What is a choom?

[Pierre]

Is that something in spanish or english or it was just invented for the game? Same goes for Nova.

[Pierre]

Originally posted by Zarathustra1889:

Originally posted by markymint:

And "Deets" are the futuristic cringe way of saying "details".

People are already saying that now. It will probably be just as common in 2077. It seems that people are generally less educated which has led to a decreasingly verbose population.

👍🏽

[Pierre]

Originally posted by Niliu:

Originally posted by Pierre:

Is that something in spanish or english or it was just invented for the game? Same goes for Nova.

The Cyberpunk world has a lot of it's own slang, makes sense, since they diverged from out timeline a long time ago, their slang would be different, but not unrecognizable. Night City, as a massively multicultural city, can create a lot of different slang terms from various languages. https://cyberpunk.fandom.com/wiki/Streetslang

👍🏽

[Pierre]

Originally posted by XC3758:

It's the same meaning as Shadowrun's "Chummer"

👍🏽

[Pyromaiden]

Originally posted by Zarathustra1889:

Originally posted by markymint:

And "Deets" are the futuristic cringe way of saying "details".

People are already saying that now. It will probably be just as common in 2077. It seems that people are generally less educated which has led to a decreasingly verbose population.

Slang has nothing to do with education. Slang is a natural part of human language. Formal language is simply impractical in most settings and it's imposition is an entirely deliberate attempt to distinguish lower classes (who use slang more often) from upper classes (who deliberately use slang less often because they associate it with being low class, and so stigmatize it). But slang is normal for any language. Many of the standard words we use today originated as slang words that became so commonplace that they stopped being slang altogether, to the point that many don't even remember what the original word was. This is just normal language evolution at work. Spelling changes, grammar changes, words change, etc. This is how we get new dialects and languages.

[Draconifors]

Originally posted by Voodoojedizin:

Originally posted by Pierre:

I wasn't sure if it wasn't real english as I'm not a native I can't figured it out. There's a lot more than english and we aren't ALL fluent in that language -_-

You don't have to fluent in a language, To understand what certain words mean. Just listen to the way they are used and in what context and it's pretty obvious.

You are oversimplifying.

Sometimes context makes it clear what is meant, but not always -- and one's level of fluency in the language absolutely does make a difference.
I would say "choom" and "nova" are examples of cases where context does not necessarily make it clear what the word means. I know "nova" took me a while to figure out.

The trickier the language, the more fluency helps. English can rank pretty high in terms of how tricky it is, depending on various factors including one's native language and how much of a knack for languages one has.

[Chill-Out-Zone]

Choom is slang for buddie.

[Pierre]

Originally posted by Draconifors:

Originally posted by Voodoojedizin:

You don't have to fluent in a language, To understand what certain words mean. Just listen to the way they are used and in what context and it's pretty obvious.

You are oversimplifying.

Sometimes context makes it clear what is meant, but not always -- and one's level of fluency in the language absolutely does make a difference.
I would say "choom" and "nova" are examples of cases where context does not necessarily make it clear what the word means. I know "nova" took me a while to figure out.

The trickier the language, the more fluency helps. English can rank pretty high in terms of how tricky it is, depending on various factors including one's native language and how much of a knack for languages one has.

Tell them

[MajorBarf]

Goon has two meanings, one is for someone who is crazy and/or stupid (which is the meaning used in the BBC radio comedy "The Goon Show" from the 1950's) and the second is a thug or guard or enforcer (usually violent).

So a "Gangoon" is a conflation of "gang" and "goon" - which could use either meaning of goon depending on your perspective.

I first saw "Choom" used in the original Cyberpunk TTRPG from back in the late 1980's and, as observed previously, it is an abbreviation of "Choomba" (male) or "Choombatta" (female) which is an African-American term for a close friend or relative. I guess that is Mike Pondsmith, the designer of the Cyberpunk TTRPG series, drawing on his personal heritage.

[carl]

Originally posted by MajorBarf:

Goon has two meanings, one is for someone who is crazy and/or stupid (which is the meaning used in the BBC radio comedy "The Goon Show" from the 1950's) and the second is a thug or guard or enforcer (usually violent).

