"GW's silly names" Topic

Not sure if this has been done, as it seems obvious.

Do you use Games Workshops new names for figures, or stick to the generics? A disclosure of being a regular customer, or not, may help the poll.

Elves Aelves
Orcs Orruks
So on…

I mostly only buy their paints and don't use the new names, mostly because I can't pronounce, remember or I feel like a twit saying them. Thank goodness they have announced a new fantasy battles, so this mess may yet be forgotten.

I thought Ashtray Myaquarium for the Imperial Guard was stupid until I saw the dwarfs were now called Kahardons.

I use GW's figures, but not their rules. I like the stories/background/milieu. Sometimes I use the material. Sometimes using the material, I use the names.

Did they rename the Skaven? WE don't usually call them that, since there are tons of jokes with the words rat and mouse.

Old school names.

But, Kahardons are basically one nation of dwarves, not all dwarves. And dwarves are now Duardin.

And I doubt the mess will be forgotten since the main reason for the new names was to be more copyrightable.

The AoS dwarves became the Duardin. I have to look it up every time, but in 40K, those formerly known as the Squats are now the Demiurg.

Demiurg are a different race from squats. Squats were abhumans. Demiurg are xenos that happen to be dwarf-like.

Damon.

So, I went to the font of all knowledge, 1d4chan … apparently the Skaven were changed into … uhm … the Skaven. Complete with the same clan names. All is right in the world.

Yeah … IMO GW does a lot of silly things and not only with the names they choose …

Skaven was already a GW proprietary name, therefore they didn't have to change it. I still use all of the original names, but I don't play AoS either, I'm still in Fantasy land.

I still buy an occasional figure or unit on the GW site, which has become a tedious process since I have to figure out the new name for Dwarfs, Elves and so on.

Skaven is indeed a silly name, chosen because of the '(it)s kevin!' catchphrase of the 80s UK breakfast television character Roland Rat. GW were very fond of silly or punnish names in the 80s, the Ultramarines was a play on the colour of the same name, Dark Angel was a poem by Lionel Johnson, a contemporary of Oscar Wilde, and don't even get me started on Orcs Drift or Macdeath.

So … let's just pile onto GW for whatever reason?

Isn't that really what's happening here?

Most of the fantasy miniatures companies that have their own game have rather silly names populating a silly or derivative universe. At this point in time, it is probably too much to expect a company to produce good miniatures AND a credible backstory. GW has no monopoly on silliness.

Be fair, Yogi. If there were any chance GW could enforce a copyright, they'd claim a monopoly on silliness, and send inspectors around to make sure.

I'm not even going to google those names/terms to see if they are real or not.

" let's just pile onto GW for whatever reason?"

That's not what's happening here.

GW decided to change the names they used and I simply asked if people used them. The people answered.

" let's just pile onto GW for whatever reason?"

That's not what's happening here.

Concur.

There aren't a lot of derogatory comments here, and those few aren't particularly mean spirited.

That's not what's happening here.

I probably have more GW Epic than most on TMP … Money Talks.

So I overlook many of the things I don't like that GW does.

Short answer…

No

Nope

As a Scandinavian I think their "nordic" names on dwarves and Space Wolves often sound, and are spelled, stupid.

I think their [source] names on [game entities] often sound, and are spelled, stupid.

That's because, as discussed above, any of their names are altered enough to be protectable as their intellectual property. So they look enough like Latin, Greek, Nordic, Arabic, etc. proper names for English speakers to recognize their "origin", but not so much as to not be unique to their use.

If it's silliness, it's silliness on the part of the legal structure we have created for ourselves.

If it's silliness, it's silliness on the part of the legal structure we have created for ourselves.

Indeed and that goes much farther than just GW/FW, I'd think …

Regardless, I have a tendency to "cherry-pick" when it comes to GW. E.g. I prefer to call their SM Chapters – Regiments, etc., etc.

Their SM names generally are not too bad IMO. E.g. Dark Angels, Space Wolves, etc., etc. As when I was in the US Army I served with Bns/Rgts, etc., called e.g. the Rakkasans, Polar Bears, Patriots, Screaming Eagles, Sledgehammer, etc.

Depends. On the rare occasions I speak specifically of AoS, I use the new names, but when speaking of the GW figures I've got, I use the old ones. They were sold as "orcs" etc. so why'd I call them anything else?

I really do love AOS and its skirmish aesthetic as well as the new ranges of models.

But I always felt the new naming of the fantasy races to retain some kind of unique IP was very weak.

I mean…"Orruks?" "Aelves?" "Duardin?"

Meh. It's like they were trying too hard. Like trying to rename Coke or Lego and then trying to actually make it catch on with the larger culture.

It's still all Orcs, Elves, and Dwarves to me!

Or Orks, Eldar and Squats …

At least they are actual words, or basic letter swap that sounds the same. (L4s)

Is it "Aelves" or "(A)elves"?? Being a silent A??

If people (like myself) need to ask such things, it's probably not the best word to use.

to actually make it catch on with the larger culture.

Again, the silliness of law, because they are specifically trying not to make it catch on with the larger culture. When it does that, i.e., when a brand name comes into such common use that it is taken for the generic object of which it is an instance, you lose your right to protect the name.

Famously, Xerox, Band-Aid, and Kleenex have lost court battles because "everyone uses 'Kleenex' (or whatever brand) to mean facial tissue (or whatever)", so it is an ordinary noun in the language, therefore not protectable. All three corporations had to spend money on publicity campaigns to change the way people spoke sufficiently to regain control of the brand names they mad up.

If there's silliness, I still maintain it is silliness in the idea that you can make up a name that becomes your own intellectual property, then lose control of that property when it becomes popular, then regain it again through the popularity of an advertisement that says "Band-Aid brand bandages" instead of just "Band Aid".

I am not bashing the law, mind you, silliness in behavioural codes is merely a reflection of silliness in human behaviour.

I kind of do like to know where some of the names/words came from. Some have a historical linage, etc. … others pure imagination. Like Klingons …

I thought Klingons initially had Mongolian influence?

Kind'a … I guess …

Yes, let the hate flow through you….

They changed the name for IP reasons.

You can call your miniatures whatever you want.

And many do !