RexDart

(Had nasty thoughts, but thought better of them.)

Well, if one is muttering things in crowds, I prefer "kneebiting troglodyte" myself. Rolls nicely off the tongue.

I must side with the original poster; I personally dislike using the term muggle for non-cachers. On the one hand the thought of any pejorative for non-participants smacks of elitism, on the other hand this IS a community, and there will inevitably be shibboleths created to distinguish those 'in' from those 'out.' It's hard to criticize those who use it, but I would level another complaint: it's so common. The Wall Street Journal printed an article last year which observed the proliferation of the word 'muggle' throughout the professional world. Could we not be original enough to come up with our own term? The problem with 'mundane' is that it means 'of the earth' and if anyone could be called people of the earth (given that they spend so much time out in it), it would be cachers. That and the SCA/RPG crowd uses it already. Why not simply 'cachers' and 'non-cachers'?

Dictionaries are intentionally not prescriptive. Style guides are, but few take them seriously as the entire concept of 'correct' English is considered stodgy, hopelessly old-fashioned and even (in extreme cases) prejudicial and stifling. It's even more outre and obscure than map-reading and GPS navigation, without the technological cachet. If you've a love of 'good' English usage, let me recommend two books: The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th Ed. - All you could ever want to know about usage, punctuation and a host of related subjects. An excellent desktop reference if writing is a pastime, profession or passion. Includes an excellent Glossary of Troublesome Expressions. Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation - A humourous (it's a British book) look at punctuation use and abuse. As an aside (and finally bringing this back on-topic), cache and cachet both derive from the French verb cacher, which means 'to press or hide'. The first meaning 'to press' came to relate to an official seal and thence became a mark of prestige, which is the sense of modern English cachet. Given the common origin, confusion is probably inevitable.

If you look at that Wikipedia article on transliteration, it does discuss the general issue of names being different in other languages. Misunderstanding, mispronunciation or just a fundamental difference in opinion account for most differences. I don't know specifically the why Deutchland, but Germany comes from the medieval Latin name for the place, Germanus (according to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary.)

In 1978, when the International Standards Organization adopted the Pinyin method of romanisation, displacing the Wade-Giles system that had been in use from the 19th century. The multiple spellings of many Arab countries occur because there is (to my knowledge) less standardization on how Arabic phonemes & syllables are transposed into those of English... the fact that there are so many variations of English pronuciation only complicates matters. Wikipedia lists 30+ "accepted" spellings of Quadaffi's name. Scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll see them all. They also have a good article on transliteration, transcription and romanisation should you be interested in the technical details. As for the mispronunciation of cache, it's merely one symptom of the decreased emphasis on linguistic standards in our culture.

Well, I can't quite reach that far...one good reason to take an outdoor sport. Thanks to everyone for the replies... I file most of them in the 'I thought as much' category. I would like to recommend that, for all the reasons listed above, the finding FAQ be amended; after all, finder is the perspective of virtually all the tyros in the sport, yes? Adding a paragraph emphasizing the need for discretion and the rationale would help all of us contemplating the GC hobby. Not that gleaning the discussion boards has been unpleasant. I seem to recall from another thread a scaled response list of replies (ranging from "It's a nice day" to full-on evangelism); that might make a good addition to the FAQ as well.

I'm just about to embark on this grand adventure; my first GPS unit is on the way, my Tungsten E is loaded with software and my walking stick is leaning by the door. While I wait, I read, and I've discovered a curious habit of cachers. Apparently (though it appears nowhere in the FAQ) it's considered Bad Form to allow non-cachers to witness the exhumation, interaction and return of a cache. Why? And if anyone posts compelling reasons (I've no doubt they will, I've thought of a few myself) why is this practice not documented in the FAQ for all to read?