Barnstable

No argument here. It's like putting the prefix "Mac" in front of something to connote corporate soullessness (MacHomes, MacJobs, etc.). It's easy, quick, and you get the benefit of the connotations built into the word. However, you also have to accept ALL the connotations of the word, and some of them don't apply so well, thus my (and at least a few others') discomfort with the term. I will admit to being in a quite small minority, though, from the looks of things on this board.

You're right, McWeb, and it's something I'll look at. But as for giving up the ghost on the muggle (shudder) thing, guess you can call me Don Quixote--gonna keep tilting at that windmill...

I'm not crazy about the name, but your reasoning is flawless.

Points are well taken. American English is a fast-and-loose, mongrel of a language, heavy on the borrowing. So I can understand using the leverage that the term already had going for it. Still, being a lover of words, especially newly-coined and apt ones, I guess I saw this as an opportunity wasted. By the way, to the one who said I should lighten up a little... no. I think I'll just go ahead and feel the way I want to feel, thanks very much. I wouldn't ask you to be any more serious about this than you want to be--why tell me what level of feeling I should have about anything?

Still seems to be just you, sorry. Geez, you don't have to rub it in (sniffle)

I guess my question is, am I the only one for whom the use of the term sets his (or her) teeth on edge, as just being too cutesy?

I leave geocaching for six months while moving and taking care of an infant, then get back into it and find that the whole place is stinking with references to "Muggles." Meaning people who don't geocache. Ugh. Look, I love the Harry Potter books--I read them to my wife, and eagerly await the next book and movie. But, please, are we so devoid of creativity that we have to coopt a word that means something completely different, just because it's famous? I don't want to be going out on nice hikes to beautiful places, deciphering well-crafted puzzles from my fellow cachers, and just generally revelling in this healthy and unique hobby, only to feel this weird association with gown-wearing, wand-swinging British kids--not to mention the 800-pound marketing monster built up around them We aren't sorcerers, we're adults who go on scavenger hunts. And we aren't born this way; take any one of the dreaded "muggles" you all are referring to, stick a GPS in his hand and give him a minute and a half's worth of instruction and presto! We have a cacher. And is a "muggle" someone merely ignorant of caching, or hostile to it? I've seen both connotations used. That's part of the problem when a word is used that comes with its own baggage. I beg of you all to forcibly reject this too-precious word choice. Let's find our own word--here's some suggestions to start us off: --Igbys (short for Ignorant Bystanders) --Plastics (cache or plastic--get it?) --Encods (NCOD's--non caching outdoor dwellers) Well, am I alone here?