[Joush]

A more lighthearted thing bothering me.. anybody else bothered by the use of "clips" for any removable ammunition storage in Shadowrun? The vast majority of weapons said to use clips pretty clearly use detachable box magazines. Clips doesn't even imply removable ammunition storage, in fact, given the most common kind are stripper clips (The ammunition is loaded, then the clip is discarded.. it never goes into the weapon at all). The primary use of clips is to reload weapons with fixed magazines or to reload a detachable magazine quickly. (A method that allows a person to carry more ready to use ammo without the bulk and weigh of extra magazines.)

I'm fully prepared to hear nobody cares about this but me. 

[Phylos Fett]

No more than I am bothered by people (not necessarily here, but in life in general) that use the term "memory" when they mean hard drive storage. I understand what they mean, and we just get on with life.

[Joush]

But a hard drive is a form of non-volatile memory. (Unlike say the chips used in Random Access Memory that must be refreshed constantly or lose anything stored). At least when someone says they are "low on memory" for their computer, they aren't using the totally wrong word, just using an imprecise term.

[Phylos Fett]

Now that I think about it, I am more bothered when people use the phrase "begs the question" when they mean "raises the question", I suppose, but that's just me.

[John Schmidt]

No more than I am bothered when somebody says that the United States is a democracy.

[Xzylvador]

"Magazines is so beginning of the century! What are you, a hundred years old?"

No, not bothered at all. Clips pronounces a lot easier and regardless of the exact dictionary meaning, everyone knows what's meant with it.
Wouldn't surprise me that by 2070, the dictionary meaning got changed with a possible reference to its origin, way back when there was a difference between clips and mags.

[Joush]

That's the thing, much like there will be a difference between a solenoid and a stepper motor and in a professional context the cost of confusing the two could be highly negative, confusing a detachable box magazine and a clip could likewise have unfavorable results. They are, after all, technical terms.. And "Mag" is as easy to say as "Clip" without the risk of getting what you asked for and it being useless to you. (A reloading clip in the middle of a firefight when you need a magazine).

Humm.. I'm starting to think nobody else cares.

[Phylos Fett]

When I hear "magazine", I almost always think about something I'd buy at a newsagent

It's like when I hear "football", I think of what most people call soccer, and then I think Rugby League, Rugby Union, Australian Rules Football, and finally American Football. Unless something else is said to put it into context. Same as when I hear "hockey" I think about the how good the Australians are at it in the Olympics, unless I hear the word "puck" and then I think Ice Hockey.

Because I have been reading/playing Shadowrun for 20 years, I think of a "clip" as what it is in game (followed by a film clip, and then a paper clip).

I'm sure if they changed the "clip" to "magazine" in the game, my thinking would change, in the same way my thinking has changed so that I think "hacker" now, rather than "decker".

[Mäx]

And "Mag" is as easy to say as "Clip" without the risk of getting what you asked for and it being useless to you. (A reloading clip in the middle of a firefight when you need a magazine).

There is noone in this world who's stupid enought to give someone a reloading clip when they ask for a new clip in middle of a fire fight, or if there are they deserve to be shot by the person they handed the reloading clip to.

[PeterSmith]

Humm.. I'm starting to think nobody else cares.

Probably. After all, we are talking about a fictional universe. The rules that apply to ours do not have to apply there, even though there is the grounding in ours.

[Patrick Goodman]

Humm.. I'm starting to think nobody else cares.

You'd be wrong. It's a frequent religious war in Shadowrun fandom. It, in fact, recently got yet another thread locked down in the Gear subforum.

Personally, I think this particular line of discussion should be banned in the TOS, but I'm not the guy who makes that call, so....

[CanRay]

As Patrick said, this is a topic that usually has the Language Geeks and the Gun Geeks fighting in force over "Language Marches On"/"Correct Use Of Jargon".

The arguments have been rife enough that even Kane would go, "Seriously?  Too far!"

EDIT:  "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary." - James D. Nicoll

[FastJack]

Humm.. I'm starting to think nobody else cares.

You'd be wrong. It's a frequent religious war in Shadowrun fandom. It, in fact, recently got yet another thread locked down in the Gear subforum.

Personally, I think this particular line of discussion should be banned in the TOS, but I'm not the guy who makes that call, so....

And, just so you know, I'll be watching this one as well. Please note that this topic tends to get heated very quickly. If that does happen, the topic will be locked and warnings (and bannings, where merited) will be given out.

[CanRay]

I can already see him polishing up the ban-hammer whispering sweet nothings into it's handle.

[FastJack]

"Don't listen to the silly Canadian, baby. He just gets excited with the possibility of violence"

Honestly, I'd like to see the discussion stay civil and not have it devolve into circular arguments between parties nor name-calling. That being said, this topic has yet to stay away from being locked numerous times. If you are able to stay civil to one another, it will stay open; if not it will get locked.