1206. This week, we look at the secret language of video gamers — including why getting "nerfed" is a bad thing and what it means to "rage quit" — and we answer a listener's question about whether the bird "duck" or the verb "duck" came first and whether real ducks actually duck for cover.
1206. This week, we look at the secret language of video gamers — including why getting "nerfed" is a bad thing and what it means to "rage quit" — and we answer a listener's question about whether the bird "duck" or the verb "duck" came first and whether real ducks actually duck for cover.
The duck segment was by Karen Lunde, a career writer and editor [who spent nine years as a video game journalist.] These days, she writes I'll Go First, a newsletter where she shares her story, then hands you a weekly writing prompt and a metaphorical pen. Find her on igofirst.org.
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Grammar Girl here. I'm Mignon Fogarty. This week, we'll talk about the secret language of video gamers — like what it means to get "nerfed" or "rage quit" — and we'll find out where the word "duck" really comes from.
This first piece is by Karen Lunde.
by Karen Lunde
If you heard someone say, "Aw, man! My character got nerfed!" would you understand what they were talking about?
You almost certainly would if you play multiplayer video games. But otherwise, you might wonder why the gamer in your life is talking about a foam toy. What do Nerf toys have to do with video games?
Well, quite a lot, actually. Because gaming culture has become its own little language lab, shaping everyday terms into a lingo all its own that only other gamers understand. And the term "nerf" has a pretty solid origin story.
Back in 1997, when the Internet was far from mainstream, Ultima Online helped bring massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, to a wider audience. Early in the game's history, the developers reduced the power of swords in melee combat, and designer Raph Koster later wrote that players complained they were “hitting each other with Nerf swords,” and “the rest is history.” The joke stuck, because clearly you wouldn't want to fight a scary virtual monster with a foam sword.
And while we're on the topic of Nerf swords, here's a fun little myth: Some people think the toy's name actually comes from an acronym for "non-expanding recreational foam," which would be great — except that Merriam-Webster says it's not true. "Non-expanding recreational foam" is a backronym instead: a phrase that was made up after the fact because it seems to fit. In reality, nobody really knows where the name "Nerf" came from.
Anyway, though, the name "nerf" did, indeed, stick around, becoming a verb in gaming parlance. Today, when game developers decide a certain game mechanic, like damage from a weapon or magic spell, has become too powerful, they make adjustments to reduce its effectiveness. Players call this "nerfing," a tongue-in-cheek complaint that their super-powerful ability has lost some of its sting, making it a lot like a Nerf sword.
Here's another term gamers have adopted: "grinding." In gaming, grinding means repeating the same tasks to reach a goal. A player might repeat quests or defeat the same enemies over and over to earn in-game currency, gain experience, or unlock rewards.
Of course, using "grind" to describe tedious, repetitive work isn't new. English speakers have used the word that way since the mid-1800s as both a noun and a verb. We often think of "grind," at least in this context, as a noun — like in "the daily grind," where "the grind" is a thing we experience. But using it as a verb goes back just as far. Gamers today, though, probably don't know their trendy-sounding description of "grinding for hours" when they need more gold or experience puts them in fellowship over the centuries with students who described grinding at their Latin verses.
As video games and internet life began to overlap more and more, gaming started to develop its own shared language, a kind of "social glue" that bonded players and helped them identify one another as belonging to the culture. In fact, "social glue" and another term — "discourse communities" — are used by linguists and scholars when they talk about groups like video game players. The discourse community concept comes from linguist John Swales, who argued that such communities develop, among other things, their own specialized vocabulary, or what he called "specific lexis."
Video gaming, of course, has gained massive popularity over the decades. And as it did, the language of video games started to spill out into pop culture, even among non-gamers.
If your friend takes a tumble during a spirited volleyball match, you might playfully call them a "noob" (spelled N-O-O-B), a term strongly associated with online gaming and derived from “newbie” — either referring to new players who don't know any better or to experienced players who should know better … but apparently don't.
Your friend might tell you that they would've been on time for your lunch date, but they got distracted by a "side quest." Side quests are a longstanding part of gaming culture. They represent a mission you can undertake that's typically fun, but lies outside of the main storyline.
You've heard of internet "trolls" — people who intentionally try to stir the pot in [extra silent] online conversations. There are plenty of sources for this online term, from trolls in folklore to the fishing term for slowly pulling a lure through the water to see what bites. But trolling is also well-known gaming lingo for a person who intentionally provokes another player for their own amusement.
Maybe you "rage quit" your favorite TV series because the plot took a twist you didn't approve of. Well, "rage quitting" is gaming slang for leaving a situation — or even the game as a whole — out of sheer frustration.
Then we also have abbreviations, many of which have become popular as text speak or online shorthand. There's N-P-C for "non-player character," which is now also an insult for someone who doesn't think for themselves, and A-F-K for "away from keyboard," which was popularized by video gamers.
