nga@root.co.uk (Nick Armitage) (04/20/87)
i was wondering what you call a female wizard. i asked
several male wizards who happened to be to hand and also
a female wizard (but i don't know what i should call her).
now a witch is female and a warlock is a male thought i -
but what the hell is a female wizard????
any replies would put four wizards (one female) out of
their agony..
nick
ps: is this the first valid cross-posting between
comp.unix-wizards and rec.games.frp??
-
from: Nick Armitage G6FXS
mail: Root Technical Systems, 3 Hayne Street, London, EC1A 9HH.
phone: +44 1 606 7799
fax: +44 1 726 8158
telex: 885995 ROOT G
email: nga@root.co.uk
fact: the opinions expressed within this article do not necessarily represent
the views, policies or opinions of ROOT Technical Systems, ROOT
Computers Limited or any member of the ROOT-Unisoft group of companies.news@rlvd.UUCP (News) (04/22/87)
In article <258@root44.root.co.uk> nga@root44.UUCP (Nick Armitage) writes: >i was wondering what you call a female wizard. There is an SF novel by John Varley called Wizard, in which the wizard referred to by the title is female. (Second of the Titan trilogy). This suggests that the female of Wizard is ``Wizard''. Name: Crispin Goswell |-------|-\ |Informatics Division Usenet: {... | mcvax}!ukc!rlya!caag | Tea | | |Rutherford Appleton Lab UK JANET: caag@uk.ac.rl.ya \ Mug /_/ |Chilton, Didcot ARPAnet: caag%rl.ya@ucl-cs.arpa \_____/ |Oxon OX11 0QX, UK
frank@zen.UUCP (Frank Wales) (04/22/87)
In article <258@root44.root.co.uk> nga@root44.UUCP (Nick Armitage) writes: >now a witch is female and a warlock is a male thought i - >but what the hell is a female wizard???? Since I can't find any authoritative ideas in the books on my desk (not exactly a large cross-section of necromantic bibliographia), I thought I'd make up some which, even if etymologically inept, at least sound right. So, how about: gynolock ...? No? Okay, maybe: wizette ...? That's better, but brings to mind all these teenage witches bopping around on broomsticks, cheering old Baalzebul on. Possibly: thaumaturgyne ...? Too much of a mouthful, really, and a bit too obscure to catch on with yuppie prestidigitators. So I suggest: wizatrix! The word you've been waiting for to target all the up-to-the-minute female magickers out there; nicely punnish, too. [You can tell I'm taking this seriously, can't you? :-)] >nick > Wordy Frank. [frank@zen.uucp<->..!mcvax!ukc!zen.co.uk!frank]
avolio@decuac.dec.com (Frederick M. Avolio) (04/25/87)
Well, clearly, you would call her Wizard. But perhaps, if you are very nice, and polite, and ask her, she'll let you call her by her first name. Good luck. F.
ken@rochester.ARPA (Ken Yap) (04/26/87)
What's wrong with just "wizard"? Ken
gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (04/26/87)
In article <258@root44.root.co.uk> nga@root44.UUCP (Nick Armitage) writes: >i was wondering what you call a female wizard. A wizard. Why is her sex relevant? You might also try using her name. I assume she has one.
