Alternative to "Muggle"

[geogypsysteph]

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!

 

CHEERS!!!!!!! I agree!

[mouthsmasher]

Maybe the term "Muggle" won't seem so bad when (if) the Harry Potter fad dies off.

[knowschad]

Maybe the term "Muggle" won't seem so bad when (if) the Harry Potter fad dies off.

 

OK, I'm starting to get bored with "wrastros". Maybe "mouthsmashers" would be better.

 

Nice caching name, my friend. Family friendly.

[+TrailGators]

To me it's easy to shift gears depending on who you are talking to. I use the term "muggles" around cachers and I use the term "non-geocachers" when I'm talking to muggles. I had never watched Harry Potter when I first heard the term "muggle," so I never thought about it being a kiddie term. It is what it is. Finally. I think the game brings out the kid in all of us. That is partly why it's fun.

[bogleman]

signal the frog - frogs are smooth and slick

 

muggle the TOAD - toads, well they are toads

 

wow, was it that hard - really........

[+WRASTRO]

Maybe the term "Muggle" won't seem so bad when (if) the Harry Potter fad dies off.

 

OK, I'm starting to get bored with "wrastros". Maybe "mouthsmashers" would be better.

 

Nice caching name, my friend. Family friendly.

Aaaaack! I feel so used and tossed aside. How can you live with yourself after "verb"alizing someone for days and then simply casting them off for some mouthmasher? I hope you have properly briefed your new object of your affections on the advantages and drawbacks of being turned into a verb. I personally must state that I was never properly and directly informed of my new status as a verb. You are on a slippery slope of verbalizing and would be well advised to take a step back and consider your actions before you verbalize other innocent geocachers.

 

Am I still a verb or have I been relegated back to the invisible masses?

 

Geocachers be aware and forewarned!

[knowschad]

Maybe the term "Muggle" won't seem so bad when (if) the Harry Potter fad dies off.

 

OK, I'm starting to get bored with "wrastros". Maybe "mouthsmashers" would be better.

 

Nice caching name, my friend. Family friendly.

Aaaaack! I feel so used and tossed aside. How can you live with yourself after "verb"alizing someone for days and then simply casting them off for some mouthmasher? I hope you have properly briefed your new object of your affections on the advantages and drawbacks of being turned into a verb. I personally must state that I was never properly and directly informed of my new status as a verb. You are on a slippery slope of verbalizing and would be well advised to take a step back and consider your actions before you verbalize other innocent geocachers.

 

Am I still a verb or have I been relegated back to the invisible masses?

 

 

Geocachers be aware and forewarned!

 

Geeze... I didn't expect you to catch me! Even the "Show All" smileys don't have a makeup kiss smiley (not that I'd really want to kiss you!) I guess the best I can do is "anibad"

[+WRASTRO]

A cacher scorned and all that. I feel like I have been completely wrastro'd or mouthmashed. You really need to consider the downstream impacts of your offhand comments.

 

My wife has always thought I am fairly cute so maybe the kissing part wouldn't be so bad for you. Not recommending it, just saying.

 

Your activities are being monitored so if you start going out and wrastroing caches you WILL be held accountable.

[+bafl01]

a cacher here in az called az jedi refers, or has in the past, refered to them as "sith" which as an adult star wars nerd .. i thought this was hilarious

[+Jackalgirl]

Maybe the term "Muggle" won't seem so bad when (if) the Harry Potter fad dies off.

 

OK, I'm starting to get bored with "wrastros". Maybe "mouthsmashers" would be better.

 

Nice caching name, my friend. Family friendly.

 

Perhaps we could call them "Chads"? "Beware the Chad." "Watch out for Chads." "The cache was chadded yesterday."

 

You'd be an expert on protecting caches against non-cachers because, of course, you know Chad. ; )

 

P.S. For what it's worth, I'm fine with "muggle".

[+rockey_f_squirrell]

How about what the military uses.

 

John Q. Public; "JQP's" can be the short term

[+The Blorenges]

How about what the military uses.

