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As I've occasionally dabbled in SW fic centered around Jedi, I'm curious... what is the considered verb for activating and de-activating a lightsaber? I've taken to "igniting" for turning one on unless I want to go the boring route of saying "turned it on".

I mean, I've never read an SW book so I'm not sure, and you rarely seem to hear them describe it in the movies or any Clone Wars episode I've seen. Well, unless they did it in the initial Samurai Jack-style series (which I missed) or an episode of the more recent series I've missed.... or if it was a line in the movies I forgot.

Or is it something that's up in the air?

igniting.

the stock phrase is usually 'he ignited his lightsaberwith a snap-hiss'

Crazedwraith wrote:the stock phrase is usually 'he ignited his lightsaberwith a snap-hiss'

That was, I believe, a Zahnism. It stuck.

I prefer something along the lines of "he activated his lightsaber and asssumed combat stance". Ignite is a good verb too but it can get stale after repitation throughout a story.

Steve wrote:Or is it something that's up in the air?

There are plenty of descriptions that can be used. Thumbing through the RotS novelization, I found:

• "his blade crackled into existence"
• "activated it"
• "ignited both lightsabers"

The words "ignited" and "activated" seem to be the most common descriptions, but sometimes fancier wording is used to keep things from getting too repetitive.

Star Wars(Novel) : Igniting

ESB : Releasing, Ignited

RoTJ: Igniting.

So far the most general usage is ignite, with a few other odds and ends.

I like the snap hiss thing, it's rather accurate a description. Ignited, activated... triggered? Lit?

Lightsabres don't snap or hiss at all. The sound is more like an electrical discharge followed by a hum. If you had to create a two-word hyphenated description of it, "spark-buzz" would be more accurate than "snap-hiss".

Darth Wong wrote:Lightsabres don't snap or hiss at all. The sound is more like an electrical discharge followed by a hum. If you had to create a two-word hyphenated description of it, "spark-buzz" would be more accurate than "snap-hiss".

I think people like snap-hiss because it just looks so damn good on paper.

Vympel wrote:

Darth Wong wrote:Lightsabres don't snap or hiss at all. The sound is more like an electrical discharge followed by a hum. If you had to create a two-word hyphenated description of it, "spark-buzz" would be more accurate than "snap-hiss".

I think people like snap-hiss because it just looks so damn good on paper.

Indeed. It's not onomatopoeia by any means, but you immediately notice it and I for one never had any trouble associating the expression with lightsabers. Compared to what many other authors have done in that regard (K.W. Jeter, I'm looking at you - barve never is and never will be a believable slang expression), it's superior by far.

Ah, interesting. "Released" is a particularly intriguing choice, "igniting" and "activated" seem the most obvious at least.

Darth Wong wrote:Lightsabres don't snap or hiss at all. The sound is more like an electrical discharge followed by a hum. If you had to create a two-word hyphenated description of it, "spark-buzz" would be more accurate than "snap-hiss".

That's a good one. IIRC, I've seen 'snap-hum' used as well.