kimcm@olamb.UUCP (04/27/87)
In article <258@root44.root.co.uk>, nga@root.co.uk (Nick Armitage) writes: > i was wondering what you call a female wizard. i asked > several male wizards who happened to be to hand and also > a female wizard (but i don't know what i should call her). Well, first of all "WIZARD" defines the status of the person not the sex of the person! The only way to discern the sex is in context: She was an excelent wizard - I was saw her zap an entire hack source with just one blow! > now a witch is female and a warlock is a male thought i - > but what the hell is a female wizard???? A Witch, is commonly associated with a taste of evil (never though that I should write anything on alignment other than byte alignment in comp.UNIX-wizards (-;) so that wouldn't be a good choice, however sorcerer is a commonly used term for female wizards though it also covers male wizards. I have even heard the term Wizardress, but I personaly dislike the term since it tends degrades to be interpreted as a second-class wizard. > any replies would put four wizards (one female) out of > their agony.. Why the agony, just call the females wizards too, just like you don't have to call female workers for workresses (-; Kim Chr. Madsen
brian@apollo.UUCP (04/28/87)
In article <258@root44.root.co.uk> nga@root44.UUCP (Nick Armitage) writes: >i was wondering what you call a female wizard. i asked >several male wizards who happened to be to hand and also >a female wizard (but i don't know what i should call her). > >now a witch is female and a warlock is a male thought i - >but what the hell is a female wizard???? > >any replies would put four wizards (one female) out of >their agony.. Since "witch" comes from "wicce" and "wicca", meaning respectively, female and male practitioners of the Craft, I and my fellow wicca call ourselves witches. Likewise, since "wizard" comes from the same stem, my female Unix guru friends call themselves wizards. Who cares whether or not a wizard has all of per chromosomes intact? =brian -- Internet: apollo!brian@eddie.mit.edu UUCP: ......decvax!wanginst!apollo!brian NETel: Apollo: 617-256-6600 x7611 home: 617-332-3073 Faerie: 617-964-8938 USPS: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford MA home: 29 Trowbridge St. Newton MA (Copyright 1987 by author. Redistribution for non-commercial purposes allowed)
kurt@hi.UUCP (04/28/87)
In article <258@root44.root.co.uk> nga@root44.UUCP (Nick Armitage) writes: >i was wondering what you call a female wizard. i asked >several male wizards who happened to be to hand and also >a female wizard (but i don't know what i should call her). > >now a witch is female and a warlock is a male thought i - >but what the hell is a female wizard???? Call her a wizard! According to my dictionary, there is no prerequisite gender to be a wizard. A wizard is defined as "one skilled magic" or "a very clever or skillful person." Unlike warlock which is defined "a man practicing the black arts" or witch, "a woman practicing ..." -- Kurt Zeilenga (zeilenga@hc.dspo.gov)
throopw@dg_rtp.UUCP (Wayne Throop) (04/28/87)
> nga@root.co.uk (Nick Armitage) > i was wondering what you call a female wizard. i asked > several male wizards who happened to be to hand and also > a female wizard (but i don't know what i should call her). Gosh, that's hard. I have another one just as hard. What should one call a female fire fighter? Or how about, what should one call a female athlete, huh? Tell me that? What about female postal workers? Maybe we should have special names for female CEOs, and female managers, and female ditch-diggers. And what about all those female pilots out there? We should have a special term for them too, right? Maybe "aviatrix" will work. Gosh, there's so many places where we need new female versions of things. Dog catcher, hot-dog vendor, engineer (both software and otherwise), physiscist, politician, ringmaster, venture capatalist, opera singer, window washer, electrician, plumber... you know, *ALL* of these seem insufficently sexist somehow. Somebody'll just *HAVE* to find female versions of all of them, that's all there is to it. -- I'll meet you tonight under the moon. Oh, I can see you now -- you and the moon. You wear a necktie so I'll know you. --- Groucho Marx in "The Cocoanuts" -- Wayne Throop <the-known-world>!mcnc!rti-sel!dg_rtp!throopw
gwyn@brl-smoke.ARPA (Doug Gwyn ) (04/29/87)
"Sir."
nga@root.co.uk (Nick Armitage) (04/30/87)
oh gee, what a response! my mailbox has been snowed under and i have been complimented on/accused of creating more net traffic than someone who professes VMS to be superior to UN*X! when i asked what to call a female wizard, it was an innocent question from someone who is not into d&d. anyone who knows me would know that it was not a sexist question - if anything the reverse. i was interested in attributing female wizards their correct title - nothing else. for instance, it is quite common over here to call a female chairperson a chairman - now i think that is wrong. so to call a female wizard a wizard, if gender was implied by the term, would also be wrong. now that i know that a female wizard is called a wizard, i will do so - safe in the knowledge that i am not insulting or degrading anyone. thank you all for your replies. those people who were not so kind, i can understand, but no insult was intended - really! nick _
alg@btnix.axion.bt.co.uk (Andy Gray @ Btnix) (05/06/87)
If there has to be a female equivalent for the Wizard, which seems to be somewhat unnecessary, then how about "Wizardrice" for my tuppence worth. Andy Gray E-Mail (UUCP) alg@btnix.UUCP AGray@btnix.axion.bt.co.uk ...!ukc!btnix!alg Organisation British Telecom Research Laboratories (R11.3.4) Snail Mail BTRL, Rm G24 SSTF, Martlesham Heath, IPSWICH IP5 7RE, UK Telephone +44 473 646647 (or +44 473 646093) -- E-Mail (UUCP) alg@btnix.UUCP AGray@btnix.axion.bt.co.uk ...!ukc!btnix!alg Organisation British Telecom Research Laboratories (R11.3.4) Snail Mail BTRL, Rm G24 SSTF, Martlesham Heath, IPSWICH IP5 7RE, UK Telephone +44 473 646647 (or +44 473 646093)
agranok@udenva.UUCP (05/08/87)
Are you looking for an actual name for a female wizard or for the generic
term for a female wizard? If you're looking for the latter (which I assume
you are since anyone can think of a name for the former), how about a...
