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Non Muggles, Non Geocachers?


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Sorry, I don't take the game that seriously..."muggle" is suitably silly for a silly game and it makes me smile. :)

 

Other games are silly too, with silly terminology that makes non-participants roll their eyes (think about golf!) and I'm happy to say I partake in several of them (although I think I'm still termed a "Rabbit" at golf ).

 

Does anybody else think that using such terms for other folks outside our own tiny worlds is slightly derogatory and more than a little disrespectful?

 

It would be impolite and unacceptable to use such a term to lump people of other nationalities or sexual orientations into a single stereotyped group on geocaching.com or the forums, so why is it acceptable to do it for non-cachers?

 

The use of the term makes me decidedly uneasy.

 

Well heck. Coming from a civilian, a bystander, a johnny on the spot, John (or Jane) Doe, Gentile, layman, and any of hundrets of other names you are saddled with for when folks need to describe folks that 'aint like them' I guess you are in for a lifetime of uneasy.

 

Then you have broad catagories of folks due to their relatinship with another. Johns, Patients, Clients, Personell, Staff, Grunts, Grips, Siblings, Family, Family Friends, and so on.

 

Words come about from a need to describe something. For an incident where a person was there but not involved. Bystander is the word. Military? They need a word to describe "Non Military" and came up with Civilians. Police have suspects and perps. And so on. Muggle was the right word at the right time for a need to describe non cachers as they relate to caches. It doesn't come up in daily life. I don't come in and call my boss (another generic word based on a relationship) "Hey Muggle Boss Man!"...

 

Your unease is your choice but it's unwarranted and rather a waste of your time.

Edited by Renegade Knight
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Well heck. Coming from a civilian, a bystander, a johnny on the spot, John (or Jane) Doe, Gentile, layman, and any of hundrets of other names you are saddled with for when folks need to describe folks that 'aint like them' I guess you are in for a lifetime of uneasy.

 

Then you have broad catagories of folks due to their relatinship with another. Johns, Patients, Clients, Personell, Staff, Grunts, Grips, Siblings, Family, Family Friends, and so on.

 

Words come about from a need to describe something. For an incident where a person was there but not involved. Bystander is the word. Military? They need a word to describe "Non Military" and came up with Civilians. Police have suspects and perps. And so on. Muggle was the right word at the right time for a need to describe non cachers as they relate to caches. It doesn't come up in daily life. I don't come in and call my boss (another generic word based on a relationship) "Hey Muggle Boss Man!"...

 

Your unease is your choice but it's unwarranted and rather a waste of your time.

 

The only way my unease is likely to manifest itself as a waste of time is in the few extra seconds it would take to type a better description of someone elses reason for being near a cache than "muggle" :)

 

I think you entirely miss my point. Why not describe what someone was doing rather than using a silly name that merely says they're not the same as us? We're geocachers, other people are actually there for a reason as well, they may be walkers, dog walkers, fishermen, farmers, bird watchers, narrow boaters, photographers etc.

 

I guess we're just geeks to everyone who is too lazy to recognise other peoples pursuits :anicute:

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I think the term 'Mudblood' would have a place in caching - I think I've heard the term 'Cache-Maggot' before - Somebody who actively goes about and steals/destroys caches

 

An example would be the Ottawa Ammo-Box thief, who finds caches in Ammo boxes, takes the box, and puts the contents back in place in a cheap knock off lock & lock :)

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We're geocachers, other people are actually there for a reason as well, they may be walkers, dog walkers, fishermen, farmers, bird watchers, narrow boaters, photographers etc.

 

I;ve been know to call them by what they are doing - so I guess they would be Fishermuggles, Agrimuggles, Onimuggles (?), photomuggles, etc... :)

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...I think you entirely miss my point. Why not describe what someone was doing rather than using a silly name that merely says they're not the same as us? We're geocachers, other people are actually there for a reason as well, they may be walkers, dog walkers, fishermen, farmers, bird watchers, narrow boaters, photographers etc....

 

We can and do describe people by what they are doing. "A muggle was fishing near the cache". That's not actually what you don't like. You flat out don't like the word muggle.

 

If what you really didn't like was using a word to describe a persons relationship to you and what you are doing then you would dislike words like Civilian and other words that are generic instead of the more specific "Non military person who appears to be fishing near the base".

 

FWIW, I've long since dropped the geo from most things. I'm not a geocacher, I'm a cacher. It's a preference.

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Interestingly, or not, I just checked a couple on-line dictionaries for 'muggle' definitions. This was one:

 

muggle [from J.K. Rowling's `Harry Potter' books, 1998] A non-wizard.

Not as disparaging as luser; implies vague pity rather than contempt.

In the universe of Rowling's enormously (and deservedly) popular

children's series, muggles and wizards inhabit the same modern world,

but each group is ignorant of the commonplaces of the others' existence

- most muggles are unaware that wizards exist, and wizards (used to

magical ways of doing everything) are perplexed and fascinated by muggle

artifacts.