So a "Gangoon" is a conflation of "gang" and "goon" - which could use either meaning of goon depending on your perspective.

I first saw "Choom" used in the original Cyberpunk TTRPG from back in the late 1980's and, as observed previously, it is an abbreviation of "Choomba" (male) or "Choombatta" (female) which is an African-American term for a close friend or relative. I guess that is Mike Pondsmith, the designer of the Cyberpunk TTRPG series, drawing on his personal heritage.

Hiring goons in 2024 can have several interpretations...

[ThePatronSaint of OverDosing]

nova means explosive so awesome, like a supernova, and choom is always said in the context of friend, mate or buddy... so it means friend, duh. like calling someone my boy or my man or ''that's my girl'' it's always used in a positive light unless there is already an argument going on. And Delta is used when one wants to leave ASAP. so Delta means the same as ''Let's Split'' or ''Let's Bounce'' which is 90s street-slang.

it's not hard, people. you learn this kind of thing by just watching gangster movies for a day.

[n0mad23]

"Let's split" was slang in Shakespeare's day, and remains so today.

[ThePatronSaint of OverDosing]

Originally posted by carl:

Originally posted by MajorBarf:

Goon has two meanings, one is for someone who is crazy and/or stupid (which is the meaning used in the BBC radio comedy "The Goon Show" from the 1950's) and the second is a thug or guard or enforcer (usually violent).

So a "Gangoon" is a conflation of "gang" and "goon" - which could use either meaning of goon depending on your perspective.

I first saw "Choom" used in the original Cyberpunk TTRPG from back in the late 1980's and, as observed previously, it is an abbreviation of "Choomba" (male) or "Choombatta" (female) which is an African-American term for a close friend or relative. I guess that is Mike Pondsmith, the designer of the Cyberpunk TTRPG series, drawing on his personal heritage.

Hiring goons in 2024 can have several interpretations...

well, i was recently called a Gooner, but i ain't letting no Gonk box me in. so they got gonked. i assume gonk means clown or whatevet gonked out means when used to phrase it like... water filters broke. filters gave out? but yeah, you get it.

let's split is gud because it makes me think of ...both parties or more leaving to go to other places.

[Niliu]

Originally posted by Voodoojedizin:

Originally posted by Draconifors:

You are oversimplifying.

Sometimes context makes it clear what is meant, but not always -- and one's level of fluency in the language absolutely does make a difference.
I would say "choom" and "nova" are examples of cases where context does not necessarily make it clear what the word means. I know "nova" took me a while to figure out.

The trickier the language, the more fluency helps. English can rank pretty high in terms of how tricky it is, depending on various factors including one's native language and how much of a knack for languages one has.

Say what you want but it was pretty easy to figure out what the slang words meant.
I mean most of them are so obvious that you can get their get their meaning instantly.
And I wouldn't say I have a knack for languages. But maybe more common sense and observation.

Tell you what, let's teach you a second language, but not have you be completely fluent, and have you play a futuristic game in that language with a bunch of made of words. Once you do that and can tell us what the meaning of those words is, THEN you can tell us how easy it should be for someone not completely fluent in English.

The Mod is right, you're being overly simple.

[Species1571]

Chum

[zegisa]

Originally posted by MajorBarf:

Goon has two meanings, one is for someone who is crazy and/or stupid (which is the meaning used in the BBC radio comedy "The Goon Show" from the 1950's) and the second is a thug or guard or enforcer (usually violent).

So a "Gangoon" is a conflation of "gang" and "goon" - which could use either meaning of goon depending on your perspective.

I first saw "Choom" used in the original Cyberpunk TTRPG from back in the late 1980's and, as observed previously, it is an abbreviation of "Choomba" (male) or "Choombatta" (female) which is an African-American term for a close friend or relative. I guess that is Mike Pondsmith, the designer of the Cyberpunk TTRPG series, drawing on his personal heritage.

It's possible it is entirely made up, but I've seen "choom" used in sci fi by Heinlein in The Moon is A Harsh Mistress, and it has existed in Aussie/NZ slang since 1918. If it was recorded in 1918, it probably had been used a good few years before that.

It could be Pondsmith wanted to use choom, but rebrand it to make the term seem like it belonged to Cyberpunk instead of being drawn from the real word.