[MR] New name for Troll (This is a Poll) (fwd)

[Craig Levin]

Lord Galen:

>    Here are a couple of new names for Troll.  Let me  know what you 
> think is the best or an alternative.

> Gatekeeper  or  Concierge (Websters definition: Multilingual hotel staff
> person who handles reservations, mail and luggage arrangements)

Concierge entered the English language in the 1690's. If we're
looking for words that were used in English in our period,
gatekeeper first appeared in English in Elizabeth's reign.

FWIW, I'm not saying that we should cover up our history. I think
that the SCA is a lot like a beautiful topiary plant, a living
thing that is shaped by the hard work of lots of people. We used
to let people register names in Tolkien's made-up languages. We
used to have a custom of cloven fruit. Now we don't do either of
these things. Bit by bit, we strive to know more and do more
"mediaevally". 

Also, if people feel that it is time to use less fantasy-derived
words for the folks who run our events (those dedicated people
whom we currently call trolls, autocrats, and feastocrats), I
feel that the process ought to be ground-up, as it were, like
most successful movements in the SCA. Start using words like
gatekeeper, head cook, and steward* in event announcments and
conversation, and, after a while, people will react to the use of
"troll" or "feastocrat" with the same sort of nostalgia that they
do whenever cloven fruit are mentioned.

Pedro