Name designation gripes

von Hipper · Jan 26, 2009

In way too much sci-fi, I keep seeing many generic large ships referred to as "battlecruisers". Because of my knowledge of naval history, this annoys me a lot.

Why? Because "battlecruiser" referred to a very specific type of large warship. Built by Britain, Germany, and Japan in the early 1900s, these ships were the size of battleships, and traded armor and a small amount of firepower for speed. The problem is that too many sci-fi authors think the term "battlecruiser" is cool and use it to describe battleships, regardless of its proper meaning.

What other name designation gripes do you people have?

AceTachyon · Jan 26, 2009

What would you prefer they be called?

Or similarly, how would you go about labeling the different types of space warships?

Sarpedon · Jan 26, 2009

I always thought it was strange that the warship with the scariest name, the destroyer, was actually one of the smallest kinds of warships. (until I found out why they are called that)

I've never been able to tell the difference between a corvette, a frigate, and a destroyer, either.

And why did Weber in his catalogue of buildings in pompeii sometimes call a house 'Haus,' 'Casa' or 'Domus,' when these three words mean the same thing?

And why is 'stationary' so called? Sure, it is generally motionless, but if I were to come up with an archetype of motionlessness, I certainly wouldn't think of writing paper.

Why are some animals, like the cuckooand the whipporwill named after the sound they make, and others, like the dog and rhinocerous not?

And why does a ward have an alderman? Shouldn't they be wardens?

Higgins · Jan 26, 2009

von Hipper said:
In way too much sci-fi, I keep seeing many generic large ships referred to as "battlecruisers". Because of my knowledge of naval history, this annoys me a lot.

Why? Because "battlecruiser" referred to a very specific type of large warship. Built by Britain, Germany, and Japan in the early 1900s, these ships were the size of battleships, and traded armor and a small amount of firepower for speed. The problem is that too many sci-fi authors think the term "battlecruiser" is cool and use it to describe battleships, regardless of its proper meaning.

What other name designation gripes do you people have?

Hipper, dude man...as you may know from naming yourself for the commander of the Scouting Group of the High Seas fleet, people like battlecruisers because they are fast and can get into a lot of trouble. "Battleship" sounds much more generic and dull.
I don't blame any writers for using "battlecruiser" especially since the role of space warships seems to be more like the role of big cruisers (go to far away places)
or battlecruisers (and destroy what can't escape or run from what is too powerful)...

dclary · Jan 26, 2009

Oh god. You're going to mock me for my battle-dreadnaught-o'war destroyer, aren't you?

I prefer military unit types that are more consistent with the culture of the people in question. One of my fantasies includes a giantish race with a very naturalistic culture. Their military units are leaf, branch, and tree -- instead of squad, company, and battalion, for instance.

von Hipper · Jan 26, 2009

AceTachyon said:
What would you prefer they be called?

Or similarly, how would you go about labeling the different types of space warships?

It would depend on the setting, but:

The low-endurance warships would be called destroyers.
The high-endurance warships would be called cruisers.
The big combatants would be called battleships.
Battleship-sized vessels that traded protection for acceleration would be called battlecruisers.

Higgins said:
I don't blame any writers for using "battlecruiser" especially since the role of space warships seems to be more like the role of big cruisers (go to far away places)
or battlecruisers (and destroy what can't escape or run from what is too powerful)...

Meh, I guess I'm just too much of a historical purist for my own good

. To be fair, I've noticed the labeling of just about any large warship as a "battlecruiser" in video games more than books.

dclary said:
I prefer military unit types that are more consistent with the culture of the people in question. One of my fantasies includes a giantish race with a very naturalistic culture. Their military units are leaf, branch, and tree -- instead of squad, company, and battalion, for instance.

That's a very good approach to take, as long as it's adequately explained to the reader what the equivalent units are.

dclary · Jan 26, 2009

von Hipper said:
Meh, I guess I'm just too much of a historical purist for my own good . To be fair, I've noticed the labeling of just about any large warship as a "battlecruiser" in video games more than books.

Maybe read more, and play less?

I think it's a fair and easy adjective to distinguish an exploratory/diplomatic vessel (a cruiser) from a ship of the same class/tonnage (do ships in space get weighed by displacement? can you displace a vaccuum?) that's loaded for bear with "battle."

To be honest, though, I'm at a loss to immediately call to mind a single science-fiction novel I've read where the biggest ship in the battle was called a battle cruiser.

Pthom · Jan 26, 2009

Um... lessee here.
We got a battle to fight. We got ships we outfitted with weapons to go fight that battle.

Battles. Ships.

Aha! Battleships.

:Shrug:

dclary · Jan 26, 2009

What if you called your space-faring vessels stars? What then?

Pthom · Jan 26, 2009

Or planets.

Or (as the late, great Mr. Clarke did) asteroids.

dclary · Jan 26, 2009

I'm going bezerk thinking of the name of those giant robotic battleships.

dclary · Jan 26, 2009

Man... what about monkeys?

How freaking awesome would it be to have like... a robotech-powered gundamesque ship of the line that looked like a giant robotic monkey, with like a fusion beam weapon shaped like a banana?

"BattleMonkey Gibbons" would be a story about the last BattleMonkey, fleeing the tyranny of the Hyena Base Stars, an evil race of cyborg monkeys.

Hyens would look so much like monkeys you probably couldn't tell them apart, except when an alien ripped them in half and white milky stuff spurted everywhere.

Oh man. That would be so friggin sweet.

Commander Cornelius and his lieutenant Grape Ape. Wow.

Pthom · Jan 26, 2009

You mean, they didn't just call 'em "giant robotic battleships?"

If not, why not, if that's what they were.

Higgins · Jan 28, 2009

Pthom said:
You mean, they didn't just call 'em "giant robotic battleships?"

If not, why not, if that's what they were.

Iain Banks has some variety in ship types:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~mjhuur1/projects/banks/ships.html

Albedo · Jan 28, 2009

Higgins said:
Iain Banks has some variety in ship types:

http://www.saunalahti.fi/~mjhuur1/projects/banks/ships.html

Missing the best, GSV Sanctioned Parts List.

Higgins · Jan 28, 2009

Albedo said:
Missing the best, GSV Sanctioned Parts List.

Oh dear!

Its on some of the other lists:

http://www.i-dig.info/culture/cultureshiplist.txt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ships_(The_Culture)

Name designation gripes

von Hipper

AceTachyon

Odd person

Sarpedon

Higgins

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

von Hipper

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Pthom

Word butcher

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Pthom

Word butcher

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Pthom

Word butcher

Higgins

Albedo

Alex

Higgins