In my mind "lore" is a video game thing, in particular associated with "sandbox" games, where players are trained to infer story details from the game environment rather than being told explicitly what's going on - people will jokingly ask "is this lore?" about seemingly (or obviously) irrelevant details in a game like Elden Ring. There's been a broader shift in media towards "universes" of content rather than self-contained narratives, and a certain level of "lore-crafting" is necessary if you're using the Marvel model.
But I wonder if the use of -lore as a suffix starts in the '70s, with "faxlore" ?
I hadn't come across “faxlore” — interesting! And mean culpa, I should have included something about video games. I was aware of their use of “lore,” but had no way to judge its significance because of my gigantic blind spot around — indeed, aversion toward — the genre. (And fantasy in any genre.) I've played video games only briefly, and only because I had a client who developed games and I wanted to understand her work. And come to think of it the only game I played more than once was Diner Dash, which to my recollection had no lore.
First, I must praise you for resisting the urge to talk about the many volumes I have of *forgotten* lore. If you're curious, I think you'll find many of them quaint. But more specifically, let's talk about Laphroaig. You can call it "Lore" if you want, but it tastes very much like the bottom of a week-old ashtray. You want to turn pre-teens solidly against alcohol? Give 'em a big ol' shot of Laphroaig. And that's lore.
I am glad you broke down lore because, to be fair, I do tend to use words with meanings I *want* them to have without always regarding their definition!!
To me, the most compelling use of Lore is as the name for the evil, chaotic, Loki-like brother of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION's bland but powerful humanoid robot, Data. I always thought that was a particularly fitting and subtle bit of naming. The character and name Data came around first, as the character was used much as Mr. Spock was in TOS (The Original Series), as a means of making huge expositional dumps and communicating arcane information quickly, as is often required for Science Fiction. But Lore was great, because it developed that he had been made first, and was meant to approximate human behavior more exactly, but had turned evil and jealous, and was then decommissioned and disassembled by his creator Dr. Noonian Soongh (played, as were Data and Lore, by the brilliant Brent Spiner). Lore was also dangerous in that he could pretend to be the polite, emotionless, robotic Data, before he would slip up (by using a contraction, for example, which Data never did) and be revealed. The hyper-emotional Lore to me seems to have been a great inspiration for Tom Hiddleston's Loki, also the "bad brother" (of Thor), in the MCU (Marvel Comics Universe).
This fun piece sent me to the dictionary to see where-all "lār" shows up in Old English. Naturally, it's in a lot of compounds, of which my favorite is "lārsmiþ" for "teacher" i.e. "lore-smith". There was a word "folclār", a spiritual predecessor to "folklore", but it's glossed with the relatively narrow meaning of "sermon".
Another word for a teacher is "lārēow", one who dispenses the lore, a relative of German "Lehrer" via the same "lore" root.
Interesting. "Lore" now seems to be a descendant of a 19C tendency. As the US wrestled that century with the paradox of an emerging middle class between laborers and owners (white collar workers, administrators, bureaucrats), it developed ways of distinguishing status without seeming to use class. That included professionalization: medical, legal, & academic workers raising themselves. It split performance into high and low, as if "art" and "entertainment" were ancient categories rather than new ideas. It also led to the apparently smart but elitist phrase, "If I have to explain it to you, you wouldn't understand." Aka, today's "lore."
I implied but inadvertently didn't complete a thought. The 19C paradox was the middle class distinguishing itself from the "lower orders" and elites in a country that prided itself on having no classes.
In my mind "lore" is a video game thing, in particular associated with "sandbox" games, where players are trained to infer story details from the game environment rather than being told explicitly what's going on - people will jokingly ask "is this lore?" about seemingly (or obviously) irrelevant details in a game like Elden Ring. There's been a broader shift in media towards "universes" of content rather than self-contained narratives, and a certain level of "lore-crafting" is necessary if you're using the Marvel model.
But I wonder if the use of -lore as a suffix starts in the '70s, with "faxlore" ?
I hadn't come across “faxlore” — interesting! And mean culpa, I should have included something about video games. I was aware of their use of “lore,” but had no way to judge its significance because of my gigantic blind spot around — indeed, aversion toward — the genre. (And fantasy in any genre.) I've played video games only briefly, and only because I had a client who developed games and I wanted to understand her work. And come to think of it the only game I played more than once was Diner Dash, which to my recollection had no lore.
First, I must praise you for resisting the urge to talk about the many volumes I have of *forgotten* lore. If you're curious, I think you'll find many of them quaint. But more specifically, let's talk about Laphroaig. You can call it "Lore" if you want, but it tastes very much like the bottom of a week-old ashtray. You want to turn pre-teens solidly against alcohol? Give 'em a big ol' shot of Laphroaig. And that's lore.
I tried a wee sip myself and used bandaid was what came to mind. Especially if you sniff it first. TEHO.
Hah! I don't drink alcohol these days, so I'll take your word for it.
I am glad you broke down lore because, to be fair, I do tend to use words with meanings I *want* them to have without always regarding their definition!!
To me, the most compelling use of Lore is as the name for the evil, chaotic, Loki-like brother of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION's bland but powerful humanoid robot, Data. I always thought that was a particularly fitting and subtle bit of naming. The character and name Data came around first, as the character was used much as Mr. Spock was in TOS (The Original Series), as a means of making huge expositional dumps and communicating arcane information quickly, as is often required for Science Fiction. But Lore was great, because it developed that he had been made first, and was meant to approximate human behavior more exactly, but had turned evil and jealous, and was then decommissioned and disassembled by his creator Dr. Noonian Soongh (played, as were Data and Lore, by the brilliant Brent Spiner). Lore was also dangerous in that he could pretend to be the polite, emotionless, robotic Data, before he would slip up (by using a contraction, for example, which Data never did) and be revealed. The hyper-emotional Lore to me seems to have been a great inspiration for Tom Hiddleston's Loki, also the "bad brother" (of Thor), in the MCU (Marvel Comics Universe).
As with video games, the Star Trek universe is almost complete terra incognita for me. So thanks for educating me, Mark!
This fun piece sent me to the dictionary to see where-all "lār" shows up in Old English. Naturally, it's in a lot of compounds, of which my favorite is "lārsmiþ" for "teacher" i.e. "lore-smith". There was a word "folclār", a spiritual predecessor to "folklore", but it's glossed with the relatively narrow meaning of "sermon".
Another word for a teacher is "lārēow", one who dispenses the lore, a relative of German "Lehrer" via the same "lore" root.
I buried “folclar" in Footnote #3.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Interesting. "Lore" now seems to be a descendant of a 19C tendency. As the US wrestled that century with the paradox of an emerging middle class between laborers and owners (white collar workers, administrators, bureaucrats), it developed ways of distinguishing status without seeming to use class. That included professionalization: medical, legal, & academic workers raising themselves. It split performance into high and low, as if "art" and "entertainment" were ancient categories rather than new ideas. It also led to the apparently smart but elitist phrase, "If I have to explain it to you, you wouldn't understand." Aka, today's "lore."
Thanks for this observation!
I implied but inadvertently didn't complete a thought. The 19C paradox was the middle class distinguishing itself from the "lower orders" and elites in a country that prided itself on having no classes.