SORCERESS
Now, I don't want to hear from those title buffs that say, "But a wizard and
a sorcerer are two different things!" Only in D&D, which decided to use
titles so that people could call their characters something other than
"seventh level magic-user." In my book, mage, sorcerer, wizard, warlock are
all really just different names for the same thing. Who cares if someone
calls their first level character a sorcerer? "No, you're not a sorcerer,
you're a prestidigitator!" C'mon, give me a break.
--
Alex Granok
hao!udenva!agranok
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes
all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get
somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"biep@cs.vu.nl (J. A. "Biep" Durieux) (05/11/87)
In article <3601@udenva.UUCP> agranok@udenva.UUCP (Alexander Granok) writes: >Are you looking for (...) the generic >term for a female wizard? What's wrong with witch? I've always understood that was the normal feminine of wizard. But then I'm not a native speaker of English, nor of American, so.. -- Biep. (biep@cs.vu.nl via mcvax) The Enemies of my Enemies are my Enemies
rancke@diku.UUCP (05/11/87)
Anything she likes! :-)
Hans Rancke, University of Copenhagen
..mcvax!diku!rancke
--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
- I hate it when people call me paranoid.
It makes me feel persecuted.benn@sphinx.UUCP (05/12/87)
>>Are you looking for (...) the generic >>term for a female wizard? >What's wrong with witch? I've always understood that was the normal feminine >of wizard. > Biep. (biep@cs.vu.nl via mcvax) MALE FEMALE ---- ------ warlock witch wizard ?????<-i | | | I suggest 'wizard' for both male and female. But then, I don't mind using 'witch' for both male and female. So... if you need or want separate names, how about 'sybil'? [From the Greek, meaning a female prophet, or prophetess if you will.] Or the standard 'enchantress', or 'sorceress'. If 'lamia' weren't already a monter, it would be a good word. By the way, 'warlock' is a term from the Inquisition. Before that, male witches were called witches. -- -= Thomas Cox =- ...ihnp4!{ oddjob || gargoyle }!sphinx!benn "Darmit Say, Nothing Too Hot For Me To Pick Up!"
vince@hi.UUCP (05/12/87)
How about "ma'am?"
Phred Platypus
--
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Vincent J. Murphy hi!vince@hc.dspo.gov
"Back off, man; I'm an English major."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^mlr@houtz.UUCP (05/12/87)
There has been discussion about this for over two weeks now. How bout ending it by just using the female wizards NAME!!!!!
ccastkv@gitpyr.gatech.EDU (Keith 'Badger' Vaglienti) (05/12/87)
In article <3601@udenva.UUCP> agranok@udenva.UUCP (Alexander Granok) writes: >Are you looking for an actual name for a female wizard or for the generic >term for a female wizard? If you're looking for the latter (which I assume >you are since anyone can think of a name for the former), how about a... > > SORCERESS > >Now, I don't want to hear from those title buffs that say, "But a wizard and >a sorcerer are two different things!" Only in D&D, which decided to use >titles so that people could call their characters something other than >"seventh level magic-user." In my book, mage, sorcerer, wizard, warlock are >all really just different names for the same thing. Who cares if someone >calls their first level character a sorcerer? "No, you're not a sorcerer, >you're a prestidigitator!" C'mon, give me a break. This sort of thing is very campaign dependent. I am running an FH campaign in which there are distinct differences between mages, sorcerers, wizards, thaumaturgists, etc. Their magics tend to be based on different principles and may use very different methods to achieve the same goal. For example; Mages are the generalists of my world. They are interested primarily in collecting knowledge. They are the most flexible because they are quite willing to use any sort of magic they can learn. This can be dangerous, though, if the Mage attempts to use a new kind of spell without having enough general knowledge of that form of magic to know what precautions to take in spell casting. Sorcers draw magical energy from available sources around them, usually by tapping into the elements themselves. They operate much as a magnifying class does when used to start a fire. Given the tiniest ember a sorcerer could easily create a raging bonfire but without a heat source he couldn't do anything of the sort. Wizards draw magical energy from within themselves. This makes them more flexible than a sorcerer, as they do not have to rely on components, but their magic is more tiring. Something else that occurs in my world is that there are schools of magic which pride themselves on the kinds of magicians they turn out. Around one of these it can be very hazardous to call yourself something you're not as a person from the school might challenge you to see how your magic compares to that taught at the school. --- "What's real estate got to do with sex, Dad?" "Everything, son, why do you ask?" --- Keith "Badger" Vaglienti Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!ccastkv In no way should my remarks be considered to reflect the opinions and/or policies of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Put another way, its-a not my bosses-ah fault, monkey boy!
