Expanding Webster: A Short Plea

by Michael Harnest

I suppose every word, aside from direct derivations of various root words using such common suffixes and prefixes as 'ed,' 'ing,' and 'un,' was created from the imagination of somebody. I am sure some lonesome soul started referring to a certain action or descriptive characteristic or object or something-else as a jumbled lot of letters verbalized as he or she believed it should sound. Inevitably, spouses would come to use the terminology to communicate with their husband or wife, and then friends and family would join in, and so on and so on. Eventually the word would have stretched as far as it had to before it was considered, officially, a part of the language it had been invented in. With reference to the English language, the pivotal moment of a word's acceptance was most likely rooted in the time when some chap, presumably surnamed Webster or Oxford, decided to write it down in a collection of other such common words. In lieu of my writing a paper and being annoyed by the consistent appearance of the same word over and over again when running spell check (to the point of simply adding that word to my computer's dictionary), I opt to enter the term 'RPGamer' into the English language.

RPGamer /are-pee-gay-mer/ or /are-pee-jee-gay-mer/ 1. n. person to whom playing video games of the role-playing genre is common. 2. p n. world wide web site dedicated to the coverage and discussion of video games of the role-playing genre (located at http://www.rpgamer.com).

The term 'RPGamer' was originally conceived as the title of a web site, but has since grown into acceptable slang terminology to describe someone who plays role-playing games (RPGs) regularly. It is true that slang has its place in spoken English, but is not regarded as a regular member of the language. What I am contesting, however, is that 'RPGamer' has surpassed the level of slang with its extensive use, and has at least entered the level of colloquialism; not high in formality or in a strict literary sense, but regarded as standard language nonetheless. The term 'moviegoer' has been given its official place in the language, and I doubt 'RPGamer' seems less formal than the combination of the two operative words describing someone who 'goes to the movies.' The term's common use no doubt permits the word' induction into the English language.

With the creation of the English, or any, language, there was bound to be growth; an expansion. In the great book of how ever many words there are currently, I would like to add just one.