 

John Q. Public; "JQP's" can be the short term

 

I don't think that "My cache got JQP'ed" works... Sounds a bit... ummm... icky

 

MrsB

[+atmospherium]

I reckon "muggle" was just the result of timing. If geocaching had started a couple of decades earlier, we might be saying , "Beware the Sleestak".

 

I think "Chad" could gain a following as a viable alternative. I can easily see myself scoping out a cache area and being annoyed that it's crawling with Chads. "Stupid Chads," I would mutter to myself.

 

Now, I wonder if muggles (or Chads if you prefer) have a secret lingo that they use to identify geocachers? When hiking muggles meet at the trailhead, do they warn each other, "Watch out, there's geeks with gizmos in the woods."?

[GOF and Bacall]

I reckon "muggle" was just the result of timing. If geocaching had started a couple of decades earlier, we might be saying , "Beware the Sleestak".

 

I think "Chad" could gain a following as a viable alternative. I can easily see myself scoping out a cache area and being annoyed that it's crawling with Chads. "Stupid Chads," I would mutter to myself.

 

Now, I wonder if muggles (or Chads if you prefer) have a secret lingo that they use to identify geocachers? When hiking muggles meet at the trailhead, do they warn each other, "Watch out, there's geeks with gizmos in the woods."?

 

I had to look up "Sleestak". As soon as I saw "Land of the Lost" I knew why it didn't ring a bell. That show stunk. Mind you this IS just my opinion and it may have been influenced by the fact that my little sister loved it and insisted that we watch it when it was her turn to control the tv. Reminds me, I need to thank her. It was one of the things that helped drive me to read real books.

[+PhxChem]

HAIRY POTTER?

[+Suburban Hillbillies]

I vote for:

 

The cache has been discomboobalized by a discomboobalizer.

 

Or we could just change it to Muggler. Seems some folks use that already, and it will still get muggled by the muggler.

 

This is too complicated... I just going with The cache was stolen by a very not nice person.

[knowschad]

Maybe the term "Muggle" won't seem so bad when (if) the Harry Potter fad dies off.

 

OK, I'm starting to get bored with "wrastros". Maybe "mouthsmashers" would be better.

 

Nice caching name, my friend. Family friendly.

 

Perhaps we could call them "Chads"? "Beware the Chad." "Watch out for Chads." "The cache was chadded yesterday."

 

You'd be an expert on protecting caches against non-cachers because, of course, you know Chad. ; )

 

P.S. For what it's worth, I'm fine with "muggle".

 

Hey, now... don't you go verbing me, kiddo!

[+Prime Suspect]

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.

And the ones who do won't admit it.

[+Team BBPS]

Well I admit that I did not read all the post on this so I don't know if this has been mentioned...

but when i started caching in 2004 the term we called non-cachers was "Aliens"

[Andronicus]

...Or we could just change it to Muggler. Seems some folks use that already, and it will still get muggled by the muggler. ...

 

Actualy, untill I read this thread, I thought it was "My cache was Muggled by a Muggler". Most of the logs around here that I have read use "a Muggler." Sounds better than "a Muggle" anyway.

 

PS I am trying to learn Spanish, and am forever trying to figure out how to conjucate verbs, so here is the English verb conjication for Muggle

 

I Muggle

You Muggle

He Muggles

She Muggles

We Muggle

You (plural) Muggle

They Muggle

 

I guess that was kind of borring, as He and She were the only different ones. By the way, how do you conjugate Muggle in Spanish?

[+Renegade Knight]

...It angers me to see people roll their eyes or give funny looks while I am explaining it....

 

I've been thinking about this. The funny thing is that the people who do that, typically fall into the catagory of "Dorkophobic Dorks" They are so very afraid of looking like a dork, that they are dorks.

[Quizes]

I've only been at this a year, but doesn't the term "muggled" refer to a cache that has gone missing...probably by a non-cacher?

 

If so, please tell me what I've done to anger someone here:

 

Cache log

[knowschad]

I've only been at this a year, but doesn't the term "muggled" refer to a cache that has gone missing...probably by a non-cacher?

 

If so, please tell me what I've done to anger someone here:

 

Cache log

 

Not necessarily. In this case it sounds as though it may have been moved. Perhaps moved from down low to somewhere way up high, making it inaccessible? In a sense, it was also "muggled" (or, if you prefer, "wrastroed" ) by the 5 year old girl that you mentioned in your log.