rancke@diku.UUCP (05/13/87)
(You call her "Ma'am"!) In article <741@klipper.cs.vu.nl> biep@cs.vu.nl (J. A. "Biep" Durieux) writes: >In article <3601@udenva.UUCP> agranok@udenva.UUCP (Alexander Granok) writes: >>Are you looking for (...) the generic >>term for a female wizard? >What's wrong with witch? I've always understood that was the normal feminine >of wizard. I think a witch is a female warlock (or rather the other way round). I've never heard of a special word for a female wizard, but how about "wizardess". Unoriginal perhaps, but they do call a female steward a stewardess. Hans Rancke, University of Copenhagen ..mcvax!diku!rancke --=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- - I hate it when people call me paranoid. It makes me feel persecuted.
rmr@chefchu.SGI.COM (Robert Reimann) (05/13/87)
It amazes me that a question like this can spur so much discussion. What do you call a female wizard? What do you call a MALE wizard? What IS a wizard anyway? All these questions depend on how you and your friends run your game. Come up with your own names, gosh darn it! Geez. A more interesting question might be: What different concepts of the origin and use of magik do people have in their FRP worlds? I'd really like to see a discussion on this, since the origin of magik is usually so ill-defined in FRP systems. All in fun, Robert Reimann rmr@olympus.sgi.UUCP
buyno@voder.UUCP (05/14/87)
line eater food Well now, someone just had to go and ask what is the "rationale" behind my magic system..... I decided to put together a system that made for some sort of consistency when confronted with oddball questions. So I decided to use the Clarkian defi- nition of magic as the technology so advanced as to appear as supernatural. A spacefaring race gets a ship lost and makes a forced landing at a planet hitherto avoided for sociological reasons (it is inhabited by primitives who are not to be "spoiled"). In order to make repairs, they set up a small civilization on one area to mine metals, etc, etc. Later, off they go, leaving behind a fair amount of little understood knowledge (ability of biological modification included, a great way to justify all the monsters ;-).) So time goes by, empires rise and fall on the application and misappli-cation of all the "magic". Whereupon the original types return, bent upon using the whole planet (it's contaminated anyhow, let's really mess it up!) as a vast sociological lab. on the Clarkian principle. So new magic starts appearing, and away we go.... Weak, but you asked.....
janm@runx.ips.oz (Jan Mikkelsen) (05/19/87)
In article <3563@gitpyr.gatech.EDU> ccastkv@gitpyr.UUCP (Keith 'Badger' Vaglienti) writes: >In article <3601@udenva.UUCP> agranok@udenva.UUCP (Alexander Granok) writes: >>Are you looking for an actual name for a female wizard or for the generic >>term for a female wizard? If you're looking for the latter (which I assume >>you are since anyone can think of a name for the former), how about a... >> >> SORCERESS > ... [about 35 lines on various magi of unknown sex deleted] > >--- >Keith "Badger" Vaglienti >Georgia Insitute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 >...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,seismo,ut-ngp}!gatech!gitpyr!ccastkv > >In no way should my remarks be considered to reflect the opinions and/or >policies of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Put another way, its-a >not my bosses-ah fault, monkey boy! And I'll bet your boss doesn't play DnD either. Seriously though, don't you think that was more suited for rec.games.frp or whatever? Please, this is Unix-Wizards! Jan Mikkelsen. ACSnet: janm@runx.ips.oz JANET: runx.ips.oz!janm@ukc ARPA: janm%runx.ips.oz@seismo.css.gov CSNET: janm@runx.ips.oz UUCP: {enea,hplabs,mcvax,prlb2,seismo,ubc-vision,ukc}!munnari!runx.ips.oz!janm