The Magical Keywords of Wayfarer

Raachermannl-INGRaachermannl-ING Posts: 1,070 ✭✭✭✭✭

This is about words, that were reduced to absurdity by the wayfarer community; words that are totally missused, but the submissions nethertheless get accepted, so that the appear to be trigger words for approvals. And no one corrects these ....

I'm sure there are lots of examples for wayfarer speech in other countries too. So here are the German highlights:

Mural

Mural is by far no German word. No normal German person, that speaks English according to the normal school education, ever heard this word before, except the players of Niantics games ....

By definition it's an drawing, that fills large area on walls. German submitters use it for evry kind of wall art ..... ornaments, mosaics, relievos, etc.pp. ... and even worse:

https://intel.ingress.com/intel?ll=50.901348,11.574247&z=15&pll=50.901348,11.574247

Yes, that's no rarity here ....

INRI

Second very annoying misplaced "word" is INRI. German submitters use it for evry type of way cross, christian shrine, crucifix, whatever ..... totally awkward.

I'm neither from a very religious region nor intrested in any sort of religion or worship, but hardcore catholic regions like Bavaria are within my reviewing range. It's simply cruelty how lots of people there name the religious objects in their submissions. Evrything is a Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, even if Maria or another random Saint is shown, or the cross is without any figure ....

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Comments

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭

    That's because people see gazebo referenced in the criteria and stick that label on anything that might possibly be passed off as one. Precisely none of those photos meets my definition of a gazbebo. I see:

    • pergola
    • arbor
    • pavilion
    • covered picnic table, maybe a picnic pavilion but that's marginal
    • mailbox canopy
    • arcade


  • patsufredo-PGOpatsufredo-PGO Posts: 4,217 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Same thing commonly happened in my country, too. Every structures with 4 pillars and 1 roof, or small house-like structure are called 'gazebo', even though they're actually not gazebo at all. Here's a fresh example:

    This one is actually a small, security outpost ("pos keamanan") of a neighborhood, used by local security personel as a base to patrol the neighborhood.

  • SiIverLyra-PGOSiIverLyra-PGO Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Oh JESUS, I have the gazebo thing in my country too! EVERYTHING is a gazebo. Benches such as this one are commonly called gazebos.

    Shade structures such as this are also named gazebos in nominations:

    It's 100 a magic Wayfarer word. Like OP's mural example, the word's not a natural part of my local language either.

    Also: graffiti. Murals are graffiti. Paintings on utility boxes are graffiti.

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @SiIverLyra-PGO On graffiti, I see exactly the opposite. Graffiti is called a mural. A small stencil on a wall is called a mural.

    I'm spoiled by living in an area with a vibrant, active community of mural artists and many truly world-class murals all around me-- there are easily a hundred or more murals within a kilometer of where I live. Many of them are done by the fine artists of Dragon School: http://www.dragonschool99.com/#photo-gallery When I see something that's less than a square meter across being called a mural I just laugh.

  • HaramDingo-INGHaramDingo-ING Posts: 1,725 ✭✭✭✭✭

    This sculpture/shrine of Mother Mary is also cleverly named a Mural as well.

    But I really don't know why these keywords make sense. Call it art, get it rejected, call it mural, better chance of getting in. Call it a shelter, have no luck. But a gazebo, tugs at the heartstrings. Much wow.

  • Damastaglen-PGODamastaglen-PGO Posts: 124 ✭✭✭

    The one I most find amusing is calling a bus stop a local information point because they tell you when the bus is due.

  • I have to say I sometimes fall to gazebo trap too 😅 I find sometimes hard to find proper category for example to lean-to, which is quite usual nomination in Finland. Gazebo is the closest thing I have found, so I use it. Of course I could also use just “other” category, but I feel that’s not satisfying either.

    I think there is plenty of categories that translates to one word in other languages, while some words are just missing. All of those “gazebos” above might be called “katos” in Finnish, so you need really knowledge about different types of structures to call them correctly in English.

  • LukeAllStars-INGLukeAllStars-ING Posts: 4,625 Ambassador

    If we talk about German submissions only, the most common mistake in nominations are nominalizations written with a lowercase letter.

    They really do annoy me. Its not that hard to use them.


    "Ein Spielplatz für die Kleinen"

    -> die Kleinen = die kleinen Kinder

    "Ein Fußballfeld für Jung und Alt"

    -> die jungen/alten Menschen

  • Rostwold-INGRostwold-ING Posts: 172 ✭✭✭✭

    Another magic word "Local".

    Every pub in the country seems to need be described as a "Local pub"... well of course it's local to where it is!

    (BTW, I've always used the 'irrelevant title' option on non-mural "murals")

  • MessiPy-INGMessiPy-ING Posts: 122 ✭✭✭

    With niantic the use of English predominates, so with translations there will always be problems in countries where similar words are not used

  • Kellerrys-INGKellerrys-ING Posts: 696 ✭✭✭✭✭

    (Disclaimer, the following is just a hunch based on discussions I've had or read. I can't prove anything.)

    I've grown to suspect that there is somewhat significant amount of reviewers who are not that familiar with the actual eligibility criteria. Instead of knowledge they vote according to what they've seen in game and/or by gut feeling.

    They might not identify the generic, mass produced, boring, not visually interesting sheltered area/structure being eligible as a great place to be social with others -> lower score.

    But the same individuals have seen "gazebos" while playing, recognize the same shelter as a valid waypoint and give a higher score.

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Kellerrys-ING "Suspect?" "Somewhat significant?" Sir, ma'am, or other... I admire your talent for understatement.

  • SiIverLyra-PGOSiIverLyra-PGO Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Oh I agree - but on the other hand, in my case, there IS a word in the local language for shade-providing structures. Even "pergola" is a word that's quite common here (even though it's in English).

    But people go with "gazebo" because it already became a magic Wayfarer word.

  • Raachermannl-INGRaachermannl-ING Posts: 1,070 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Other nice wordings from Germany:

    "historisch" (=historical) ....

    Often it's true, but more often rubbish submissions of generic objects are declared to be historical ..... historical add poles, historical cigarette dispensers, historical street lanterns .....

    "schön" in description texts (schön = nice, beautiful)

    Lots of submitters tend to judge their own submissions in their texts. One can see, that the people use words like nice or beautiful especially in the texts for bad candidates, where objectice facts dont work ..... I see these words as indicator for rubbish candidates, and the submitters only try to sugarcoat their wayfarer coal ....

  • Hosette-INGHosette-ING Posts: 3,470 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I see "historic" a lot in the US too, though probably less than in Europe. What's the difference between the US and Europe? In Europe 100 miles is a long distance. In the US 100 years is a long time.

    The one I've seen a few times recently is "this is the first..." of some big chain. You know, if it's the first McDonalds or the first Starbucks then I'm all over that... that's actual history. For "This is the first of (some random chain) to open in (some random town)" not so much.

  • Thanks for reporting, @Raachermannl-ING! We have reviewed the report and have taken necessary actions on the Wayspots and Wayfinders in accordance with our policies. Thank you!

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