[Quizes]

But, I found it twice a couple of weeks apart in THE SAME exact place.

[knowschad]

But, I found it twice a couple of weeks apart in THE SAME exact place.

 

Was that place what most would consider accessible from a wheelchair (1 star terrain)?

[+uxorious]

QUOTE(Quizes @ May 22 2009, 07:52 AM)

 

I've only been at this a year, but doesn't the term "muggled" refer to a cache that has gone missing...probably by a non-cacher?

 

If so, please tell me what I've done to anger someone here:

 

Cache log

 

 

Not necessarily. In this case it sounds as though it may have been moved. Perhaps moved from down low to somewhere way up high, making it inaccessible? In a sense, it was also "muggled" (or, if you prefer, "wrastroed" ) by the 5 year old girl that you mentioned in your log.

 

Whether they meant muggled as in gone missing, or as in unattainable, how could the person log a find if he couldn't sign the log book.

 

A log indicating a cache has been muggled does not necessarily mean the cache has gone missing. Someone may have found the cache scattered all over, pick up the pieces, sign the log and put it back where they thought it belonged.

 

In this case the cache was listed as unattainable, by someone other then the one that reported it muggled. That may have been an assumption based on the log, which would lead to the confusion.

[Quizes]

Possible to get, but someone in a wheelchair might not be able to see it from the angle of sitting in a chair.

 

The cacher seems to have a problem with the cache difficulty rating, but his log indicates to me (and to the owner) that the cache was not there. So, the owner (college students gone for the summer) archived it.

[knowschad]

Possible to get, but someone in a wheelchair might not be able to see it from the angle of sitting in a chair.

 

The cacher seems to have a problem with the cache difficulty rating, but his log indicates to me (and to the owner) that the cache was not there. So, the owner (college students gone for the summer) archived it.

 

The cache is not archived, merely disabled temporarily.

 

This really should be in a separate thread, though, since it isn't about an alternative word for 'Muggle''.

[Quizes]

I just wanted a clarification of the term "muggled", I didn't bring the rest of it into the thread.

[+The Blorenges]

I recently found a cache which I believe may have been shuggled.

 

Is that a permissible alternative?

 

MrsB

[knowschad]

I recently found a cache which I believe may have been shuggled.

 

Is that a permissible alternative?

 

MrsB

 

If the cache had been disturbed by snails, you could say it had been snuggled!

[+Renegade Knight]

I recently found a cache which I believe may have been shuggled.

 

Is that a permissible alternative?

 

MrsB

 

If the cache had been disturbed by snails, you could say it had been snuggled!

Isn't that the little teddy bear who likes falling into towels a lot?

[+The Jester]

Now, I wonder if muggles (or Chads if you prefer) have a secret lingo that they use to identify geocachers? When hiking muggles meet at the trailhead, do they warn each other, "Watch out, there's geeks with gizmos in the woods."?

I want that on a tee shirt!

[+Team GPSaxophone]

Not to sound lie one of THEM, but the correct form of this would be "publicked". C + ing or ed, add K.

An example of this is when "traffic" turns to "trafficking"

I wasn't drunk in pub-lick...I was drunk in a bar. They threw me out.

 

 

 

Maybe I'll just call muggles "they".

[+5thApe]

I dislike the term too, for two reasons.

 

First, it sounds dumb to me.

Second, it refers to a series of books I think of as childish. Maybe that's why I think it sounds dumb.

 

It doesn't concern me in the least what non-cachers think of the term. Who cares. But what cachers think of the term means something, and I think it's awful.

 

Onlookers is a better term.

[+Buddaman]

 

First, it sounds dumb to me.

 

Onlookers is a better term.

 

Yea i can see me logging a cache. "Didn't find it i think it was Onlookered".That sounds better

[+bafl01]

Main Entry: muggle2

Part of Speech: n

Definition: a common person, esp. one who is ignorant or has no skills

Example: There are muggles in every computer class.

