Alternative to "Muggle"

[+mrbort]

edit: this post added nothing ... and is unfortunately the first one on the new page

Edited May 14, 2009 by mrbort

[+joukkusisu]

You know what? I have a good friend who is really - I mean REALLY - bothered by the word "moist". Go figure. She copes by not using the word.

 

 

That's funny. I know several people who are bothered by the word, "moist," mostly girls. I bet Freud would have a field day.

 

I agree with Knowschad, the verb form is critical. I don't know why, but "muggled" sounds so appropriate. It makes sense. You know it means vandalized, but without the seriousness that vandalize conveys. This is a game after all.

 

How about it's been:

 

Vandalized

Ravished

Torn asunder

Stolen

Taken

Decimated

Destroyed

 

I've used, "It's wandered away," which is sort of looking at it with positive thinking, I suppose.

[+amianda]

How about mud blood? Chav comes to mind. I do like unwashed masses. Ignorant slobs is pretty cool.

 

If we want a truly orginal word I supposed we could all take turns making posts by just banging on the keyboard. Something will eventlully pop out that catches our collective eye.

 

eiaov oapoeoarweasr;omsvd;omsgdoj aoieur1q4v8mvqmp9[spossvpofsd gpoiurve awpoiewrqqe- q 89yqrtg

 

Anything stand out?

 

weasr is good.

 

J/K i like Muggle.

[+wimseyguy]

If ya don't have any muggles, then who's gonna muggle the cache's?

 

In some regions not to far from here they have corrupted it to mugglers.

Although I hate to see any cache go missing, it always cracks me up to read 'the mugglers got my cache"

[+david5kfull]

It always interesting what people envision when they hear certain words. When some hear the word “muggle” they instantly think of “non-geocachers” while others remember Harry Potter references. This can be true for lots of words. What do you think about when you hear “pot”, “chicken”, or “mission”? Some may envision rolling a “fatty” (there’s another one to think about) while others see a flower pot or maybe a cooking pot… A mission could be a task of great importance involving spies and villains while others may consider this an activity within the church.

 

In reality, it’s just language. So many words have multiple meanings and impact our emotions or thoughts in different ways. Do I use the word “muggle”? No, I never do… Do I feel compelled to strike if from the record….? No… Use whatever words that you want. Explain what you do to others however you feel. If they laugh at you or fail to understand why you do it… Who cares? Are you having fun?

[+Frank Broughton]

I hate it all - just delete the whole site! Be gone with all this....

[knowschad]

If ya don't have any muggles, then who's gonna muggle the cache's?

 

In some regions not to far from here they have corrupted it to mugglers.

Although I hate to see any cache go missing, it always cracks me up to read 'the mugglers got my cache"

 

Sorry, I already mentioned "mugglers".

[knowschad]

I agree with Knowschad, the verb form is critical. I don't know why, but "muggled" sounds so appropriate. It makes sense. You know it means vandalized, but without the seriousness that vandalize conveys. This is a game after all.

 

How about it's been:

 

Vandalized

Ravished

Torn asunder

Stolen

Taken

Decimated

Destroyed

 

I've used, "It's wandered away," which is sort of looking at it with positive thinking, I suppose.

 

Ah, yes... but as we must consider the verbed form of the noun, likewise must we consider the nouned form of the verb!

 

A vandalizer vandalized my cache!

A ravisher ravished my cache! (and the cache LOVED it!)

A torn asunderer tore my cache asunder!!

A stolener stolen my cache (OMG that's terrible!)

A takener takened my cache (that may be even worse!)

A decimateder decimated my cache.

A destroyeder destroydered my cache, and am I ever p***ed!!!!

 

Edited May 14, 2009 by knowschad

[+TheAlabamaRambler]

So if a Muggle muggles caches and recruits other muggles into his muggling ways do they become his muggleers?

[+Gimpy13]

How about it's been:

 

Vandalized

Ravished

Torn asunder

Stolen

Taken

Decimated

Destroyed

 

I've used, "It's wandered away," which is sort of looking at it with positive thinking, I suppose.

 

Oh!! I like torn asunder, but without the torn part.

 

"My cache was asundered."

"Look - are they asundering that cache?"

"Hey! Watch out! It's an asundererer. er. er."

 

I'm also fond of "Decimators".

