Glossary of Common Terminology
This is a resource for familiarising oneself with how we speak in the Republic. Having a hard time keeping up? Then this is your reference. You'll be talking like a pro in no time.
DISCLAIMER: If you're trying to keep up with the various internet-specific acronyms and slang, then this Wikipedia article is your best bet. Everything below this disclaimer is specific to the Republic of Talossa. Thanks.
Glossary
- Ár Päts: Ben Madison's version of Talossan history. Derided in the Republic for its tendency to change with the political winds. The title is Talossan for "our country."
- bug (nation): a micro-nation that has little or no claim to legitimacy (in micro-national terms, of course) due to its incredibly small size or other features. One such feature was famously pointed out by King Robert I when he derided micros using online forms as their sole means of handing out citizenship, since the point of such efforts was to fake legitimacy by increasing their numbers, as the Kingdom does now.
- cestoûr: pronounced "chess-TOOR." Term for a person who is living in the Greater Talossan Area but is not a Talossan citizen. Sometimes used to signify ALL people who aren't Talossan citizens.
- Chamber of Deputies: the lower house of the legislature in the Republic. Until the Senäts is "activated," it remains the only house.
- Cosâ: the lower house of the legislature in the Kingdom.
- cybercit: a citizen who lives outside the Greater Talossan Area or "cyber citizen." Sometimes used as a pejorative.
- deputy: member of the Chamber of Deputies.
- desfisetz qualse'cosâ deneu: Our national motto, "dare something worthy," in the national language.
- distáin: the Talossan language word for "deputy prime minister."
- Founding Parents: the original citizens of the Republic, all of whom left the Kingdom.
- glheþ: also glhetg. the Talossan language. Pronounced "lyeth". The Talossan language, created by R. Ben Madison, the founder of Talossa, is our greatest cultural treasure. Learn more about it here.
- GCP: acronym for the Grey Congress Party, a political party of the Kingdom. Centrist, it was founded in 2002 when Tomás Gariçéir and Chris Gruber left the PC. It dissolved in mid-2004.
- Greater Talossan Area: The area surrounding Talossan land, or, as cestours call it, Milwaukee. Often abbreviated as GTA.
- Guelph: referring to the Guelph Party. Named for a medieval Italian/German faction. The clever joke is that while the Ghibellines opposed the papacy, the Guelphs were staunch supporters of the Pope. And since Michael Pope is the founder and president of the Talossan political party with that name, it makes you smile when you think of it.
- haxh: pronounced "hajj." When a non-Talossan area Talossan (a cybercit) makes the trip to visit Talossa, it's called a haxh.
- King Robert I (or "Ben"): founder of the Kingdom of Talossa. Most citizens of the Republic agree that the oppressive environment of the pre-Revolutionary Kingdom has its origins in King Robert I's psychological issues. King Robert abdicated in August 2005 and quit the Kingdom, which continues as an independent state with whom the Republic has friendly relations.
- melon: a boot-licker, a brown-noser, someone who toadies up to another. Not meant to be affectionate. Coinage: Chris Gruber
- minister: the head of any ministry in the Government.
- (the) Mitch: the Mitchell Building.
- (the) Mitchell Building: the capital of the Republic, and therefore the seat of government. It's understood that "the Mitchell Building" refers to the government the way "the White House" or "Downing Street" does for the US and UK. There really is a Mitchell Building in the Republic. It is located in Pórt Maxhestic.
- MN: acronym for the Talossan language name of the Black Hand, a political party of the Kingdom. It is essentially a sock puppet party run by the King of Talossa.
- MP: acronym for "member of Parliament."
- MRP: Movement of Republican Peculiarism, a political party.
- Organic Law: the basic law of the Kingdom, adopted in 1996.
- PC: acronym for the Progressive Conservative Party of the Kingdom. It was particularly centrist, and most of the Founding Parents were once members of the PC. Formed in 1985, it dissolved in mid-2004.
- PCG: acronym for the Provisional Governing Council, which was the temporary government of the new Republic before the ratification of our Constitution in 2005.
- peculiarism: a term from the Kingdom days. "Dan Lorentz, a prominent figure in the new government, had articulated the philosophy of "Peculiarism" which sought to define Talossa not as a country-like community, but as a wacky, borderless Zen-like 'afterglow' or plasmatic blobule unlike anything else on earth, with no claims to territory or physical space." Its opposite is often derided as derivativism.
- Penguinea: a micro-nation formed by former Talossan citizens, prospectives, and their supporters in 1997.A treaty between the Kingdom and Penguinea was signed by the heads of the governments involved, but the Kingdom's Prime Minister at the time (one Chris Gruber) goofed up and let his (now ex-)wife file it away. It has never been seen since.
- pésedistâ: member of the PSD. Coinage: Miestrâ Schivâ
- PFPT: acronym for the Peace and Freedom Party of Talossa, a political party of the Kingdom. Left of centre, it ran a single campaign in 1998 that lost to the PC.
- the Phrontistery: a discussion forum in which one is encouraged to speak in veteratorian and archaic style with numerous flosculations, adding locupletative discussion! But be not sevidical.
- province: one of the five political geographic units into which the Republic is divided.
- PSD: The Talossan Social Democratic Party. PSD stands for "Parti Sociál Democrätic," which is the Talossan language version of the name. The PSD formed the first three Governments of the Republic. It broke up in mid-2006.
- QI: the nation's première news-magazine, Qator Itrìns.
- RCT: acronym for Rally for the Citizens of Talossa, a political party of the Kingdom. Left of centre, it was generally perceived as relatively harmless.
- regipäts: the Talossan word for "kingdom.," derived from the words for "king" and "country." Regipäts Talossán literally means "Talossan Kingdom," but is used as the equivalent of "the Kingdom of Talossa."
- RT: the Kingdom of Talossa. Stands for Regipäts Talossán. The Talossan name of the Republic, Repúblicâ Talossán, also can be represented with RT, but no-one does that, for fear there would be confusion. Contrast with TR or R of T.
- seneschál: the Talossan language word for "prime minister."
- SoS: acronym for "Secretary of State."
- Senäts: the upper house of the legislature in both the Republic and the Kingdom. It is so far generally acceptable to refer to the Republic Senäts as "the Senate," but Talossan language purists give you frowny faces if you do.
- Talluminati: the Talossan Illuminati. A local conspiracy. Doesn't exist, or so say their leaders.
- TalossaFest: an occasion, often yearly, within the Kingdom where people come together in the Greater Talossan Area to celebrate, discuss, bicker, and generally have a good time in the presence of other Talossans while in Talossa. Many citizens have made the haxh, strengthening their bonds with the land. It was at TalossFest 2003 that the first cracks in the Kingdom's surface appeared, according to some.
- Talossanity: the state of being a Talossan, especially with all of its delightful oddities. Reveling in our Talossanity often involves silly things.
- TDC: acronym for Talossa.com.
- TLP: acronym for the Talossan Liberal Party, a political party of the Kingdom. Left of centre, it was the third such party to use the name in the Kingdom. Its members left politics and then slowly left the Kingdom in 2001.
- TR: Talossan Republic. A more palatable acronym than R of T.
- TSFWS: the Talossan Science Fiction and Whisky Society. Sometimes the "and" is represented in the acronym with an ampersand (TSF&WS).
- Witt: nickname for Wittenberg.
- Wittenberg: the official discussion board of the Republic of Talossa, originally established in 1997. See Wittenberg's page for more details.
- whatnot: "It's the whatnot that'll get you." -Chris Gruber
- ZRT: Els Zefençadéirs dal Repúblicâ Talossán（the Defenders of the Talossan Republic), a political party.