Gears and not God of War deserves the acronym GOW.

[perpride]

Khuutra said:

perpride said:
@Khuutra - No, it wont. God of War has already established itself as GOW within video gaming. Even within the larger context of inter-console video game disscussion, more people will continue to use the acronym for God of War. Why do I say this? It's almost three years since Gears and that is exactly what we all call the game: Gears. Unlike God of War, the acronym has not been picked up and dominated mainstream use.

Sales do not change the nature of language, people do. And from where I sit and look at things, people have yet to start using GOW for Gears in the place of God of War - in the context of inter-console discussion. Refer to my last two posts for my quote you bolded - it was said with this in mind.

See the first post I made. Pre-established meaning has absolutely no bearing on the future state of discourse.

You can claim what you want anecdotally, but if the larger meaning shifts, then Gears of War will hold the acronym. I'm not even saying it will. I'm saying that if more people use it that way, then the meaning of the acronym in the majority of contexts is going to change. An argument could be made that this has already largely happened.

The part I bolded is flagrantly false, and contradicts your assertion that people change language.

My argument is that the "if's" that I have bolded will not happen. Just like the argument can be made that this has largley happened, I present the side that completely disagrees. I disagree it has happened at all. In the context of inter-console discussion, GOW is still used for God of War, not gears. There is no real way to prove either argument without doing real research - so it will never happen. This highlights the subjectivity of this argument. It's also partially the reason why I think Squil brought it up to begin with; to start an argument that no one can really win, both sides can argue till the end of time.