Warp wrote:
> Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
>> Warp wrote:
>>>   There are two things that irritate me quite a lot when people write
>>> prose, especially online:
> 
>> BTW, "fake" doesn't mean what you think it means. :-) A machine-assisted 
>> speed-run is still "fake" even if everyone knows it's speed-assisted, just 
>> like Star Wars had fake space ships.
> 
>   A movie is not a "fake documentary" because a movie is not intended to
> pass for one. It's made clear that it's fiction, and hence it's completely
> genuine fiction. Nobody calls a movie "a fake documentary".
> 
>   A documentary which fabricates events and claims them to have truly
> happened, with the intention of fooling people, is fake.

A movie isn't a fake documentary because something like Inception doesn't 
look like a documentary.  "This Is Spinal Tap" is indeed a "fake 
documentary", even tho nobody thinks it's real.

>   Likewise a tool-assisted speedrun is not a "fake speedrun" because it's
> not made for the purpose of fooling people into thinking that it's one.
> Calling it a fake makes as much sense as calling a movie a fake documentary.

I'm just saying, if someone came up and said "Is that real?"  I'd say "No, 
it's fake."  Exactly like if someone came up to me while I was watching Star 
Wars and said "Are those real space ships?" I'd say "No, they're fake", even 
tho nobody thinks Star Wars is real.

A movie fails to be a "fake documentary" only to the extent that it doesn't 
look like a documentary.  Being "fake" isn't what gives it negative 
connotations. If you call something "bogus" or "counterfeit", then you're 
giving negative connotations. But, as a native speaker of American english, 
I've never heard "fake" to mean purely "I was fooled by it". There are many 
"fake" things that don't pretend to be real. People put fake skeletons and 
headstones on their lawn during halloween. Pretending to throw the 
football[1] and not doing so is a "pump fake" with no negative connotations 
and indeed with kudos to the quarterback. Spock's star trek ears were real 
makeup but fake ears, and nobody thought vulcans were real.

I'm just saying that "fake" doesn't always carry a negative connotation. 
Saying a speed run is "fake" doesn't imply the runner was trying to fool you 
into thinking he is that good at the game, any more than saying Spock's ears 
are fake means Nimoy was trying to fool you into believing vulcans are real.

Just so's ya know. :-)




[1] Let's not go there.
-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Quoth the raven:
        Need S'Mores!

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