Cosplay

[Shockprowl]

Aug 11, 2016 17:28:43 GMT The Doctor said:

You have failed. The Council Of Chums has cast judgement upon you.

-Ralph

Oh no! Lookout, Doc'! A giant humming-bird is eating your hat and cloak!

*runs*

[The Doctor]

I do have a cloak.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

I would have put money on you having a cloak, Doc'.

[Pinwig]

I also have a cloak. Part of a Gan costume I used to wear at Blake's 7 conventions.

[blueshift]

Please be true

[Pinwig]

Completely true. I still have the costume but I don't think I have the boots. Misspent youth!

[blueshift]

Will that be your TFNation costume?

[The Doctor]

My mind has been blown by this revelation.

-Ralph

[Pinwig]

Aug 12, 2016 20:22:16 GMT blueshift said:

Will that be your TFNation costume?

Ahaha. No.

My cosplay days were over before it was even called cosplay.

[The Doctor]

I despise the term 'cosplay' with a passion which could ignite the sun. It's just dressing up! It's not even a proper word!

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Ralph speaks the truth.

[legios]

Only in the same sense that Anime isn't a proper word. Both of them are "loan words" that were adopted into Japanese from English for other langauges. Anime from the french pronunciation of "Animation", and "Cosplay" from "Costume Play". They aren't really linguistically in much of a different situation from English mangling Al-Jabra into "Algebra" really I don't think.

Karl

[Shockprowl]

Ahhhhh so that's what 'cosplay' means! I've often wondered.... Now everything's clear. I kept meaning to ask... but would forget.... similar to 'iirc'. That one puzzelled me for ages! But I worked that one out by myself! One day it just came to me! 'Ian Is Really Cool'! I can't work out why it is used so randomly though.

[The Doctor]

I would like the word to be annihilated from history.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

Hey, 'The Word' was a groundbreaking show in it's day. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I don't think it deserves to be annihilated.

[The Doctor]

Oh it does. It was fucking awful.

-Ralph

[Shockprowl]

Yeah, fair enough.

[Pinwig]

I don't usually have any truck with made up words that evolve through unnecessary or slang usage, but their validity is a really interesting debate. I don't particularly like 'cosplay' because I feel it should refer specifically to dressing up in the context of its anime/manga origins, but it does actually serve a purpose. I was thinking about this a while ago and I'm sure when I did used to sling on the odd costume for a convention, the competitions were called 'fancy dress', the definition for which isn't 'dress up in the style of your favourite anime/manga/genre character'. As such, I think cosplay does have a legitimate claim for usage because it does have a specific definition.

It's a tough one. With one hat I'm the fuddy-duddy English teacher, whose job it is to encourage kids to write and communicate in standard English, but at the same time I find it fascinating how they are evolving language. I do love creativity and expression and making up new words, but the sad thing is that a lot of it is driven by media and celebrity and it isn't necessarily what you'd want it to be. But you can't contain it or censor it. It's all or nothing. At times I think these words should be kept away from the OED to keep it 'pure', but at the same time there has to be a repository for them for the future because this is chronicling our language evolution. Should 'gank', 'glamp', or 'mecha' have been added to the dictionary a couple of months ago? I dunno. They're specific words with specific definitions, but you could equally argue they serve no purpose.

[Philip Ayres]

Aug 12, 2016 23:00:14 GMT The Doctor said:

I despise the term 'cosplay' with a passion which could ignite the sun. It's just dressing up! It's not even a proper word!

-Ralph

1) I hate the word Cosplay. Vile americanism attempting to legitimise "dressing up" by giving it it's own word.

2) I'm not that fond of "cosplayers" either especially after an incident at AA a few years ago where someone with a meter wingspan of chipboard on their back as either Starscream or Swoop knocked me over and ended my convention.

[Shockprowl]

NICE WARP-THREADING, BIG PHIL, YOU GADDAMN SEXUAL TYRANOSAURUS!!!




Now there's a 'cosplay'.... ....a Goddamn Sexual Tyranosaur.....




(Yes I know I can't spell Tyranosaur, CJ, but my less-than-smart phone doesn't have a spell-check...)




Oh but does it only count as 'Cosplay' if it's an outfit that's actually from something?




Where does 'Fancy Dress' end, and 'Cosplay' start...?




WHEEERREEE?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!

[Rich]

It seems like a perfectly legitimate word to me. New words used to be created by joining two together with a hyphen, now it's done by joining syllables - what's wrong with that? And cosplay, while something I have no interest in doing myself, can be extremely creative and is certainly a culturally interesting phenomenon and, though related, is quite different from fancy dress in many ways.

I'm personally not madly keen on the appropriation of words - see the changing meaning of the word gender - which I think can be alienating, but to criticise words people create to define themselves veers very closely to cultural privilege.

Some words are not pleasing on the ear but I don't feel that cosplay is one.

[Benn]

I have no problem with Cosplay or cosplayers. It's a clunky word, but hey, so are lots of words.

I'm very sorry to hear about your bad experience tho, Phil. Hopefully you at least got an apology?

[Philip Ayres]

I don't think they had any idea of what they'd done!

[Shockprowl]

Typical Seeker....

[Pinwig]

Ooh! he used the bad word! he used the bad word!

[Shockprowl]

Aaaaand then there's also-



REENACTING.



The boundry between them MUST be established!



FANCY DRESS. COSPLAY. REENACTING.

[Pinwig]

Reenacting's a bit more serious. It requires living in a tent for half the year and going round National Trust properties scaring young children by pointing metal implements at them and telling wild tales of life in the old days in a slightly unconvincing accent. I really did look into that once, and went to some 'behind closed doors reenactors only' things to get a feel for it, but it's a tremendous commitment and a huge amount of travel.

[Grand Moff Muffin]

Aug 14, 2016 8:06:55 GMT Pinwig said:

Reenacting's a bit more serious.

Attended the annual Grand Medieval Melee at the Castle yesterday. Sir Walter Rottersley won many fights, as he usually tends to do at these events. The costumes were probably the only thing about it that was taken seriously. Highly entertaining, anyway.



Martin

[Shockprowl]

I could so so easily get into reenacting. I'm a big history geek, and I love weapons and fighting, particularly MUSKETS. But, it is massively expensive, very time consuming, and I'd rather spend that time with my kids. We go to see several groups and individuals each year. Living History, baby, best way to learn.

[Pinwig]

Serious as in the commitment to it, not necessarily the end result!