[+Nature Kids]

Being an avid science fiction reader, I enjoy made up words that fit, & make sense at the same time, Si-Fi is full of them & made up words from the 30's & 40's that are common usage today...Robot was once a funny word.

I can see the day, when all the other definitions of Muggle fall to the way side from disuse, & the geocaching definition prevails.

Geocaching is here to stay & so is Muggle.

[+Wooden Cyclist]

Ok, if you were somehow able to come up with an acceptable alternative to muggle, how would you implement the change. Ban the use of muggle in the forums? Demand the deletion of any logs that use the word muggle?

 

 

This whole thing is silly. Cachers will use the words that they want to use and it seems that the majority like muggle. I doubt that you could force any replacement on the caching world.

 

 

Don't use the word if you don't like it. Come up with a catchy alternative, use it and who knows, it might catch on.

[knowschad]

Ok, if you were somehow able to come up with an acceptable alternative to muggle, how would you implement the change. Ban the use of muggle in the forums? Demand the deletion of any logs that use the word muggle?

 

Great ideas!! Thanks for the wonderful suggestions.

[Bougher]

I can't tell a muggle from a cacheaholic. You all look the same to me. In my world there are only two kinds of humans. Those who smell like french fries and those who do not.

 

I usually just dictate my posts to my human to type, but in the spirit of the thread...I will walk across the keyboard a few times.

 

 

dfidfdedxuy77fs sx, 565555 r5tgf,ooooooooosnooott k cvkdxklp sad aszcdsrewsrgfgrBH7YHKJibSDFFGSCCCCCCCCCEW SAACA;SC,PSLD

 

[+david5kfull]

Just noticed this was duplicated.... not sure what happened there...

Edited May 14, 2009 by david5kfull

[AZcachemeister]

I understand that is works well with kids and that it means non-geocachers. But I don't understand why it has become the standard. I don't have any children, so when I try to explain caching to my friends and family it sounds ridiculous to start talking about a term from Hairy Potter.

 

Is it time to change this term to something more serious?

 

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?

 

I would love to see geocaching become a little more accepted and understood. It angers me to see people roll their eyes or give funny looks while I am explaining it. It sounds like a kiddy game but it's not. You can really have some interesting trips from geocaching. Keeping the kiddy terms could prevent some people that would have had a great time and contributed to the sport well, away from it.

 

Let the bash fest begin!

 

I agree, and I hate the term. I have never uttered that word, nor have I written it anywhere.

 

I prefer 'heathens', 'infidels', or 'the unwashed'.

 

Despite it's outstanding popularity, the Harry Potter world has absolutely NOTHING to do with Geocaching.

[+Shop99er]

I understand that is works well with kids and that it means non-geocachers. But I don't understand why it has become the standard. I don't have any children, so when I try to explain caching to my friends and family it sounds ridiculous to start talking about a term from Hairy Potter.

 

We don't have any kids, either. So what? It's only a word.

 

Is it time to change this term to something more serious?

 

NO!

 

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?

 

NO!--the sequel

 

I would love to see geocaching become a little more accepted and understood. It angers me to see people roll their eyes or give funny looks while I am explaining it.

 

Then don't tell them about muggles.

 

It sounds like a kiddy game but it's not. You can really have some interesting trips from geocaching. Keeping the kiddy terms could prevent some people that would have had a great time and contributed to the sport well, away from it.

 

If they're that picky about "kiddy terms", they might need to play elsewhere.

 

You could use the term "Unwashed Heathen", I suppose. Doubling the syllable count might help.

[+patned]

After meeting a number of other cachers and finding them to be very similar to myself and my wife in actions and attitude about caching, might I suggest that an excellent name for non-cachers would be "normal people".

[+atmospherium]

I don't have any children, so when I try to explain caching to my friends and family it sounds ridiculous to start talking about a term from Hairy Potter.

 

But where will it all end? I don't have any children either, and yet I enjoy a rousing game of Pooh Sticks, and when I lose I stamp my feet and cry, "Ninnyhammers!" Should we ban "Pooh Sticks" because Christopher Robin grew up? Should we ban "Ninnyhammers!" because Samwise Gamgee sailed to Valinor?

 

I don't even know what I'm talking about, but I'll make you a deal. You get me fly fishing date with Emma Watson and I promise I'll never use any ridiculous sounding terminology again, including the ridiculous term "geocaching".

[+Happy Bubbles]

I like the word muggle, and will continue to use it.

[Andronicus]

I am supprised that so many people have serious opinions on this.

