Signup
Welcome to... Canonfire! World of GreyhawK
Features
Postcards from the Flanaess
Adventures
in Greyhawk
Cities of
Oerth
Deadly
Denizens
Jason Zavoda Presents
The Gord Novels
Greyhawk Wiki
#greytalk
JOIN THE CHAT
ON DISCORD
    Canonfire :: View topic - Oerth vs. Earth nomenclature and distinctions
    Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion
    Oerth vs. Earth nomenclature and distinctions
    Author Message
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Jul 29, 2006
    Posts: 494
    From: Dantredun, MN

    Send private message
    Fri Dec 29, 2017 3:18 pm  
    Oerth vs. Earth nomenclature and distinctions

    There's been a subtle trend in our fanon and online communities over the last couple decades to replace all references to "Earth" with "Oerth." The Earth Dragon is increasingly called the Oerth Dragon, S3 is the "Unoerthly Cave," the underdark is the underoerth, etc.

    Nothing wrong with the word Oerth, but I'm a Taurus and I dislike changing things. I find it particularly irksome because "Earth(day)" has been plainly spelled out on page #4 of the Folio since 1980 and the cover of D1 since AD&D was born in 1978. Both words have always existed side by side in Greyhawk. Oerth seems to be the name of the planet and earth seems to be the word for the ground, the dirt, and the elemental plane. Using "oerth" for new proper nouns is fine, but why rewrite history?
    Black Hand of Oblivion

    Joined: Feb 16, 2003
    Posts: 3835
    From: So. Cal

    Send private message
    Sat Dec 30, 2017 5:48 am  

    Establishing a common vernacular for a game world is a good thing, because immersion is a desirable thing. That any prior authors were not aware enough to do this should not be taken as the basis for not doing so later on. Authors do know better now. *We* know better now. If I were reading an old Star Wars novel and a character was referred to as an earthling, I'd kinda be pissed off at the author/editor, but I can tell you that if I read a *new* Stars Wars novel and a character was referred to as an earthling, because "that's the term a previous author used," I'd be more pissed off at the newer author's/editor's continuance of idiocy (because I am a bit more aware of what the implications of "A long time ago, in galaxy far, far away..." means with regards to using the term "earthling" than when I was eight years old). Now, said vernacular doesn't have to be all crazy like Planescape cant, but some common terminology is surely a good thing.
    _________________
    - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: Jul 29, 2006
    Posts: 494
    From: Dantredun, MN

    Send private message
    Sat Dec 30, 2017 12:42 pm  

    Good points. Thanks Cebrion. I guess I just hate change (still coming to terms with the "Tomb of Yagrax's Hands" Wink )
    Grandmaster Greytalker

    Joined: Jul 09, 2003
    Posts: 1358
    From: Tennessee, between Ft. Campbell & APSU

    Send private message
    Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:17 am  
    Re: Oerth vs. Earth nomenclature and distinctions

    vestcoat wrote:
    ...I find it particularly irksome because "Earth(day)" has been plainly spelled out on page #4 of the Folio since 1980 and the cover of D1 since AD&D was born in 1978. Both words have always existed side by side in Greyhawk. Oerth seems to be the name of the planet and earth seems to be the word for the ground, the dirt, and the elemental plane. Using "oerth" for new proper nouns is fine, but why rewrite history?


    -Agreed on this example. "Earth" is an element, jujt like "Fire", "Water", and "Air". Assuming that "Earthday" refers to the element (like "Waterday"), then "Earthday" is correct.

    Would Oerthians find it odd that there's a planet named after the element? Probably not.
    GreySage

    Joined: Aug 03, 2001
    Posts: 3310
    From: Michigan

    Send private message
    Tue Jan 02, 2018 2:57 pm  

    I always found it off-putting that in the DANGEROUS JOURNEYS RPG, Gary Gygax used the spelling "Ærth" to refer to both the planet and the element.

    My take is that writers should for the most part avoid using eccentric fantasy spellings for common English words.

    "Unearthly" is fine for use on Oerth. It's a common word that means supernatural, out of the ordinary, otherworldly etc. We understand that they're not actually speaking English on Oerth and this is a translation of Common or Keoish or the Geoff dialect of Flan. It doesn't mean "not in the dirt" (the Barrier Peaks crash is covered in dirt) and it's not so literal that it only means "not from the planet Earth" (the Barrier Peaks ship probably is from the planet Earth). The irony of referring to a ship from Earth as "unearthly" by Oerth standards might even have been deliberate.
    Display posts from previous:   
       Canonfire Forum Index -> World of Greyhawk Discussion All times are GMT - 8 Hours
    Page 1 of 1

    Jump to:  

    You cannot post new topics in this forum
    You cannot reply to topics in this forum
    You cannot edit your posts in this forum
    You cannot delete your posts in this forum
    You cannot vote in polls in this forum




    Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises

    Contact the Webmaster.  Long Live Spidasa!


    Greyhawk Gothic Font by Darlene Pekul is used under the Creative Commons License.

    PHP-Nuke Copyright © 2005 by Francisco Burzi. This is free software, and you may redistribute it under the GPL. PHP-Nuke comes with absolutely no warranty, for details, see the license.
    Page Generation: 0.32 Seconds