Sword Art Online - Names and Terminology

[Tap]

After looking at a picture, I wonder why in the terminology page, NERvGear is called such.
The picture in question:
http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/image ... _-_002.jpg

Should it be changed to NerveGear like the pic says? It makes sense, and I always wondered why the heck the ER was capitalized, thinking it was an acronym which had a meaning i couldn't find in text.

Yea, it's been pointed out ages ago.
Details over here.

Anyway, correction for my post over there.
The only two terms from the official web edition were "NERve Direct Linkage Environment System" (from the introductory chapters) and "NERVGEAR" (web edition, ALICIZATION, chapter 6).

The web edition were published before the books even started coming out, so there may have been corrections made since then.
The part in the web edition with "NERVGEAR" hasn't appeared in the book edition yet, as far as I know.

So yea, the most official term for it would be "NERveGear" (capitalization from the old NERDLES relation) or "Nerve Gear" (according to that image).

As for why E and R are capitalised, it's probably because NERDLES is a lot easier to pronounce, compared to NDLES.

[BeginnerXP]

Author always used ナーヴギア for the term in the published version up until this point, while I couldn't find the official English version of the term in text, but the illustration used in volume 3 should be considered official as well and it clearly either Nerve Gear or NerveGear. I'd prefer NerveGear more as it'll be consistent with AmuSphere & MediCuboid used later in the series.

I had edit the wiki based on the fact from that illustration and all my edits were reverted, given the reason 'We used to have a long discussion about this and decided on using the term NERvGear', I don't know if people involved in the discussion ever brought this illustration into the consideration or not.

I disagree on the term NERvGear but I prefer consistency so I had to ignore the, imo, blatant mistake.

Edit for additional info:
NERDLES, which is now present on jp wiki, was the term author explained in details in the web version of Aincrad arc chapter 2 he wrote in 2006, but in the published version of volume 1, there was no mention of this term anymore and instead used the term FullDive (write 完全ダィブ and read full dive by the furigana).

[Pryun]

Why the heck is NERv capitalized oddly, and can you direct me to a page which supports that argument? All I see is long distance hearsay.

I guess NERVGEAR (note the all caps) would still be reasonable, as opposed to some awkward capitalization if there is no choice... even if there is a beautiful pic which suggests NerveGear would be a better option...

So should whoever is in charge change the terminology page? or do I have to pm someone for that? or maybe wait longer for more consensus.

If it comes to a vote, I'm pro -NerveGear- That pic is hard to argue against.

[Tap]

Here's the Wikipedia JP link.
The web edition was removed from public domain as the books came out, so I can't really link to them.

Of course, considering that "NERDLES" was removed from the published edition, "Nerve Gear" / "NerveGear" would be more likely, considering that image.

As for the pro-NERvGear argument, it's mainly based on a combination of the two terms in my previous post.
Using the "NERVGEAR" from Alicization (web), and capitalising it based on "NERve DLES".
It's entirely based on the web edition though, which might not apply to actual canon as Kawahara Reki edits and re-writes entire segments as he gets the book editions published.

Author always used ナーヴギア for the term in the published version up until this point, while I couldn't find the official English version of the term in text, but the illustration used in volume 3 should be considered official as well and it clearly either Nerve Gear or NerveGear. I'd prefer NerveGear more as it'll be consistent with AmuSphere & MediCuboid used later in the series.

Was there any official English transcription of AmuSphere and MediCuboid yet?
For all we know, those might actually have a space in between their two segments too, resulting in "Amu Sphere" and "Medi Cuboid" regardless of how awkward that might look.

I'm personally rooting for "Nerve Gear" if we're switching, since there's an obviously larger space between "Nerve" and "Gear" in that image.

[Pryun]

Wonderful, so that's one more person for change.

As for MediCuboid and AmuSphere, I was always under the impression that they were portmanteaus of Medic(or medical) + Cuboid and Amuse(or amusement) + Sphere, which makes it more interesting.

I don't mind either NerveGear or Nerve Gear, just wish to get rid of that horrible and useless capitalization.

[milki]

After looking at a picture, I wonder why in the terminology page, NERvGear is called such.
The picture in question:
http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/image ... _-_002.jpg

Should it be changed to NerveGear like the pic says? It makes sense, and I always wondered why the heck the ER was capitalized, thinking it was an acronym which had a meaning i couldn't find in text.

Oo, if the illustrator and author show the actual spelling, I would go with that.

