EN -W-lOM(o(-t- Mich mB cela ee M lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca (¥ ‘Stuff You Should Know’ from studio to stage (¥ What are you thankful for? (¥ Natural remedies for acne And more! The history and future of cursive writing > How the now rarely-used script started, and where it’s going Greg Waldock Staff Writer ooking at it objectively, cursive writing is weird. It’s a fancy second alphabet for the English language, it has basically no unwritten social rules for how and when to use it, and it’s rarely even taught outside of very basic elementary school courses in recent years. Despite that, cursive is a fascinating and important part of the written English language, and one that may end up being forgotten all too soon. Cursive, also known as handwriting, longhand, and occasionally italics, is outstandingly old. We have no idea exactly when it starts or where it came from. Some academics believe it was inspired by the flowing single-line writing of Arabic philosophers in the Early Middle Ages, but this is just conjecture. It showed up well before the turn of the first millennium in Latin and Old English writings, but became a more “formal” way of writing in the 17th Century. Before this, cursive, like the rest of the English language, was not standardized, meaning that grammar and spelling was all over the place. It was used largely for important legal or V LCS financial documents and for long-distance letters, which were used often in the era as literacy rose and the English Empire spread further and further around the globe. Cursive was eventually taught in the growing English public-school system. The idea behind using cursive in the first place is to allow a faster and more fluid writing style, moving smoothly from one letter to the next without lifting the pen from the paper. Obviously, technological advancements have rendered cursive useless in the long official documents it was originally for. However, its roots have always been in the classroom, and . 2 that’s where it continues to exist today. Many students prefer cursive over typing ona laptop, because writing something helps you retain information, as opposed to typing it out—and handwriting notes allows for the speed necessary when in a lecture hall. So it’s likely within secondary and post-secondary education that English’s second script is still used the most. If it weren't for students, it would probably be relegated solely to signatures on cheques. Sadly, it may be gone within a few generations as those classroom roots are pulled up to make way for increasingly important computer skills. Get good: Vocabulary lesson > Brushing up on your gamer slang Brittney MacDonald Life & Style Editor iving the gamer life is no easy thing. That’s just in general, it has nothing to do with making the swap from console to PC. Penciling in a rigorous gaming work-out is easier said than done. I mean, let’s face it, we all have busy lives between school, work, and maintaining necessary yet sometimes tedious social connections—I mean yeah, they’re important, but so is my next boss fight! As I’ve mentioned in previous issues, the social aspect is generally what drives a life-long console user to take up PC gaming. Though it’s getting more diverse now, the majority of multi-player games are still being played on PC, and it’s still the largest conduit for gaming’s most social genre, the MMO. That being said, transitioning to a more social environment as a gamer can be a bit jarring— especially when you can’t understand what the hell people are saying! Online gamers have developed their own unique vocabulary, which you will have to master in order to sit at the proverbial table. As such, I have compiled a list of some of the most used words to better facilitate your understanding. For the sake of keeping this game-related I’m going to define words that are only used specifically for gaming and not €¢ Online gamers have developed their own unique vocabulary, which you will have to master in order to sit at the proverbial table.” wep f porter OF este! ones that are used more generally for all online interaction, such as “afk.” Aggro: Usually used in place of “aggression.” If you're pulling aggro it means that you've drawn the attention of the enemy. Focusing aggro means you're intentionally drawing the attention of the enemy to one specific player or person— generally someone with really high defence—and using them as a distraction while everyone else attacks the enemy. Balance: In most cases balance refers to a character or class’s viability in competitive play. If a character or class is balanced it means that they have equal advantages and disadvantages to playing them. If they are not it means they are over or under powered. Buff: Either an ability or an effect that increases your or another player/ enemy’s stats for a set period of time. Filthy casual: An insult meaning you are unskilled. Cheese: An unfair advantage or exploit. An example of cheesing a boss would be to get him stuck in a corner and then shoot him with a ranged weapon so his attacks can't possibly reach you. DPS: Stands for “Damage Per Second.” This is often used to classify players who focus on damaging an enemy. The trade- off is that they usually tend to have really weak defence, so they need someone to protect them and/or heal them. Easter egg: An in-joke or cameo hidden in the game for the amusement of players. This can sometimes refer to cross-game promotion, such as the hidden murloc (originally a World of Warcraft character) in Overwatch, or just be something the developers threw in for funzies. GG: Good game. It’s polite to say this after playing in PvP, whether you win or lose. Don't be a dick. Kall steal or KS: Literally what it says. If you kill steal it means you last hit something that another player was working on killing, thereby taking the rewards from killing said enemy. Don't do this if you want to make friends, but do do this if you want to troll your friends—it’s hilarious! Nerf: When something is deemed Photo by Greg Waldock Over the past two or three decades, cursive has been slowly replaced in Western curriculum with courses in typing proficiency and very basic programming. This may lead cursive to being a sort of lost art of the English language, never regularly practiced by anyone except hobbyists as calligraphy is now. No major efforts have been made yet to preserve it in the school, and its usefulness in our culture is often questioned by both students and teachers. The last days of cursive may be coming, but it remains an important example of how old a proper linguistic tradition can be. too overpowered, it receives a nerf from the game developers. This means it decreases in power or is reworked in some way so that its utility isn’t as necessary. This can refer to an object or character. Meta: The current state of the game. Pubstomper: A person or character that is really good at beating new players, but falls short against people with more experience. Salt: Translate to “bitter.” Someone who is salty is generally just angry and bitter over a loss. Scrub: No necessarily a bad player in the ability department. More so someone who you wouldn't want to play with because their ego is too big. Smurf: When you are an experienced player that creates a new account to fight lower-level players, or to help out someone who is new to the game. Tank: A character or class with really heavy defence that can draw aggro away from the rest of their team. Trainer: A program independent of the game that is used to hack the game and cheat. The most common are ones that will auto-aim for you, or ones that allow you to see through obstacles so you know when an enemy is coming. Zoning: Working to keep an enemy within a specific space so that you can better attack them and control the pacing of the fight.