This makes me angry

[dutch206]

I hate pretentious people.

Reading up on Dionysus today, and the author listed his holy symbol as the Thyrsus. Now, I'm no slouch in the vocabulary department, but even I had to look this one up.

WTH didn't he just say "A staff with a pine cone on top of it"?

[serleran]

Because "thyrsus" says it.


Seriously, I prefer when things are named properly.

[gideon_thorne]

Weird. I think its cool picking up new words.

[ThrorII]

The fact that they have a name for a staff with a pine cone on top is cool in itself!!

What do they call a staff with a trout on the tip??

[Traveller]

A spear. The trout is lunch.

[Lurker]

A spear. The trout is lunch.

You beat me to it ...

What is scary is that I knew what a thyrsus is, but only because I've been digging into various pantheons, and ran into it while reading up on Celtic myths.

[moriarty777]

I suppose the same argument can be made about a reference to the caduceus -- why not call it a staff entwined by a pair of snakes?

By that logic, would make a spear just a pointy stick.



It all comes down to context.

M

[Zudrak]

A spear. The trout is lunch.

[Relaxo]

I'm torn.
I think the best approach would have been to say something like, "its a Thyrsus, a staff with a pinecone on the end."
becuase that's the proper name, like Serl said, but at the same time, the public is not going to know that word off the top of it's head. I suppose you could say if the target audience was well versed in various panteons and their symbols and such, they'd know what it is, but for a more regular audience, it does read as pretentious.

[Go0gleplex]

"A staff with a pine cone on top of it"?

Doesn't this qualify as a +1 backscratcher or what?

[Joe]

One of the best things rpgs has done for me is expand my vocabulary and expose me to concepts I would not normally have been. I am forever grateful to EGG that I know what a "dweomer" is. Yet in the 70's everyone knew what an "aura" was. Pretention?

When we have catapults or trebuchet in games should we call them "great big machines that lob large boulders by means of centrifugal force" or should we use one word that clearly defines what they are?

When speaking with my 18 year old daughter I am reminded we have failed as a nation, family, and parent in confirming they even have a minimal speaking vocabulary much less a knowledge of historical trivia.

You will now and forever know what a Thyrsus is.

Does anyone remember when Mom told us to look up a word instead of just telling us what it meant?

[Relaxo]

Indeed, I for one, certainly will.
But is thyrsus in most dictionaries?
It's not in my Websters.
(yes, I checked)
I'm saying if it's obscure enough that it's not even in a dictionary, a common one, I mean, then it's not wrong to define it in line, as in my example. it serves all purposes well: using the correct word, so as to not dumb down the text, while educating the reader.