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Muggles or Mugglers?


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What is the proper term for non-geocaching folks? I've seen it written both ways on the forums and in log entries. Just curious!

 

I'd have to to say Muggles, as in the term used in the Harry Potter books and movies. Mugglers is just sort of a "geoization" of the word by geocachers, many who probably have no idea of the Harry Potter orgin. Does the official geocaching FAQ still refer to them as "geo-muggles"? I've never seen or heard anyone use that term. :laughing:

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I don't mind the term "muggles" as I think it fits. But as a Harry Potter fan, I cringe every time I see it changed to "muggler." What's up with that? Some blend of mugger and muggle?

 

I also prefer limiting use of the term to non-geocachers, i.e., members of the general public that are present when I'm trying to find a cache, or who accidentally stumble across a cache. I sometimes see it applied to geocachers who turn over to the dark side and maliciously steal or vandalize caches, as in "The Cache Muggler has taken all four of the geocoins in my new cache, and left a nasty note." That's not a muggle, it's not a muggler. It's a maggot.

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I don't mind the term "muggles" as I think it fits. But as a Harry Potter fan, I cringe every time I see it changed to "muggler." What's up with that? Some blend of mugger and muggle?

 

I used to cringe at the Muggle word as it just seemed to cliche and ghetto to take it from Harry Potter... I think people who felt like I did used the term muggler to attempt to get away from that feel but as I have been around now a little I just gave up and called stuff muggled or a muggle... it just seemed at first a little weird to use that term - I thought there had to be something more cool and ingenious from this geocrowd but muggle works.

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I try to use muggle, but find I slip on occasion and say muggler. I don't think people who use muggler are trying to merge muggle and mugger, rather I think they (intentionally or not) are thinking of muggle as a verb, and then figureing one who does that gets an "-er" added to the end:

 

I farm, therefore I'm a farmer.

I bike, therefore I'm a biker.

I muggle, therefore I'm a muggler.

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What is the proper term for non-geocaching folks? I've seen it written both ways on the forums and in log entries. Just curious!

 

I'd have to to say Muggles, as in the term used in the Harry Potter books and movies. Mugglers is just sort of a "geoization" of the word by geocachers, many who probably have no idea of the Harry Potter orgin. Does the official geocaching FAQ still refer to them as "geo-muggles"? I've never seen or heard anyone use that term. :D

 

I agree with this. I've noticed that people who are familar with Harry Potter say "Muggles." Cachers unfamiliar with Harry Potter are more likely to say "Mugglers."

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I farm, therefore I'm a farmer.

I bike, therefore I'm a biker.

I muggle, therefore I'm a muggler.

Close.

 

If you ride a motorcycle, your a 'biker.'

If you ride a bicycle, your a 'cyclist.'

 

I've never understood that one either. :lol:

What if I do both? Am I a Bikist? :lol:

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I farm, therefore I'm a farmer.

I bike, therefore I'm a biker.

I muggle, therefore I'm a muggler.

Close.

 

If you ride a motorcycle, your a 'biker.'

If you ride a bicycle, your a 'cyclist.'

 

I've never understood that one either. :lol:

What if I do both? Am I a Bikist? :lol:

 

Nope, you are a cycler!

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My follow-up question may be better suited to a new forum topic, but I'll ask it here anyways. I assume that a muggle/muggler is by definition a non-geocacher, so what exactly defines a geocacher?

 

I'll lay down a bit of context - I was at a cache yesterday and ran into this guy who admitted to not playing the game of geocaching, but a few years ago ran into someone finding the nearby cache, and at that time learned about the game. Since then, every few months, he comes back to the same cache just to read the log, check out the cache, ensure it's still hidden, and think some more about geocaching as he sits and looks out over the river. He's never found another cache, doesn't own a GPS, is fascinated by the game, and has a higher count than probably quite a few geocachers.

 

Does this describe a geocacher, or is he a muggle/muggler? Or maybe geoinquisitor? Or maybe a passive or honorary geocacher. What do you think?

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My follow-up question may be better suited to a new forum topic, but I'll ask it here anyways. I assume that a muggle/muggler is by definition a non-geocacher, so what exactly defines a geocacher?

 

I'll lay down a bit of context - I was at a cache yesterday and ran into this guy who admitted to not playing the game of geocaching, but a few years ago ran into someone finding the nearby cache, and at that time learned about the game. Since then, every few months, he comes back to the same cache just to read the log, check out the cache, ensure it's still hidden, and think some more about geocaching as he sits and looks out over the river. He's never found another cache, doesn't own a GPS, is fascinated by the game, and has a higher count than probably quite a few geocachers.

 

Does this describe a geocacher, or is he a muggle/muggler? Or maybe geoinquisitor? Or maybe a passive or honorary geocacher. What do you think?