Etymology: 1920s

Usage: slang

 

not from harry potter its British slang used in 1920s

[+ClarksJeepn]

Here is something I found on the background (pre-Potter). "Muggle" was used in the 20s/30s as a slang for marijuana and possibly to describe people who weren't "in the know" about the use of marijuana. Gee, that sounds like a term I want my kids using.

 

You must have some awesome amazing kids. My kids, and most of their friends I know. know nothing of drug slang from the 70's/80's, much less the 20s/30s.

 

Almost every endeavor, whether it is work, sports, hobbies or geocaching, has its own lexicon with their own acronyms, abbreviations and etc. When I talk to someone about my work I know to translate certain terms or explain certain functions in a way the listener may have a better chance of understanding. It seems that cachers have embraced this word and I find it humorous. When talking to muggles, er non-geocachers use language they understand

[+ClarksJeepn]

 

To juggle the muggle is always a struggle.

To goggle your mug’ll just cause 'em to boggle!

 

You’ll haggle and wriggle to 'splain why you smuggle;

'twill rankle their wrinkle and giggle their doggle.

 

A fickle small dog'll bedraggle your ankle;

(Go Google "bedraggle," 'twill cause you to giggle!)

 

A muggle who’s quick'll see right through your haggle,

Your huckle and buckle won’t be worth a nickel.

 

Don't brickle or pickle or cause a boondoggle;

Just juggle the smuggle – hornswoggle that muggle!

 

THAT is great... very skillful. As a wordsmith, you da bomb.

[+Cedar Grove Seekers]

I've always thought it was odd that geocaching took a term from a book/movie series for kids.

 

As a result I don't use the term 'muggle', but instead I use 'orc', 'e-wok' or 'fraggle'

[+Rustynails]

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 think the word muggle is just fine. If you feel you are too macho to use it when explaining geocaching, then don't.

[+THINKeen]

I don't use "muggle" in my logs, but rather "Plebs" a Latin term for common folk.

[+ecanderson]

I don't use "muggle" in my logs, but rather "Plebs" a Latin term for common folk.

 

Rather than "the great unwashed" (earlier post), or Plebs, or muggles ...

 

"The uncoordinated"? (pun intended)

[+Renegade Knight]

I don't use "muggle" in my logs, but rather "Plebs" a Latin term for common folk.

 

Rather than "the great unwashed" (earlier post), or Plebs, or muggles ...

 

"The uncoordinated"? (pun intended)

 

Oh, you mean cake eaters?

[+Bmxer11]

I honestly don't like the word muggle, seriously, what the F$#K is a muggle. I could care less what they call them, but why use a stupid word. Why not call them lurkers or something that is an actuall word???

Thats just what I think

[+bittsen]

I honestly don't like the word muggle, seriously, what the F$#K is a muggle. I could care less what they call them, but why use a stupid word. Why not call them lurkers or something that is an actuall word???

Thats just what I think

 

Muggle is an actual word. It's somewhat derogatory

 

Main Entry: muggle

Part of Speech: n

Definition: a common person, esp. one who is ignorant or has no skills

[+ecanderson]

Rather than "the great unwashed" (earlier post), or Plebs, or muggles ...

 

"The uncoordinated"? (pun intended)

 

Oh, you mean cake eaters?

Naw - even cake eaters can have coordinates.

[+KoosKoos]

I honestly don't like the word muggle, seriously, what the F$#K is a muggle. I could care less what they call them, but why use a stupid word. Why not call them lurkers or something that is an actuall word???

Thats just what I think

 

Why call them geocaches? Call them something that's an actual word or something.

 

[+kwvers!]

I honestly don't like the word muggle, seriously, what the F$#K is a muggle. I could care less what they call them, but why use a stupid word. Why not call them lurkers or something that is an actuall word???

Thats just what I think

 

Why call them geocaches? Call them something that's an actual word or something.

 

 

onlookers,interested folks,the curious,observant

[+WRITE SHOP ROBERT]

discussing a change like that in here will never make any difference, if you want a different word to be used, then come up with one that makes sense to you, and start using it. Muggle is simple, fun, and fits the definition.

 

I have seen people make this request before, but haven't seem them comeup with an alternative.