Most of these video game terms we've talked about are well-established — they've been around for a while. But the gaming community's in-group lingo evolves just like a language, and new terms and trends happen all the time, making the lingo of video games less like a fun quirk and more like a true social and cultural phenomenon. Sometimes, all it takes is a friendly "good game" comment (abbreviated "GG") to prevent a "noob" from "rage quitting" and initiate them into the community instead.
That segment was by Karen Lunde, a career writer and editor [who spent nine years as a video game journalist.] These days, she writes I'll Go First, a newsletter where she shares her story, then hands you a weekly writing prompt and a metaphorical pen. Find her on igofirst.org.
by Mignon Fogarty
Next I have a question from Katie.
Hi, Grammar Girl. This is Katie West from West Seattle, one of your favorite listeners, or at least I hope so. My husband had a question that made me say, "You know what? That's actually a great thing to put forward to my favorite little friend." So, I'm going to do that, and I say "little" because I'm a big one. Anyways, so, we were wondering about the word "duck" and its relation to the animal, and its connection to, like, ducking your head. First of all, like, which one came first, and, like, if a duck is in trouble, I think this is how the question came out. If a duck is in trouble, why doesn't it duck down like towards the water? Why does it instead fly upwards, or something like that? So, if you can also maybe look into the possible fact or fiction behind that idea, that would be cool, too. Or if you've already covered these topics, or whatever, and would be willing to share with me which title to go look for, that would be cool, too. Anyways, thank you very much. Have a great day and stay beautiful, Mignon, stay beautiful. You're doing great, and we all love you. All right. Bye.
Thanks so much, Katie!
This ended up being a more complicated question than I expected.
If we're talking about which meaning shows up first in known writing, the name of the bird shows up earlier, all the way back in Old English in an Anglo-Saxon charter, a document describing land ownership. There's one old instance describing a boundary that reads (translated), "Along Osric's creek until it comes to the duck pit; from the duck pit until it comes to Rischale." In some translations "duck pit" is translated as "pond of ducks."
But either way, multiple experts seem to think the bird name probably actually came from an older Germanic verb meaning “to dive” or “dip.” And that we just don't have written proof (yet). The “ducking under water” meaning as a verb came first, and it looks like the concept of ducking your head, like to go under something or to symbolically lower your head, didn't emerge until the 1500s. One of the earliest examples in the OED is from a verse from the Coverdale Bible from 1535, for example: "A wicked man can behaue himself humbly, and can douke with his heade."
As for your next question … I'm definitely not a duck behavior expert (do you remember that in past episodes I've actually said that I'm afraid of flocks of ducks and the zombie-like way they come at you?) Anyway, apparently, ducks will both duck into the water and swim away or fly away when they are in danger, depending on the kind of duck and the circumstances. For example, a type of duck called a diving duck will go under and swim off underwater, especially when the danger's coming from above or when they can't fly. For example, some ducks can't fly when they moult for a few weeks in the summer, so they definitely dive into the water if they can and need to get away from a predator. But a healthy adult duck is more likely to fly away or sometimes swim away quickly when faced with danger. Basically, a duck usually just takes whatever seems like the best and fastest escape it can, which I guess is usually not zombie-like waddling.
Thanks for the question, and the kind words, Katie.
Finally, I have a familect from Christian.
Hey, Mignon. This is Christian Wilkie in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'm a big fan of your show, first time, long time. I've got a familect to share. It is called "six flagging," and it is an activity you undertake. It is to speak authoritatively on a subject you know nothing about. Not to deceive others or to vaunt yourself as an expert, but just a certain carelessness with bullshit. You know it's not true, but you say it anyway. The example comes from my brother-in-law, David. Someone asked him, pertaining to the amusement park, why is it called Six Flags? Immediately, without hesitation, he asserted this was a rating system of amusement parks on a scale of one to six flags, six of course being the best. You wouldn't want to go to any parks that were rated only one or two flags. Obviously, this doesn't bear a lot of scrutiny, as we don't have a bunch of restaurants called four and five star. But that technique, what he did, just became the practice, so anytime someone just talks about something they know nothing about, we call that six flagging. And, usually there's no shame in owning up to that immediately. And, apparently, one of my nephews actually entered this in the Urban Dictionary, so it exists there, too. Anyway, love your show. All the best to you.
Thanks so much, Christian! I love this, and I'm nearly certain this is the first familect we've had that is also in the Urban Dictionary.
Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Thanks to Nat Hoopes; Morgan Christianson; Rebekah Sebastian; Maram Elnagheeb; Steven Schapansky; Dan Feierabend; and Holly Hutchings, who hiked a new trail over the weekend.
And I'm Mignon Fogarty, better known as Grammar Girl.
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