 

Anyway, I rarly use the term when talking, but I don't know any cachers other than my kids, so maybe I don't count. I use it almost exclusivly in cache logs.

 

I don't care for the word, but it is what it is, a naturaly evolved term. I also don't care for the colour pink, and I don't own anything that is pink, so maybe we should get rid of it too. If you realy don't like it, figure out a term that is better that is so good it will catch on, and people will spontaniously want to start using it.

[+WRASTRO]

 

Is it time to change this term to something more serious?

 

 

How about instead of something serious, we go with something more ominous ... like "THEM".

 

Example:

 

Cacher 1: Act natural, here come some muggles.

Cacher 2: No ... Oh my God ... It's one of ... THEM!

Cacher 1: Who?

Cacher 2: THEM! You know, they're like the Men in Black and Freemasons ... COMBINED!!

Cacher 1: You're completely nutters, you know?

Cacher 2 needs to be better informed. Many Freemasons are already cachers. We have infiltrated the organization and will bring about the new order. I would love to tell you about it but there would be rather severe penalties if I did so. But if you really want to know just ask.

[knowschad]

I'd like to propose we changed "Muggle" to "Wrastro". It works as both a noun and a verb, and just has "that" right sound:

 

"Duck! Here comes a couple of wrastros!"

"Yeah, we wouldn't want them to wrastro the cache."

 

See? Works, doesn't it?

[+JoesBar]

 

You can really have some interesting trips from geocaching.

 

That sentence is the reason I cache. So you hit the nail on the head when describing our hobby. Don't let one word get in your way.

 

Every hobby and profession has its' own jargon. I see from your picture you are in the military. I'm sure you use words or phrases that civilians will not understand, and you have to explain.

 

You don't have to use the word 'muggle' when explaining caching to others. "non cacher," "pedestrian," could work too.

[+Wooden Cyclist]

I'd like to propose we changed "Muggle" to "Wrastro". It works as both a noun and a verb, and just has "that" right sound:

 

"Duck! Here comes a couple of wrastros!"

"Yeah, we wouldn't want them to wrastro the cache."

 

See? Works, doesn't it?

 

 

Wrastro? I like it.

 

 

The Amish refer to anyone who isn't Amish as "The English". They didn't invent the word and it certainly isn't accurate when used that way, but it works for them. Kinda like the word muggle works for most Geocachers.

 

 

Wrastro. I can't get it out of my head. It is either my new word or a curse placed upon me by Knowschad.

Edited May 14, 2009 by Wooden Cyclist

[+sbell111]

The term has been in use by the geocachng community for over seven years. I doubt that this thread is going to change anything.

[+Happy Humphrey]

As "muggle" is the established term, I think it's the responsibility of those that want it replacing to come up with a viable alternative.

 

It has to be short, easy to pronounce and spell. It has to describe, succinctly, the person who isn't aware of caching, at the same time hinting at some disapproval and desire to interfere, in the same way that "muggle" does (I got to the indicated location, only to find a group of muggles sitting right there and I certainly wasn't going to show them where the cache was hidden").

 

It must easily turn to a verb ("to muggle"; "the cache had been muggled").

 

It must have an original meaning which bears resemblance to the caching usage (as we have seen above with "muggle").

 

It should be a light and amusing word, not pompous or serious. This is a light and fun pastime (in principle, anyway). Tongue-in-cheek humour is to be encouraged.

 

It should not be a commonly-used English word or phrase, as it will have to be translated into various languages and won't always work.

 

"Muggle" does the job perfectly well, and is accepted all over the geocaching world. It's easy to criticise, but I haven't heard an alternative that ticks all the above boxes.

[CacheNCarryMA]

how about "geo-luddite"?

[knowschad]

how about "geo-luddite"?

 

Really awkward when verbed: "Found pencil and swag inside of the hollow tree, but no container. We think your cache may have been geo-luddited. Please check up on it."

 

See? Ugly. Wrastro works MUCH better.

[+The Blorenges]

how about "geo-luddite"?

 

Really awkward when verbed: "Found pencil and swag inside of the hollow tree, but no container. We think your cache may have been geo-luddited. Please check up on it."

 

See? Ugly. Wrastro works MUCH better.

 

Wrastro's better than sposs piouvres... I'll give it that.

 

But it makes me think of that fake grass they put on football pitches - wrastroturf.

