I used to live in an apartment building with a lot of old people. In fact, I think my wife and I were the youngest people there, being in our early thirties. Given that–and the fact that the other residents apparently had nothing better to do with their retirement–we became quite the regular topic of conversation. This wouldn’t have been quite so bad, if not for the fact that anywhere from two to five of them would be sitting outside, in front of the main entrance at any given time. And gods forbid, if you tried to just go home from a long day at work, without first engaging them in a 20-minute conversation. Carrying groceries? They were 100% sure there wasn’t anything perishable, and that we were young and strong enough to just stand there, holding them, while they yammered at us. Moving furniture? Oh, where’d you buy that from? What, could I hold the door for you? That’s crazy talk.
We took to calling these people “The Gauntlet.” We’ve since moved out, but one of them still shows up at the place where I work from time to time, and still tries to pry into my personal life. Which brought today’s word to mind.
gauntlet, noun – A long, grueling ordeal.
Learned from: Gauntlet (Arcade, and ports to virtually anything that can display graphics)
Developed by Atari Games
Published by Atari Games, U.S. Gold (1985)
When I first discovered Gauntlet, I wondered why this game about going through mazes, killing hordes of ghosts and demons was named after a glove. Was it a magical gauntlet? Was it a treasure you were trying to recover? Why has it never shown up, in all the hours (and quarters) I spent playing this game?
So, eventually I looked it up, and was introduced to my first example of lexical ambiguity–inferring the wrong definition of a word, when there are several to choose from–even though I wouldn’t know the term for it until decades later. And suddenly, the game made a lot more sense, because it really was a long, challenging experience. It was also one of the first multiplayer games I remember playing, though since you could hurt each other, keep the screen from scrolling, and accidentally (“accidentally”) destroy useful items, having friends along often didn’t make the challenge any easier.
Still, it’s a true classic, and a series that’s kinda still alive, today, in name and in spirit. Now, if you’ll excuse me, Writer needs food.
If you look closely, you can see several friendships ending, as the Warrior is chucking an ax at the Elf, while the Wizard is going to destroy that potion, because he missed the ghost. A picture really is worth a thousand words.
Brain Rot 