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Based on a silly discussion on the salvation war thread, let's see which of the slang terms we've been bandying about are actually the most popular. I've tried to limit it to those that at least 2 people have spoken of approvingly - ie those that have been informally both nominated and seconded - which coincidentally gives us exactly 10 entries (perfect for the poll software). Let's see which we actually like best of these...

Also, if there are any you particularly dislike, feel I've misrepresented or left out unfairly, comment away.

I would still vote for pidge

short for dirty pidgeon

I rather favor 'Jellies', as that is what's left of one of them after close proximity to a high-order explosion......'Jelly'....

Mike Garrity

For more , ahh , down to earth insults, well, wing +fap… “wing f(l)appers” perhaps? “Just go f(l)app your wings “ It also has a nice ring to it, while convening to piss off while continuously wanking their/with their wings…

I voted for "Flappers".

How about "Mikes" for the members of the new government of heaven?

Negative, wouldn't want a risk of that being mistaken with "mike" as in "millimeter," which in the wrong (read: military terminology) context could be a bad thing...

Where did the term Baldrick come from?

Jeremy wrote:Where did the term Baldrick come from?

Gordon Brown had a speechwriter who was a Blackadder Fan. So, in writing his speech for Brown to deliver after the Message was received, he included the phrases "Sod Off Baldrick" (addressed to Satan) and "I have a cunning plan to deal with the situation". Both of which provided the ideal level of humor needed to pull people out of the depression caused by The Message and its aftermath (Blackadder being probably the only comedy series that pretty much everybody knows and loves). From there, the name "Baldricks" (implying a very dumb and primitive enemy) was applied to daemons in general. It is used throughout Armageddon but dies out in Patheocide, partly as a result of people realizing just how horrifically one-sided the battle against the daemons was. By the end of Pantheocide (we're nearly there) Baldrick has become equivalent to the "n-word" and its use is not considered to be acceptable in polite company.

The thing that makes me really laugh is that some of the God Squad have been claiming that "Gordon Brown wouldn't say that" apparently in the strange belief that he writes his own speeches. I know of no politician who does that; every politico uses professional speechwriters and very often how they speak in public is very different to their public persona. What the politico says is what his speechwriters think he should say to a specific audience at a specific time. They're the experts and wise politicos defer to them. By the way, some politicians claim that they do write their own speeches. Those claims are written by their professional speech-writers.

Another idea which I've had all too late would be "bugs" or "insects", based on both Angels and Demons being hexapods, as was pointed out in the debate on the main thread... even though, aside from that, they seem pretty mammalian (although they presumably wouldn't breastfeed their young, given the general irrelevance of food in universe 2).

I like flapper for the simplicity and obviousness. Wingnut is good, but to me it takes a little more thought to "get." Jellies is also a bit cerebral, as it can mean something that's easilly defeated with the right tools, but can really do some damage if you're too stupid to approach them the wrong way. Maybe I've watched Finding Nemo too many times to avoid hearing "takin' on the jellies; you've got some serious thrill issues, dude," when reading "Jelly" as a nickname for Angels.

nobody_really wrote:I like flapper for the simplicity and obviousness. Wingnut is good, but to me it takes a little more thought to "get." Jellies is also a bit cerebral, as it can mean something that's easilly defeated with the right tools, but can really do some damage if you're too stupid to approach them the wrong way. Maybe I've watched Finding Nemo too many times to avoid hearing "takin' on the jellies; you've got some serious thrill issues, dude," when reading "Jelly" as a nickname for Angels.

Heh. Jelly was just meant to derive straight from the word Angel, just as the old WW1/WW2 staple Jerry did from Germany. I also like Flapper, but I'm less keen on Wingnut, because of its existing use as a political epithet.

On the whole, most group nicknames that I can think of have either been some derivation of the name (like the above), a popular name in the group/nation in question (e.g. "Micks" for the Irish in the USA, "Fritz" for Germans and "Tommy" for English in WWI/WW2 again, "Ivan" for Russians, etc.), or a trait of the group in question (often dietary - "Kraut" for german again, the aforementioned "Limey", and then also "Rosbif", "Frog", etc.)

Personally, I voted for two: Flappers and Birdies.

I think we're far enough away from the 1920's now for the term Flapper to be reused in this context, and not be confused with somewhat liberated women from 90 years ago.

I also like the term bird or birdie, since it can tie in with expressions like, "A little birdie told me...."

Oh course, one can come up with obscure references too, like calling an angel a "Debra" (as in Debra Winger).

Hmmm. Flapper, Birdie, Debra. All terms having to do with women too. A pattern?

I voted for Flappers. Short and simple.

Since there were several instances of demons being run over and squished by tanks and other AFVs, why not call them 'crunchies' or 'squishies'? I can just imagine some Abrams driver singing to himself "...Romper Bomper, Stomper Boo <CRUNCH>

Mike Garrity