ESP Q&A
Re: ESP Q&A
You actually gave a couple, Lasering is a term, as is tasering and less used is gifing. Language is magically messy, english probably the worst for this in my experience. From the post above I hope it isn't a stretch to say that nit picks aren't a big deal.
Re: ESP Q&A
A big part of the problem with ESP vs "esper" is that their pronunciation is wildly different. With ESP you pronounce each individual letter. Presumably not so with "esper" - I'd expect the letters ESP to be capitalized if they were being pronounced as their letter names. If people were saying "ESPer" or "ESPing" in-game I'd admittedly still roll my eyes because I'm just an ornery old person, but it'd make a lot more sense.
Your examples so far involve words that don't have their base pronunciations changed. With laser you don't normally say "ell ay ess ee arr" despite the fact the word is based on an acronym - you just say "laser" phonetically. Next to nobody says "gee eye eff" for GIF, though I have heard that one on occasion when people are referring to the type of file or the file extension itself, rather than the contents of the file.
And again, I'm not claiming there's any hard rule on this. Language isn't a rigid unchanging thing, and just about all of them constantly break their own rules anyway (English is terrible about this). I'm just trying to help folks understand why this particular case is so jarring or annoying for some. There are more differences between the acronym "ESP" and the word "esper" than the examples given thus far (like "taser" and "tasering"). The examples you've provided are just the base word, unaltered in spelling and pronunciation, and adding "er" or "ing" at the end. They flow easily and work in common language because there's not much of a leap to tack "er" or "ing" onto a word you're already speaking phonetically. Compare to an acronym in which you normally pronounce each individual letter being turned into a phonetic word that sounds entirely different.
Your examples so far involve words that don't have their base pronunciations changed. With laser you don't normally say "ell ay ess ee arr" despite the fact the word is based on an acronym - you just say "laser" phonetically. Next to nobody says "gee eye eff" for GIF, though I have heard that one on occasion when people are referring to the type of file or the file extension itself, rather than the contents of the file.
And again, I'm not claiming there's any hard rule on this. Language isn't a rigid unchanging thing, and just about all of them constantly break their own rules anyway (English is terrible about this). I'm just trying to help folks understand why this particular case is so jarring or annoying for some. There are more differences between the acronym "ESP" and the word "esper" than the examples given thus far (like "taser" and "tasering"). The examples you've provided are just the base word, unaltered in spelling and pronunciation, and adding "er" or "ing" at the end. They flow easily and work in common language because there's not much of a leap to tack "er" or "ing" onto a word you're already speaking phonetically. Compare to an acronym in which you normally pronounce each individual letter being turned into a phonetic word that sounds entirely different.
ask jes for date
The horse thief Jessie doesn't seem too interested in talking about that.
The horse thief Jessie doesn't seem too interested in talking about that.
Re: ESP Q&A
Oh, I've actually always said ESP as esp, probably due to being a blind player and hearing it as esp all the time. I believe due to how I interact with text I was introduced to it as esp before I went back and read my output a couple months into playing and found it was capitalized. I get your meaning though.
Re: ESP Q&A
Aha, that explains a lot. Something for me to keep in mind in the future.
ask jes for date
The horse thief Jessie doesn't seem too interested in talking about that.
The horse thief Jessie doesn't seem too interested in talking about that.
