than the "young folk" who make up this crap, and still have friends that spend their time enjoying 4chan. But some of the jargon used here on dakka still confuses me to no end. I know that it bothers me so much, that I take my time to type out most of my words, usually only abbreviating words I know dakka has a little flag for. If I use another abbreviation, I post out the full word or words the first time I use it in a post.

Still I would appreciate a glossary for some of the other terms. It took me ages to figure out what Loganwing was...

darkdm wrote:I'm only a few years older than the "young folk" who make up this crap, and still have friends that spend their time enjoying 4chan. But some of the jargon used here on dakka still confuses me to no end. I know that it bothers me so much, that I take my time to type out most of my words, usually only abbreviating words I know dakka has a little flag for. If I use another abbreviation, I post out the full word or words the first time I use it in a post.

Still I would appreciate a glossary for some of the other terms. It took me ages to figure out what Loganwing was...

I can appreciate that were it not for that I can ctrl+t and then type loganwing into firefox and the answer is there. The only appalling thing about doing this is that the first hit was Stelek's blog, but at least it would let you know what it is. One of the few things I consider bad about the abbreviations though is when I see things like "LR Tactics" or some such and I excitedly click on it, because I assume it's a Leman Russ discussion, only to find that people are talking about which Land Raider is the best. Some of this stuff you're just never going to be able to avoid, no matter how much you bubblewrap the forum in onHover glossaries and forum guidelines. It's just the nature of anything technical enough. Try looking at a forum discussing electrical engineering. The shorthand will be indecipherable from line noise. As would a forum discussing law, or anything else highly geared toward one specific subject, designed for "experts" in that field. The only difference is instead of being well-paid lawyers or electrical engineers, we're all probability gaming neckbeards.

Nurglitch wrote: how about you park that at the door and write like an adult, or at least someone posting in a wargaming forum rather than 4chan?

Three things:

First, 4chan is awesome, don't disparage 4chan.

Second, it's a silly game, and the sillier the better.

Third, you're not the uber-fogey of fogies out here. That's Fraz, so get off his lawn!


Oh yeah, "METAL BAWKES for the win!"

Alpharius wrote:Nurglitch is 100% spot on.

The explosive growth of Dakka Dakka is partly to blame, but believe me, the standards we have are good ones and we do try to enforce them.

Also:

Nurglitch wrote:Or the whole "Spes Mehrens" crap.

Now that is probably my number 1 pet peeve.

If I could issue warnings for using it, I would.

Just know that if you use it, you bring shame upon yourself, and your entire family.

And, I like cats just fine.

Can you not word filter it?

I mean, if Scunthorpe Council can prevent themselves sending or receiving any Emails, surely it can be done?

What's a leafblower?

Machine used to blow leaves in order to tidy up the lawn

George Spiggott wrote:What's a leafblower?

A BOLS creation.

[EDIT]: The "BOLS" above is actually a link to the article about Leafblower Guard, but the Dakka board software just makes it look like a regular acronym.

A Toronto hockey fan.

Nurglitch wrote:A Toronto hockey fan.

I play Orks and my whole codex is written like a 4Chan thread.

"Speed Freeks" and "Stunties and Beakies" and "Dakka" are part of the fluff and theme and why I play orks.

So while you imperial guys can have your game be serious business, I will never accept it because for me... my little green warriors make their trukks go fastah with some red paint and this is how GW made the game.

For you guys it is saving millions of imperial citizens from murder and oblivion, for me it is kicking some 'teef' in and having a 'squigbrew'.

I just think of it like this: The reason Spez Mahreen Players get uptight about "Spez Mahreens" is because deep down, they realize they're playing the army meant for 12 year olds.

Athera wrote:I just think of it like this: The reason Spez Mahreen Players get uptight about "Spez Mahreens" is because deep down, they realize they're playing the army meant for 12 year olds.

You're right.

We are jealous of your emo spiky androgynous alien pervert army.

Take the Ciaphis Cain series as an example of what humans call "humour". It's Flashman in space. Compare and contrast that with people laughing about the accent in the voicework on a video game....

Monster Rain wrote:

Athera wrote:I just think of it like this: The reason Spez Mahreen Players get uptight about "Spez Mahreens" is because deep down, they realize they're playing the army meant for 12 year olds.

You're right.

We are jealous of your emo spiky androgynous alien pervert army.

Considering that I'm playing Fantasy Khorne pretty much exclusively and I believe that I've said so several times, I think you may need to read closer next time.

Honestly though, I don't really "get" this thread. If it bothers you so much, then...ignore it? Seems like a much more reasonable thing to do, instead of posting a long rant and expecting the entire internet to cater to you.

Also, I like how in your last post you hint that people who find METAL BAWKSES funny aren't human. Or at least that's how I read it.

I also realize I could have just ignored this thread.

The problem is when it hits real life and people start using the memes in commonplace. The first time is funny, the second time gets a chuckle, but by the third time onwards, it's just annoying (at least for the old fogeys in the crowd, of which I am proud to be one). It's easy to ignore when it's someone on the internet (there's an app for that!). But it's hard to ignore someone shouting it from six feet away.