 

It seems fine to me.

Edited by sbell111
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We can and do describe people by what they are doing. "A muggle was fishing near the cache". That's not actually what you don't like. You flat out don't like the word muggle.

 

If what you really didn't like was using a word to describe a persons relationship to you and what you are doing then you would dislike words like Civilian and other words that are generic instead of the more specific "Non military person who appears to be fishing near the base".

 

FWIW, I've long since dropped the geo from most things. I'm not a geocacher, I'm a cacher. It's a preference.

 

You appear to believe that you know things about me that even I don't know. Are you psychic :anicute:

 

The fisherman near the military base would be neither a civilian or a non-military person to my eyes. He'd just be a fisherman. Why would I want to class him as a non anything? He's just a fisherman for heavens sake :)

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We can and do describe people by what they are doing. "A muggle was fishing near the cache". That's not actually what you don't like. You flat out don't like the word muggle.

 

If what you really didn't like was using a word to describe a persons relationship to you and what you are doing then you would dislike words like Civilian and other words that are generic instead of the more specific "Non military person who appears to be fishing near the base".

 

FWIW, I've long since dropped the geo from most things. I'm not a geocacher, I'm a cacher. It's a preference.

 

You appear to believe that you know things about me that even I don't know. Are you psychic :anicute:

 

The fisherman near the military base would be neither a civilian or a non-military person to my eyes. He'd just be a fisherman. Why would I want to class him as a non anything? He's just a fisherman for heavens sake :)

If this is such a big issue for you, don't call non-cachers muggles. That way, no one can ever get mad at you.

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Ok,

With all this controversy that has been generated by a simple question, I hereby officially request that the accronym "HITA" be included in the published "teminology guide" for geocachers. It stands for "Human In The Area". It is politicly correct, and it is shorter to type than "Muggle"!

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...You appear to believe that you know things about me that even I don't know. Are you psychic :anicute:

 

The fisherman near the military base would be neither a civilian or a non-military person to my eyes. He'd just be a fisherman. Why would I want to class him as a non anything? He's just a fisherman for heavens sake :)

 

Psychic? Naaaa... I mearly read what you had to say. Upon further clarification from you though, clearly you don't understand the full basis of the use of language or why there is a need for a word like muggle, layman, civilian and such. Even the word fisherman has implications as to what he isn't doing. He may be a rocket scientist by day and a fisherman by weekend. Are you doing them a diservice by not noting that he's a rocket scientist, father, fisherman, husband, and good samaratian? Nope.

 

It goes back to communicating.

An MP might say. "There are two civilans nearby. One caching, one fishing"

A cacher might say. "There are two muggles nearby, One MP making the rounds and a fisherman having no luck".

 

Each tells you about the situation from the viewpoint of the person. It also gives you information about the person speaking. That's what communications is about. Even people who hate the word muggle at least understand what's being said.

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Ok,

With all this controversy that has been generated by a simple question, I hereby officially request that the accronym "HITA" be included in the published "teminology guide" for geocachers. It stands for "Human In The Area". It is politicly correct, and it is shorter to type than "Muggle"!

Let me retype that sentance into words I've suggested be incorporated into english for the sake of simplicity, and beaus I hate how english works right now anyway.

 

ljk adpa adfo ia a aljae alicp aiaya l;ajreo adfavpe adaovue HIPA.

 

See, it's shorter and better. :)

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Some people embrace the use of 'muggle', others don't. I'm on the fence, but not because I think the usage is rude. I just find it a bit dorky.

 

Well heck. Finally a good case is presented on the issue.

 

Just don't start a discussion on the origin of "dork" :lol:

 

I say embrace the dorkiness. It's a silly term, a joke term and a useful shorthand.

 

Sure it implies on the surface the same kind of group superiority as the use of the term in the Harry Potter books, but anyone who took the "superiority" seriously would not be superior by the fact they took the term seriously :laughing:

 

And comparing "muggles" to a racial or sexist slur is a false analogy - it's not a hateful or de-humanizing term, the members of the group aren't a minority, the members of the group aren't prevented from becoming part of the group (except maybe by cost of a GPS?).

 

To me "muggles" just means: Non-caching folk who don't know about the magical world of caching yet.

 

To me the last word is the most important. :D

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Any suggestions on what to call such a person?

 

I call her The Snoogstress.

 

She doesn't cache. She thinks the activity of finding caches, gathering materials and making caches, TBs, forums, and geo-drama are all prety much equally retarded. :D

 

However, she likes geocachers and enjoys attending events because quite a few of our good friends are geocachers. :angry:<_<

 

She fully acknowledges that it was geocaching that brought us together while I was helping plan GW4. :)

 

It's sort of a love hate thang for her..... Kinda strange I know.... I'm hoping she'll get sucked in when the Snooglet is old enough to hunt treasure. :)

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