WTF: Undefined Terms

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Do you wonder what terms mean? Do you really wonder what terms mean when no one seems to know, and you cant get a straight answer anywhere?


Lets look at EDGY: WTF is edgy? Putting my engineer hat on, EDGY is when a load is barely inside the margin of safety. Wearing my lion tamer pith helmet, EDGY is going inside a cage fulla lions, carrying a starter-pistol and a whip. Actually its crazy to go inside a cage already full of lions, go in first and then bring the animals in (also make sure youre the last to leave). Lions are King of the Bigots, once they get an idea it don't change, ever. But I digress. EDGY is climbing out on a limb and stopping before the bow breaks. Its pushing things as far as they can go without a crisis erupting....the tipping point.

 

[lovecraft68]

Do you wonder what terms mean? Do you really wonder what terms mean when no one seems to know, and you cant get a straight answer anywhere?


Lets look at EDGY: WTF is edgy? Putting my engineer hat on, EDGY is when a load is barely inside the margin of safety. Wearing my lion tamer pith helmet, EDGY is going inside a cage fulla lions, carrying a starter-pistol and a whip. Actually its crazy to go inside a cage already full of lions, go in first and then bring the animals in (also make sure youre the last to leave). Lions are King of the Bigots, once they get an idea it don't change, ever. But I digress. EDGY is climbing out on a limb and stopping before the bow breaks. Its pushing things as far as they can go without a crisis erupting....the tipping point.

Like pretty much everything else that gets discussed here, this is subjective.

Edgy to me means its not light and fluffy and the flavor is not vanilla. The story has realism, grit, and the dark aspects of life that people looking for "yay sex" don't want to get into.

Edgy also means say goodbye to any mainstream "success" here in lit.

MY SWB series wasn't getting a fraction of the votes two other incest series that were running at the time were because their stories were chapter after chapter of family orgies with no reasons behind them.

Mine featured BDSM, drug addiction, sexual abuse, child abuse, mental illness and a lot of violence.

The orgy stories were getting 800/1000 votes and 100 comments. I was lucky to be seeing 100 and 10 comments.

Lit is not an edgy friendly place for the most part unless you're in certain categories.

 

[oggbashan]

Do you wonder what terms mean? Do you really wonder what terms mean when no one seems to know, and you cant get a straight answer anywhere?


Lets look at EDGY: WTF is edgy? ...

These are good questions.

Many of these terms, including edgy, have meaning to the user that the reader might not understand.

Eventually, by repeated use and the term's frequent appearances in context, a consensus will emerge of its definition. That would have taken years in printed media. It can take weeks or even days on the internet.

From an author's point of view it is preferable not to use words or terms that are not generally understood. Murphy's Law means that if there are more than one possible meaning, the reader will think of the one you didn't intend.

The worst examples of undefined terms or terms that the general public won't understand are found in government-speak. The writer of an official announcement or document may have a clear idea of what is to be expressed, but the result is gobblygook to the public. There might be a legal definition enshrined in some court case but to most of us the document could be in some obscure language such as ancient Erse.

Worse still, a term might acquire a generally accepted definition and then is used in a different context, or a sarcastic way, that distorts that definition - and we are back to WTF!

One local government example that irritates me is key. "This is key to the project."

What they think they mean is a single action or fact that is "essential" or " required". But then they suggest that twenty things are "key". WTF! again! You only need one key to open most locks. If you need twenty "keys" then the project is over-complicated and unlikely to succeed.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Like pretty much everything else that gets discussed here, this is subjective.

Edgy to me means its not light and fluffy and the flavor is not vanilla. The story has realism, grit, and the dark aspects of life that people looking for "yay sex" don't want to get into.

Edgy also means say goodbye to any mainstream "success" here in lit.

MY SWB series wasn't getting a fraction of the votes two other incest series that were running at the time were because their stories were chapter after chapter of family orgies with no reasons behind them.

Mine featured BDSM, drug addiction, sexual abuse, child abuse, mental illness and a lot of violence.

The orgy stories were getting 800/1000 votes and 100 comments. I was lucky to be seeing 100 and 10 comments.

Lit is not an edgy friendly place for the most part unless you're in certain categories.

So I've learned. LIT is porn for the Brady Bunch.

Still! I know that many LIT readers live in the Jungle, and that my slings and arrows come from the Bradys who don't wanna think about how sinister and dangerous the world is. Shit! My old man always dressed nice, drove a new car, and was pleasant unless he needed to kill you. Ditto for my mom: dressed nice, went to church, president of PTA, and would fuck you up if you crossed her or messed with her money. And when my old man died, and I believe it was murder, I didn't stir shit up, cuz I knew what the outcome would be. It was business, as they say. My brother died in jail. Same thing. In his case he pissed-off the wrong guys. I did stir the shit for him but it went nowhere.

In a sick twisted kinda way I prefer roaming in the Jungle to grazing in a pasture. And maybe one of these days I'll put it all together and write something that scares the fuck outta readers.

So WTF does gritty mean?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

When I was in mental health I usta think a lot about what words really meant, cuz shrinks use lotsa weird terms. Like labile. WTF is LABILE? Its like a lizard that cant find the right mood, and cycles thru all the colors.

Or BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER. WTF? Is that like an obsession for TACO BELL? Whole libraries are filled with scholarly books about BPD, but what it is is very simple to recognize: A person with BPD is someone you wanna stab thru their heart with your pencil 15 minutes after you meet them for the 1st time.

 

[oggbashan]

When I was in mental health I usta think a lot about what words really meant, cuz shrinks use lotsa weird terms. Like labile. WTF is LABILE? Its like a lizard that cant find the right mood, and cycles thru all the colors.