First thing that comes to mind for ER is Emergency Room. In this case, ER is always capitalized. But I don't know your context.

[Vaelis]

Since the pic shows "Nerve Gear", I also think it would be better to change all of them to this spelling.

[Pryun]

Changed most of em, no idea on how to access red nosed and dew girl, so someone else can do it (or teach me how to access it.)

On another note I'm not sure if longsword is incorrect in some places. from what I know 長剣 is long sword, which is
category of swords which are long, including zweihanders, claymores etc, while longsword(a kind of long sword) is written ロングソード.

Since I don't have access to the raws, I have no idea which is appropriate, so I'm very sorry for any edits which I did previously in the possibly mistaken thought of correcting longsword to long sword.

[BeginnerXP]

I haven't read all the volumes in Japanese, but from what I checked/worked on, I haven't found a single instance of ロングソード yet.

As far I as I've seen, author always used chouken 長剣 (long sword) when referring to Lyfa & Kirito's swords and katate chokuken 片手直剣 (one-handed straight sword) when referring to the skill category he used (not talking about the dual blades skill here).

Long sword and longsword, to me, felt like they were the same thing at first too, but I hope this cleared up a bit about the term author used in SAO.

[Tap]

ロングソード actually has been used at least thrice before, all three times in reference to Kirito's weapons.
On the other hand, I found no reference of his (signature white and black) weapons as 長剣 in SAO.

First was in the prologue of volume 1, the furigana for 両刃直剣 (double-edged straight sword).
Next two are from Warmth of Heart, in the category classification for Elucidator and Liz's comment on Dark Repulser.
Elucidator was classfied as 「ロングソード＼ワンハンド」, so SAO can probably be assumed to use English (in katakana) for weapon types. (maybe exceptions for weapons without an English origin, like katana?)
In any case, 長剣 was only used to refer to Heathcliff's swords in volume 1, if I'm not wrong.

Also, about straight swords (直剣).
The only other place the term is actually used regularly is in Demon's Souls (the PS3 game), as a type of sword.
Frankly speaking, "straight sword" sounds awkward, even if it's accurate.

[BeginnerXP]

Thank you for pointing out the places where ロングソード had been used.

I made a mistake about 長剣, yes Kirito really didn't call his swords using 長剣, I got confused from 'Versus' SS, in which author used 長剣 to describe Kirito's swords but 'only' when it was from Haruyuki's POV. While it was in Kirito's POV, he used 直剣 instead, and I had verified this with a few more places in the series. I'm sorry for the misinformation.

To be back on topic, my personal choice when translating is:
長剣 - long sword
直剣 - straight sword
ロングソード - longsword
The end results, however, is entirely on editors, as it's their forté, once I uploaded the script, I no longer want to interfere with the edits unless it changes the intent meaning.

[Aorii]

Also, about straight swords (直剣).
The only other place the term is actually used regularly is in Demon's Souls (the PS3 game), as a type of sword.
Frankly speaking, "straight sword" sounds awkward, even if it's accurate.

Actually, Straightsword is probably the closest translation of the "Jian" class swords (I'm not sure if there's a Jpn equivalent, seeing as Katana-style swords completely washed out the others in the Japanese arsenal).
Keeping in mind that the Longsword is a western class, where one-handed swords are broken down between the heavy/hacking Longswords (Frank/Germanic origin) and the light/thrusting Shortsword (Mediterranean)
The problem arises when comparing the standard Martial Arts sword used by Chinese/Koreans to European standards. Jian class swords are meant for a balance between slashing/thrusting, often using those two types of attacks interchangeably, so it is caught just in between the two western sword classes and belonging really to neither one, leaving it a headache to classify--- but insofar as I know, most "open" RPG systems (usually tabletop ones) that does detailed conversion translates them as "straightswords".

Size/weight wise, Jian class swords are around that of rapiers/courtblades. Kirito's swords and Asuna's rapier makes a relatively decent comparison.

(don't mind my technicalities I'm just butting in as I drop by to check out how things are going xD)

[Shinkirou]

I couldn't remember where we discussed this either but it is to leave as Steven until author explained the real meaning of the name, at that point then we could change it to Sterben. So those edits needed to be undo.

explanation by the author is cow-poop btw, it simply means "to die", nothing to do with hospital

[Naeko]

The author could simply have meant the NERV capitalization to serve as a sort of homage to Evangelion.

[Pryun]

It ISN'T capitalized in the picture, therefore even if there was a homage, it is not likely to be the author's intent. Maybe it was a translator's homage?