thread: 2006-04-06 : I roleplay with my penis
On 2006-04-10, Vincent wrote:
Jeff, in marginalia: Given that terms like "Lumpley Principle" are in-jokey and therefore exclusionary, what's gained by adhering to them that outweighs the benefits resulting from using plain-English (or at least more communicative) terms?
Two things. One minor, one major.
The minor one is that when I use the terms, I smile. This is obviously not a good reason for anyone else to use the terms ever, under any circumstances.
The major one is that making up new terms that'll work better is totally impossible for me. I suspect it's totally impossible; I'm certain that even if it's possible for someone somewhere, I'm not that person.
I encourage anyone who thinks they can make it work to give it a go, and if they in fact CAN make it work I'll adopt their terms happily.
But this thing you're asking me to do, it's not a thing I can do.
So what's the advantage of using the bad old in-jokey terms? Well, it's not impossible, for one.
This makes BL go "Truth, Beauty, Charm..."
In-jokes get imbedded in canon. It happens.
This makes JW go "I feel challenged!"
Surely "Looley Palooley" isn't the most apt phrase!
