Guild Wars 2

Mo Mo.1947:

Language is an art though, not a science. It’s an abstraction of thought where two or more unlinked minds attempt to convey ideas between each other using an indirect medium.

I would disagree here. It is very much a science, though few treat it that way. Language, at it’s core, is the act of conveying information via symbols. One need not start a fire and point, for we’ve reached a group consensus that the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion can be labelled “fire”.

There is an aspect of precision attached to this, so that we can rely on the verbal or written label to correspond with a concept. Being imprecise introduces the opportunity for misinterpretation, with consequences ranging from nonexistent to disastrous.

The loss of precision, to me, isn’t the problem in and of itself. It’s a symptom of a greater issue, one of cultural laziness – an attitude of “good enough”.

To quote the good Doctor;

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” "

Expand that beyond the borders of the United States, to include most Western cultures. It touches upon everything, from our approach to laws and societal behaviour, to our language and personal behaviour.

Gaile Gray.6029:

For game-related useage, I prefer “staves,” and I say “staves”… but when someone looks confused, I then say “You know, staffs?” (Like Danikat above.) But when I think of writing music, and staff paper, I think “staffs” and not “staves.” And considering the employees of a company, I’d go with “multiple corporate staffs” instead of the alternative.

I guess, to me, “staves” relates to the physical staff, as in a weapon, walking stick, or shepherd’s tool.

Interestingly, Dictionary.com has about an even split: 6 for staffs; 5 for staves.

Does make it sound sort of dumb reading it like that. It’s ok though. The world is getting dumber everyday so this seems to fit that mold.

stale.9785:

Mo Mo.1947:

Language is an art though, not a science. It’s an abstraction of thought where two or more unlinked minds attempt to convey ideas between each other using an indirect medium.

I would disagree here. It is very much a science, though few treat it that way. Language, at it’s core, is the act of conveying information via symbols. One need not start a fire and point, for we’ve reached a group consensus that the rapid oxidation of a material in the exothermic chemical process of combustion can be labelled “fire”.

There is an aspect of precision attached to this, so that we can rely on the verbal or written label to correspond with a concept. Being imprecise introduces the opportunity for misinterpretation, with consequences ranging from nonexistent to disastrous.

The loss of precision, to me, isn’t the problem in and of itself. It’s a symptom of a greater issue, one of cultural laziness – an attitude of “good enough”.

To quote the good Doctor;

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” "

Expand that beyond the borders of the United States, to include most Western cultures. It touches upon everything, from our approach to laws and societal behaviour, to our language and personal behaviour.

Expand beyond? Most Western Cultures?

Sounds like you live in one to even generalize in such a base way… I do as well but would rather have this any day over 3rd world rule, or a nice pleasant war lord to follow.

Most people consider Euro zone western as well not sure if you do.

Outside of that most of the rest of the world lives in crazy madness in law and government.

This is about the use of a word being incorrectly used. Your geographical location is not relevant really to that argument but spin up more accusations if you could please.

Ignorance is an individual issue, countries do not make you ignorant even those that try. Fight hard enough and you will find what information you are looking for. You might go to prison or die for it but what is freedom of thought worth to you?

NPCs have largely North American accents.

I don’t understand why they don’t use the pronunciations “gole-emm” and “why-vern”

The current ones would make sense if they were largely British accents, but the only British accents are sylvari, who inherit all of their language cues from the other, older races.

Wow, of all those dictionaries posted to say it could be said both ways, none of them actually said that.

PopeUrban.2578:

NPCs have largely North American accents.

I don’t understand why they don’t use the pronunciations “gole-emm” and “why-vern”

The current ones would make sense if they were largely British accents, but the only British accents are sylvari, who inherit all of their language cues from the other, older races.

I don’t even think it makes much sense in that context. “Why-vern” and “Goh-lem” are just objectively the correct pronunciations. I’m pretty sure people got “Gall-uhm” from the character in the Lord of the Rings even though it’s spelled differently and he’s completely unrelated to fantasy golems, but I’m not sure where “wivv-urn” came from.

WoW has a few of these funny isms also. The most notable one is their foolish insistence that the plural of shaman is “shaman” and not “shamans”. Players also humorously have a habit of saying “hurth” instead of “harth”, but that isn’t Blizzard’s fault.

Morgan.5170:

Wow, of all those dictionaries posted to say it could be said both ways, none of them actually said that.

I’m glad someone else noticed that.