Or BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER. WTF? Is that like an obsession for TACO BELL? Whole libraries are filled with scholarly books about BPD, but what it is is very simple to recognize: A person with BPD is someone you wanna stab thru their heart with your pencil 15 minutes after you meet them for the 1st time.

Professional jargon, the specialist terms used by self-styled experts, has two purposes:

1. To make a label for something that other professionals will recognise, and,

2. To make the expert sound as if he/she knows more than you do.

Your description of BPD is much clearer than the professionals' definition.

Sometimes the leaders in a specialist field of knowledge are very good at explaining in words everyone can understand. The second-raters retreat behind their obscure language to prove their 'expertise'.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Professional jargon, the specialist terms used by self-styled experts, has two purposes:

1. To make a label for something that other professionals will recognise, and,

2. To make the expert sound as if he/she knows more than you do.

Your description of BPD is much clearer than the professionals' definition.

Sometimes the leaders in a specialist field of knowledge are very good at explaining in words everyone can understand. The second-raters retreat behind their obscure language to prove their 'expertise'.

I was a professional, and didn't understand the jargon. I knew the disorder well enough, and when tasked to explain it to a newbie, I said, THEYRE A ROYAL PAIN IN THE ASS, AND YOU WANNA STAB THEIR HEART WITH YOUR PENCIL. They seriously need killing.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Like pretty much everything else that gets discussed here, this is subjective.

Edgy to me means its not light and fluffy and the flavor is not vanilla. The story has realism, grit, and the dark aspects of life that people looking for "yay sex" don't want to get into.

Edgy also means say goodbye to any mainstream "success" here in lit.

MY SWB series wasn't getting a fraction of the votes two other incest series that were running at the time were because their stories were chapter after chapter of family orgies with no reasons behind them.

Mine featured BDSM, drug addiction, sexual abuse, child abuse, mental illness and a lot of violence.

The orgy stories were getting 800/1000 votes and 100 comments. I was lucky to be seeing 100 and 10 comments.

Lit is not an edgy friendly place for the most part unless you're in certain categories.

If its all subjective how are we to understand each other?

 

[oggbashan]

If its all subjective how are we to understand each other?

That's why your thread is interesting.

Once we use words that are not precisely defined, we can be talking past each other and not understanding what each of us mean.

Many nationalities who visit Lit. Many people are reading English as their second or third language. Every time we use an undefined word or abbreviation the potential for misunderstanding becomes very large.

For example: I know what BBW means. Will every reader?

 

[JackLuis]

I spent a lot of time in radio manufacturing and in my last job the corporate weenies all threw 'management' terms around that as far as I could tell were gobbledegook.

They would sit around and toss out terms that made them appear up to speed, risk adverse and team players. When most of them were just hoping that people would never find out how incompetent they were.

I came to the conclusion that it's like the "priesthood' they toss terms around the confuse the congregation and make people believe that if it weren't for the priests, the gods would make their lives flaming hell!

That is one reason I use plain words and simple terms to tell my stories. Beside they are the only ones I can spell.

Good thread Jimmy.

 

[lovecraft68]

That's why your thread is interesting.

Once we use words that are not precisely defined, we can be talking past each other and not understanding what each of us mean.

Many nationalities who visit Lit. Many people are reading English as their second or third language. Every time we use an undefined word or abbreviation the potential for misunderstanding becomes very large.

For example: I know what BBW means. Will every reader?

That's not just a language/culture barrier its a lifestyle experience barrier.

We write erotica so live in a "porn world" where talking about things like incest and gangbang is the norm.

For instance its hard for me to remember that not everyone thinks of a cumshot to the face when they say "facial"

But experience and preference play in for example most know what a BBW is.

In our little erotic world many know what BBC stands for, but....

But how many know TPE? In the bdsm community many, but outside its not so common.

 

[PayDay]

Although I totally agree with this thread, I just want to type that I have never had the urge to stab someone through the heart with my writing device shortly after I have met them.

also, WTF is Potential? Isn't it just a lack of ability? or is it an abundance of unused ability?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

POTENTIAL are unapplied resources.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

GENRE is anuther weasel word. It means CATEGORY.

 

[TxRad]

GENRE is anuther weasel word. It means CATEGORY.

Actually, it can cover several categories

 

[slyc_willie]

A good part of our misunderstanding comes from the fact that "English," as we know it today, is a mix-up of several different languages and we therefore have a larger number of words that all mean basically the same thing. A lot of us don't know it, but when we speak English, we're actually speaking a hodge-podge of at least a dozen different languages.

"I'm gonna meet Ted at the ranch, and we're gonna have some chow and shoot the breeze about the redneck he has an axe to grind with."

There. That's about four different languages all in one sentence.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

A good part of our misunderstanding comes from the fact that "English," as we know it today, is a mix-up of several different languages and we therefore have a larger number of words that all mean basically the same thing. A lot of us don't know it, but when we speak English, we're actually speaking a hodge-podge of at least a dozen different languages.

"I'm gonna meet Ted at the ranch, and we're gonna have some chow and shoot the breeze about the redneck he has an axe to grind with."

There. That's about four different languages all in one sentence.

THAT! and our habit for misappropriating words.

 

[oggbashan]

THAT! and our habit for misappropriating words.

And Mrs Malaprop still roams on the internet.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

And Mrs Malaprop still roams on the internet.

Ah! Stella. I forgot.

 

[PayDay]

THAT! and our habit for misappropriating words.

There is an advanced use of metaphor in our version of English, and a mass of mis used terms accepted as used correctly.

Some people have a hard time with it, some person's even believe you are 'speaking down' whennin fact you are trying to speak more clearly.

Communication is fun like AP Calc with imaginary #s