This is in reference to a specific conversation that finally proved enough to nudge me here. That said, this is the immediately previous ordeal I've experienced within an ongoing situation, but likely not to be the last. And I wish I could just C&P the conversation in question, but I didn't make a copy of it. It's difficult to track and recount how a topic within a conversation can flow one way or another. I'm going to argue that ultimately my issue with the whole thing is a matter of going OOC, of being accused as such, when my intentions were anything but.

If I could rehash in a nutshell, if such a thing could be possible, the situation began when somebody asked via gweth in the general channel, "Is there a debochle going on?" It seemed an innocent enough question at the time. I had a number of options, and where I would typically choose to ignore the question and simply listen quietly, for some reason I was intrigued. (As an aside, there was also a known invasion happening at the same time.) A second option would have been to open a dictionary and look up the word for myself. It's just sometimes easier to ask, What do you mean, get the answer from the horse's mouth, which is likely what I was going to have to do anyway, had I had an answer to the surface issue.

This is the way conversations often go. It begins with a seemingly innocent question then leads to something more. It isn't a good or a bad thing, just the way things are. But when I asked, "Define dechochle?" then the answer was absolutely misleading.

I'll stop the story right there because the continuation through the outcome doesn't matter. What does matter has to do with the English language. As it turns out, 'debacle' has actually a French word origin referring to breaking ice with a disastrous kind of connotation. But instead I was offered the definition for 'debauchery,' a word of Latin origin with an entirely different meaning in every sense.

As it turned out, a conversation regarding alcohol progressed across the general channel until overtly someone asked who Bacchus was. It wasn't me. I don't remember dropping the name, but I didn't keep records verbatim. Misled as I was, I drew a comparison between Bacchus and Glythtide, to which I was definitively corrected.

And this all took place In Character, and as far as I was concerned at the time, all was fine. A known Cleric stated for a fact that I was wrong, and then I quit speaking on that matter, intent on reading more on Glythtide and the rest of the pantheon during logged out hours.

So what really ticked me off was the polite message that hit me in a rather intrusive manner, the yellow script interrupting my combat screen with the request, "Please do not make OOC references to Greek gods no matter how much immortals here remind you of them." A reasonable enough request, other than the fact that a) I was already done with the whole thing, b) I'm not the one who referenced Bacchus in the first place, and c) Bacchus is in fact a Roman name.

Like I had said at the time, it doesn't translate, and these things can be resolved IC without accusing me of having already gone OOC. Here is why I was In Character still. If we are going to speak the Common tongue, then there are pre-established reasons why certain benign words exist and have certain meanings. I don't know--maybe I did say Bacchus. How do you define debauchery without Bacchus? To suggest that I am OOC every time I make reference to an origin of a word and why it means what it does is oppressively restrictive to the extent that we can barely talk about anything anymore.

And the result of it is only further confusion. Apparently, as I came to find out after the fact, long after I had shut down my general channel, people began debating a pantheon of Everquest gods. I declare, this is not my fault. I neither prompted that conversation nor encouraged it. In essence, it's a distraction from the original issue anyway. I myself still question the intended meaning of the term 'debacle' in the first place. Was this in reference to the invasion out the Crossing northeast gate, or an actual drinking party near Glythtide's shrine? I'm resigned that nobody will ever answer that one for me. People seem to be too engaged with a word that I made up, even though it wasn't I who coined the term.

Javac,

Champagne is a wine specific to the Champagne region and appellation in France. Without this specific region Champagne would not exist. (See also Cava being specific to Catalonia in Spain and or Prosecco in Italy.). Champagne should not exist in game as it is OOC and the drink should instead be termed sparkling wine.

Razhak

>Champagne is a wine specific to the Champagne region and appellation in France. Without this specific region Champagne would not exist. (See also Cava being specific to Catalonia in Spain and or Prosecco in Italy.). Champagne should not exist in game as it is OOC and the drink should instead be termed sparkling wine.

I think that's his point, and why he mentioned France specifically. There's bourbon in DR even if there isn't a Kentucky. And just because there is bourbon in DR, doesn't mean I can talk about the Kentucky Derby IC.

Jalika

Mayonnaise, the condiment that people like to put on sandwiches, get's it's name from Mayo, a town in Spain. If you gave it a name like Therennaise, anyone who speaks English wouldn't know what you were talking about, so we stick with mayonnaise so that game players know what you are talking about.

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We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/autumn

the mayonnaise origin was just one of several origins that has been theorized for the word by the way, but it seems apparent that it originated in France or Spain. Yeah, I don't know why they didn't allow "ketchup". Guess it was just that GMs call. "Ketchup" or "Catsup" has Chinese origin. Likely applied originally to a fish type of sauce.

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We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/autumn

AFAIK, if GMs ask themselves "is this in-game?," they often check elanthipedia.

Checking to see if something is documented on epedia is a good barometer for those kinds of things. The more times (and especially the more recently) something is referenced in previous items, the much higher a chance you'll be able to make the same reference.

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Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.