“We had the office holiday party today,” I said. “It was mid.”

“You’re not allowed to say ‘mid,’ ” HGR said. “We have a word for ‘mid.’ It’s mediocre.”

“It was better than mediocre. It was mid.”

“I don’t buy it.”

I was going to write about the holiday party, but I don’t have a lot to say, since it was mid. (Highlight of the party was that after the party was over, a coworker popped into my office to show me the cutest photo of a raccoon he had on his phone. Good stuff.) Instead, have some of HGR’s linguistic insistences.

(1) A game should only be called a “roguelike” if it is LIKE the game ROGUE aka a turn-based dungeon crawler. If you have, say, a bullet hell platformer with procedurally generated levels (another term which he hates), it is NOT LIKE ROGUE and therefore not a “roguelike.” 

(2) A game is only “retro” if it is a NEW game imitating the style of old games. If you have a game from, say, 1995, it is not a “retro” game, it is simply an old game.

(3) “VODs” (videos on demand) is a dumb term and should never be used. “In my day, we called those VIDEOS.”

===

update (12/7): I polled wolf chat. Opinions were mixed, but more people agreed with HGR. Huh. Maybe HGR, known connoisseur of various internet circles, has the right of it?

• [1:17 PM] Achaius: looking for opinions: if something is "mid," is that the same as mediocre?
• [2:07 PM] cease and desist: Less negative connotations imo
• [2:07 PM] cease and desist: Something being mid is not as bad as it being mediocre, if that makes sense
• [2:07 PM] cease and desist: Mediocre to me is worse than Okay
• [2:08 PM] spontybonty: I would say mid and mediocre have the same negative connotations to me
• [2:08 PM] spontybonty: It has vibes of like, disappointing
• [2:08 PM] spontybonty: Lacklustre
• [2:09 PM] spontybonty: But mid is going to seem less negative than mediocre if you don't encounter it in various internet circles often
• [2:09 PM] spontybonty: I see it a lot in like, gaming communities and such
• [2:09 PM] spontybonty: So the vibes are entrenched
• [2:10 PM] spontybonty: But order may not see it used basically the same as mediocre as often
• [2:10 PM] spontybonty: Leading to it seeming to have a lesser negative vibe
• [2:15 PM] RuneCatCora: Yeah, mid and mediocre have the same vibes to me
• [2:15 PM] RuneCatCora: Like. Vaguely disappointing. Not bad. Just. Meh.