Space Marine (tm)

[Sindatur]

Klaus wrote:

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"No man, if we just get #freespacemarines trending on Twitter, the company will FOLD!"

...but I hope it works. This is so stupid I'm surprised it wasn't Donald Trump.

Nah, Donald Trump would be the one fighting against them demanding for them to show him "Space Marine's" Birth Certificate if they want to try and bully him into Ceasing and Desisting

[Gaith]

Professor Zoom wrote:

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But you don't think raising the awareness of this issue does anything? You don't think having people who buy Warhammer products writing to them and saying, "I'm not going to buy your stuff if you keep doing this?" would do anything?

I don't understand that attitude. Of surrender. (Ok, that's a bit extreme on my part... but still...)

I guess this is important to me as a writer...

I understand, it's just that I feel Warhammer is such a small, niche market that I personally feel totally disconnected from them. Of course I'd boycott their stuff over this if I were liable to buy it in the first place and encourage others to do the same if I went to stores that sold 'em, but I don't do either.

This seems like something the author should take the lead on. Heck, with a bit of effort, the free publicity arising from making a big stink about it could very possibly be a boon. There was once a guy who sold a few "The South Butt" clothing items online. The North Face sued, and not only did he win the case, the publicity-driven sales made him stinking (pardon the pun) rich.

[Mr. Adventure]

Does Warhammer predate Doom? Wasn't your guy a "space marine" in that game?

[Professor Zoom]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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Does Warhammer predate Doom? Wasn't your guy a "space marine" in that game?

There are lots of examples of space marines that predate Warhammer.

[sojourner]

The fun is over. GW has backed down.

[Christopher]

I have to admit, though, my tendency toward etymological literalness makes the phrase "space marine" seem kind of oxymoronic to me, since "marine" means "of the sea" in Latin. It just seems to me that if you wanted a word for someone like a military marine, but in space -- i.e. a member of an infantry service specializing in spacecraft-based or interstellar operations -- the appropriate construct would be something like "celestine." Although I guess that doesn't sound very macho.

[Mr. Adventure]

Having space "marines" deploy from a space "ship" kind of works out.

[Professor Zoom]

sojourner wrote:

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The fun is over. GW has backed down.

Just saw that.

See.... internet pitchforks do work...

(Of course, I'm sure someone is going to say, "You don't KNOW that the chatter on the interwebs caused them to change their mind..." Nope, I don't. But, we don't know it didn't either.) (Parse that double negative.)

[Christopher]

Mr. Adventure wrote:

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Having space "marines" deploy from a space "ship" kind of works out.

In a sense, yes, but not by strict etymology. "Space navy" is fine, since "navy" comes from the word for "ship," but "marine" means "of the sea" specifically, so if you're transposing it to space, it ceases to be literal.

It's also ethnocentric, since "marine" is a term used mainly by English-speaking countries. The more generic term is "naval infantry" -- which, as discussed above, would work just fine in space.

[Gaith]

I work with a bunch of Marines at a shore command. They don't come "from the sea"; they come from Virginia. Still Marines.

[Christopher]

^You don't need to point out the obvious. I'm not an idiot; I'm a writer and a lover of language and I'm making some observations about etymology.