In Mike Russo’s IF Comp 2024 Reviews thread, a question was asked regarding the term “medium dry goods.” What does it mean?
A confession: I’ve never cared for the term, because I don’t think it makes intuitive sense to everyone (as the conversation suggests) and because its origins seem overtechnical in a way that further limits its intuitive sensibility. Still, it I am probably fighting a losing battle there, despite my preference for terms like widget (implemented portable thing with a presumed use) or doohickey (complex widget with multiple functions or parts) or even contraption (doohickey that is non-portable).
This thread is, itself, a contraption: it can divert posts from Mike’s review thread, clarify the meaning and value of “medium dry goods,” and–my favorite possibility–welcome discussion of criticism and craft terminolgies. Do you have favorites? Pet peeves? What terms used in IF discourse seem worthy of remark?