 

Hmmmm

 

I presume the W would be silent?

 

MrsB

[+Renegade Knight]

So if a Muggle muggles caches and recruits other muggles into his muggling ways do they become his muggleers?

Mugateers?

[+CMHN]

The following quote was taken from the Wikipedia when searching muggle.

 

Link to the page;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muggle#cite_note-1

 

Later usages

 

The word "muggle" or "muggles" is now used in various contexts in which its meaning is similar to the sense in which it appears in the Harry Potter series of books. Generally speaking, it is used by members of a group to describe those outside the group, comparable to "civilian" as used by military personnel.

 

* "Muggle" was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2003, where it is said to refer to a person who is lacking a skill.[2]

* "Muggle" is used in informal English by members of small, specialized groups, usually those which consider their activities to either be analogous to or directly involve magic (such as within hacker culture;[3] and Pagans, Neopagans and Wiccans[4]) to refer to those outside the group.

* "Muggle" (or geomuggle) is used by geocachers to refer to those not involved in or aware of the sport of geocaching. A cache that has been tampered with by non-participants is said to be "muggled".[5][6]

* Among Lindy Hoppers, "Muggle" is a reference to "non-dancers" or "non-dance friends".[7]

* Amongst members of the fetish community, a "muggle" is a one-off visitor to a fetish club who has visited to watch rather than take part.[citation needed]

* Students at the Richard Ivey School of Business (The University of Western Ontario), frequently use the term "muggle" to describe undergraduate science and social science students who are not enrolled in the HBA program.

* The NBC science fiction drama series Heroes features a dog named Mr Muggles, who is owned by the Bennet family. The writers of the show have stated that the dogs name is an allusion to the Harry Potter series as, like Harry, Claire Bennet has been adopted by a family who does not have any special abilities.

 

 

I highlighted the part about geocaching.

 

As far as I can see its a done deal. Its in the encyclopedias and dictionaries. Nothing we can do about it now.

 

And as for the word, I think its a great word.

 

And yes I am a Harry Potter fan, read all the books and seen all the movies so far. I must say that the books are better then the movies. But that's another topic all together.

Edited May 14, 2009 by CMHN

[+Semper Questio]

how about "geo-luddite"?

 

Really awkward when verbed: "Found pencil and swag inside of the hollow tree, but no container. We think your cache may have been geo-luddited. Please check up on it."

 

See? Ugly. Wrastro works MUCH better.

 

Wrastro's better than sposs piouvres... I'll give it that.

 

But it makes me think of that fake grass they put on football pitches - wrastroturf.

 

Hmmmm

 

I presume the W would be silent?

 

MrsB

 

But when you find a cache laying out in the open on the ground you could say it was "wrastroturfed".

[knowschad]

The following quote was taken from the Wikipedia when searching muggle.

* "Wrastro" (or geowrastro) is used by geocachers to refer to those not involved in or aware of the sport of geocaching. A cache that has been tampered with by non-participants is said to be "wrastoed".[5][6]

 

Oh, I dunno... Wikipedia is flexible on these sorts of things...

[+Save The Murlocs]

Harry Potter is only for kids?

 

Childfree adult here, I LOVE Harry Potter.

[+abcdmCachers]

Maybe we could adopt Scott Adam's (creator of Dilbert) term, "induhvidual" (pronounced the same as individual, but spelled with "DUH", as in clueless). According to wikipedia, "...members are characterised by their superior intelligence and good looks, whereas non-members ('induhviduals') suffer from idiocy and lackluster charm." That term works pretty well, no? Oh wait, maybe not, "my cache was individuhualized" doesn't really work. Oh well.

 

I may be remembering wrong, but when I first started in 2004 I think "geomuggle" was the preferred term. I thought it was funny, and I actually like that a little better than muggle by itself. Not sure when it lost the geo prefix.

[+JohnE5]

Update- Wastro has won. You may still continue to use muggle but the awesomeness and ORIGINALITY will eventually win you over.

 

Consider the topic closed, nothing more to discuss.

[+flask]

yes, it's a stupid term, and it should be reserved for use by the sort of people who need assistance in wiping that icicle of drool off of their chins.

 

i haven't had a good "muggle" rant in ages, and i am proud never to have used the term except when railing against it.

 

i prefer "auslanders".

