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Alternative to "Muggle"


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If you dont like the term "Muggles" then simply find another word that you or anyone else would feel comfortable with & use it instead.

 

.

 

Come on people! It's time to stop using the term. I'm going to do my part by going through all my logs and caches and deleting every mention of it.

Who's with me!?!?

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When I started with this obsession a whole 3 months ago, I avoided this term as well. I got the singular opinion that I was the only one who disliked the term. Good to see others out there. I have recently become more comfortable with the term, but would love a better option. There just does not seem to be one. I have written non-cacher, normal person, and citizen (from another movie) depending on my mood. Mostly, I don't label, just describe behaviors. When I mention there were several people watching me, suspicious of me, curious about what I was doing, most everyone knows who I am talking about.

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Hold the presses! I've got it!

 

I was about to log a "Stars and Strips" Geo-coin that needs to go to a war zone like Iraq. And I was thinking of names that mean other than a certain group. Like muggle for Geocachers.

 

Well in the Marines the infantry are fond of the term POG (Person Other than Grunt). Sounds like Pouge.

 

Maybe we can use it for Peron Other than Geocacher?

 

"Here comes some Pouges!"

 

"My cache got Pouged!"

 

Try it out it may grow on you. At least it has a military beginning like most things we use today.

 

"Balls to the wall" a reference to going full speed in an aircraft where the throttles we just rounded off into a ball shape.

 

"Cup of Joe" Coined after a Navy Captain banned liquor on the ship and everyone turned to coffee more often. Nick named it Joe.

 

"Son of a gun" Applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.

 

Thoughts?

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I dislike "muggle" and I like "pouge", it'll be a long uphill battle though. I'll do my part but I fear we are stuck with muggle.

 

I like both. I like "Muggle" and I like "Bugs!" and "Poachers" and "Pogue." I have some vague recolecion that it means something a little dirty in Irish. I've forgotten what it is exactly. A quick glance at google suggests it might come from the verb that means "kiss", but It's something other than that. Anyway. Use what you like. I'll probably put them into groups and name the offending parties accordingly.

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Hold the presses! I've got it!

 

I was about to log a "Stars and Strips" Geo-coin that needs to go to a war zone like Iraq. And I was thinking of names that mean other than a certain group. Like muggle for Geocachers.

 

Well in the Marines the infantry are fond of the term POG (Person Other than Grunt). Sounds like Pouge.

 

Maybe we can use it for Peron Other than Geocacher?

 

"Here comes some Pouges!"

 

"My cache got Pouged!"

 

Try it out it may grow on you. At least it has a military beginning like most things we use today.

 

"Balls to the wall" a reference to going full speed in an aircraft where the throttles we just rounded off into a ball shape.

 

"Cup of Joe" Coined after a Navy Captain banned liquor on the ship and everyone turned to coffee more often. Nick named it Joe.

 

"Son of a gun" Applied to boys born afloat, when women were permitted to accompany their husbands to sea; one admiral declared he literally was thus cradled, under the breast of a gun-carriage.

 

Thoughts?

 

I've started using lurkers/roamers but I like this one. Even just POG, though that could easily be turned into Poggle :laughing:

 

Maybe we need some kind of suggestion and vote thread.

 

However, I have the feeling that it's going to be more of a case of using your preferred term and wait to see if it gets picked up.

 

And for all the doubters on this thread, new terms are coined all the time, nothing lasts forever, especially not when it comes to language.

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Stealing "muggles" from Harry Potter and using it for non-geocachers is as dumb as Harry Potter itself (I'm referring to the movies, as I've never read the books). It would be interesting to do some research and see when the first use of the term can be found on the GC website.

 

Like, whoa - the first ever, ever, ever mention of the term on the GC.COM website in the form of a "found it" log.

 

The first mention of the term in the GC forums.

 

So, good luck to anyone wishing to change the language of the geocaching culture and get "muggle" stricken from our collective conscience...

 

So, check it out. When I'm talking to a muggle about the "activity" or "sport" of geocaching, then I refer to muggles as "non-geocachers," since "muggles" would only confuse most muggles, whereas most anyone who is non-geocacher would quickly relate to "non-geocacher." :o

 

Somehow, miraculously, I am able to keep it all straight when explaining, and if the muggle is catching on, later on I may explain some specific terms in the Geocaching culture and hence may get around to explaining that the "more silly" of us use the term "muggle" to describe "non-cachers." :)

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When I am explaing it to people that do not know what it is, I usually don't say "muggle" I just say something like.. don't let other people see you doing it because you do not want them to come back and steal the cache later. You don't have to use the term "muggle" just because it is what others use. You can use your own words, there are no "set in print" terms that we MUST use in Geocaching. It's all for fun, so have fun with it!!!

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How about "Gomer"? It has some 60's and 70's connections, from Gomer Pyle to Viet Nam to

Get Out of My Emergency Room from St. Elsewhere, I think.

 

Works well as a noun - "Hold on to the cache, here comes a gomer"

 

or a verb - "I can't believe my new cache got gomered so quickly"

 

The Gomer Pyle usage implies someone a bit out of it, but in a gentle way, kind of how muggles are regarded now.

Edited by bbqbob2
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I would love to see it changed.

 

I'd like to change it from "muggles" to "poachers".

 

For example: "I didn't want the cache to get poached so I had to wait a while for the poachers to leave. Then I made the find"

 

around here, a poacher is someone who finds a cache before its publication. typically it does not refer to people using inside information, but people who either discover the cache accidentally or through extreme cleverness.

 

as in "i got to the cache fifteen minutes after its publication but it had been poached yesterday."

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There will those of you who will immediately say "It's just a game, its not serious" Well, football and basketball are just a game. But they are marketed seriously. Kids on the playground can play sports for fun but eventually they strive to emulate the professionals. Can geocaching follow that example?

 

Hmm..."Muggle" needs to be more serious, to keep in step with professional sports...really? I have two words for you... "Ocho Cinco" :o

 

Cachers can be serious and still have fun...why not have a goofy name for something occasionally? It's what keeps us young...our sense of humor. Right?

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