 

How about a "friend of geocaching"?

 

Actually I think being a geocacher basically just consists of identifying yourself as one. As with all other things in life, there are different degrees of it I guess.

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He's never found another cache, doesn't own a GPS, is fascinated by the game, and has a higher count than probably quite a few geocachers.

 

This would definitely be debated in another thread :(

But makes sense to say it like this here. I agree.

Wow the guy's devoted to this one cache. That's amazing.

 

My first find was an accident. It made me really sad to find out that it is no longer active :(((

Oh, that just gave me an idea <_< maybe they'd let me restore it if I asked.

I guess I'll go email the reviewer and the cache owner.

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Well, I love Harry Potter (my Geocaching name says it all) and muggles in Harry Potter are Non-magic people. So muggles in Goecaching are Non-Geocaching people. P.S. The Marunders Map is a map in Harry Potter that is a map of Hogwarts that shows everybody in Hogwarts and what they are doing at every minuite of the day. P.P.S. I could go blabbering on about Harry Potter all day... but I will stop now...

Edited by Marunders Map
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Well, I love Harry Potter (my Geocaching name says it all)

 

Yes, as a geek who has read every Harry Potter book, and seen every Harry Potter Movie, I was aware of that without even opening up the bumped thread. :blink:

 

Why just yesterday some guy in the U.S. said they should change the word, and send out 5,000,000 emails announcing the change. I don't suspect he'd like to hear you blabbering on about Harry Potter all day. :lol:

 

Welcome to Geocaching! I suspect as time goes on, you'll be explaining where the term muggles comes from to many Geocachers. A surprisingly large number of them don't seem to know.

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Well, I love Harry Potter (my Geocaching name says it all) and muggles in Harry Potter are Non-magic people. So muggles in Goecaching are Non-Geocaching people. P.S. The Marunders Map is a map in Harry Potter that is a map of Hogwarts that shows everybody in Hogwarts and what they are doing at every minuite of the day. P.P.S. I could go blabbering on about Harry Potter all day... but I will stop now...

 

You mis-spelled "Marauder's"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_objects_in_Harry_Potter#Detectors

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Well, I love Harry Potter (my Geocaching name says it all) and muggles in Harry Potter are Non-magic people. So muggles in Goecaching are Non-Geocaching people. P.S. The Marunders Map is a map in Harry Potter that is a map of Hogwarts that shows everybody in Hogwarts and what they are doing at every minuite of the day. P.P.S. I could go blabbering on about Harry Potter all day... but I will stop now...

 

You mis-spelled "Marauder's"

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_objects_in_Harry_Potter#Detectors

 

name taken although The username look-up tells me it would have been fine with the space between the two words. :ph34r:

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I try to use muggle, but find I slip on occasion and say muggler. I don't think people who use muggler are trying to merge muggle and mugger, rather I think they (intentionally or not) are thinking of muggle as a verb, and then figureing one who does that gets an "-er" added to the end:

 

I farm, therefore I'm a farmer.

I bike, therefore I'm a biker.

I muggle, therefore I'm a muggler.

 

You can't always use that sort of logic with the English language. Would you say that you saw a herd of deers? The word is "muggle", not "muggler".

 

[Edit: sorry, I've just been attacked by a zombie]

Edited by knowschad
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I seem to recall muggles being called geomuggles in the early days, but I could be wrong.

 

The French translation of the Harry Potter books uses the term moldu for muggle. In geocaching in Quebec, a muggle is referred to as géomoldu.

 

PA

 

Oh yeah, for sure!! I most certainly remember the website calling them Geo muggles in an FAQ somewhere, but yet even at the time, I never heard one single person in the logs, or in person, refer to them as Geo muggles. Just plain old Muggles.

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"Muggles" are all non-geocaching people, and would be the right answer to the question above.

 

From this:

 

"To muggle" is to 'destroy' a cache.

 

So, a "Muggler" is someone who destroys caches.

Yup

Muggle I see as just someone nearby or watching you, Muggler is after they taken the container to be a jerk

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1 hour ago, 12345hello said:

In most of the logs that I have seen, it's mostly mugglers. Muggles is a word I would recognize in Harry Potter or in another fantasy book.

 

That's funny someone would say that, when even in Geocaching.com's  Glossary they're called Muggles.   :)

 - And they say it's " A non geocacher. Based on "Muggle" from the Harry Potter series, which is a non-magical person." 

 

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2 hours ago, baer2006 said:

Anyway, I'm only answering here because I just noticed that I forgot the proper terms for a) the act of posting in an old thread many (like, say, eight) years after the last post, and b) people doing this. Can anyone help? Thanks,

 

SCNR! ;)

Pretty sure the terms for posting in old threads is

a) mugglering

b) mugglerist

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