[+WRASTRO]

Gosh if I didn't know better I would think you have all been having fun today. Glad I could provide the raw material. I have never been a verb before so that is a bit exciting. I do have to take exception to the Wikipedia entry that states that Wrastro is not involved in or unaware of the sport of geocaching. You may all disagree with my opinions but I am certainly involved and aware.

 

Now if you will excuse me I need to go Wrastro a couple of caches.

[mouthsmasher]

... when I try to explain caching to my friends and family it sounds ridiculous to start talking about a term from Hairy Potter.

 

I would love to see geocaching become a little more accepted and understood. It angers me to see people roll their eyes or give funny looks while I am explaining it. It sounds like a kiddy game but it's not.

 

I agree with you completely, but I seriously doubt anything will change

[+Nature Kids]

When kids muggle your cache........ The little Mugglets got my cache!

[knowschad]

Gosh if I didn't know better I would think you have all been having fun today. Glad I could provide the raw material. I have never been a verb before so that is a bit exciting. I do have to take exception to the Wikipedia entry that states that Wrastro is not involved in or unaware of the sport of geocaching. You may all disagree with my opinions but I am certainly involved and aware.

 

Now if you will excuse me I need to go Wrastro a couple of caches.

 

Wikipedia is very flexible, Wrastro. Just go over there, create an account, and modify yourself. Congratulations on becoming verbable. We always knew that you had it in you.

[+Chi-Town Cacher]

You can put me down for hating that stupid terminology. I do realize it's a part of the culture and will not change until the next silly word pops up on our radars, but I just felt like putting in my 2 cents anyways.

[+Coyote's Girl]

Oh thank you so MUCH! I needed a laugh today, and I got a great giggle out of this. I'm a Pagan and we've adopted the term for non-pagans. People used to call them "Mundanes" but that word is so.... mundane. Muggle is more fun in ANY context. BUT if you're insistant upon changing the terminology do this: Get together with a couple geobuddies here and come up with a nice word that encompasses "valdalizer" "Thief" "unwashed masses" "Infidel" "clueless" "unaware" "unwary" "roadblock" "loiterer" and "silly muffin-head" then populate Groundspeak with that word. Really. Check out the entymology of the word "quiz"

[+redrumNYHC]

I have seen one dude try calling muggles "others." It's from the show Lost in case not everyone is familiar. I personally like muggle but I can see how some people don't.

[knowschad]

Check out the entymology of the word "quiz"

 

Interesting (although dubious):

 

The story goes that a Dublin theatre proprietor by the name of Richard Daly made a bet that he could, within forty-eight hours, make a nonsense word known throughout the city, and that the public would give a meaning to it. After the performance one evening, he gave his staff cards with the word 'quiz' written on them, and told them to write the word on walls around the city. The next day the strange word was the talk of the town, and within a short time it had become part of the language. This picturesque tale appeared as an anecdote in 1836, but the most detailed account (in F. T. Porter's Gleanings and Reminiscences, 1875) gives the date of the exploit as 1791. The word, however, was already in use by then, meaning 'an odd or eccentric person', and had been used in this sense by Fanny Burney in her diary on 24 June 1782. 'Quiz' was also used as a name for a curious toy, something like a yo-yo and also called a bandalore, which was popular around 1790. The word is nevertheless hard to account for, and so is its later meaning of 'to question, to interrogate', which emerged in the mid-19th century and gave rise to the most common use of the term today, for an entertainment based on questions and answers.

 

So, let's all go out tonight and write WRASTRO on all the walls of the city (wait... that's graffiti and probably not acceptable CITO behavior)

Edited May 15, 2009 by knowschad

[+The Inkwell]

I understand where you're coming from with that term. We were so hesitant to use "muggle" in our logs because it just sounded...so...silly...For years I would specifically type "non-cacher" in our logs to replace "muggle", but eventually, we just said to heck with it and started saying "muggle"...if you can't beat 'em, join 'em I guess...

[+sbell111]

Oh thank you so MUCH! I needed a laugh today, and I got a great giggle out of this. I'm a Pagan and we've adopted the term for non-pagans. People used to call them "Mundanes" but that word is so.... mundane. ...

That's funny. Many years ago, when the debate as to what to call muggles was fresh, I suggested 'mundanes', but it got no traction. I suspect that most people simply didn't 'get' it. Edited May 15, 2009 by sbell111

[+Userzero]

Where is Vinnie when you need him?

[+Renegade Knight]

Update- Wastro has won....

 

Wrut Wro Wastro