ES - FW: SCAHRLDS FAQ

Wed Nov 1 21:01:29 PST 2000

There was recently a question on netiquette. This 
is a periodic posting for the SCA Heralds group 
SCAHRLDS - a lively, argumentative, and fairly 
technical group. I reproduce it here even though 
some of it is unique to SCAHRLDS. Most of it 
applies and the rest may be of interest to those 
with an interest in SCA heraldry.

Caelin on Andrede

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To: SCAHRLDS at LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: SCAHRLDS FAQ

SCAHRLDS FAQ and NETIQUETTE

Being a list of Frequent Questions and Requests, and Arcane
Abbreviations.

Greetings, gentle cousins!  This is a monthly (more or less) FAQ to
introduce our new members to the chaos that calls itself SCAHRLDS.

WARNING:   NEVER open a message from ANY Herald while consuming food
or liquids  without swallowing first...

NETTIQUETTE.

Standard stuff:  be polite.  Disagreements are allowed, as is
reasonable debate.  Purposeful rudeness may lead to a <PAFF> with the
Hanky of Politeness.  Purposeful flamewars may lead to erasure.
Please do not post chain letters, unverified virus warnings, SPAM, or
random jokes.  Remember that REPLY defaults to the list; if you need
to make a personal reply to someone, cut-and-paste their address onto
your missive.

PLEASE feel free to ask questions!  You may think it's too basic or
that we will laugh at you for being ignorant, but none of us started
out knowing everything.  (Not even Rouland.)  The only 'stupid'
question is the one not asked.  Several people may answer your
questions in more-or-less the same words; we are not jumping on you,
but all responding about the same time, unaware of the others'
responses.

When responding, please trim the original message to the minimum
needed to establish context.  If possible, place your response at the
end of the message rather than the beginning.  It tends to make more
sense that way, and some of us dearly need as much sense as
possible...

When posting a query to SCAHRLDS, please put something specific in
the subject line to assist those who sort by thread (and who may be
on more than one heralds' list).  "Conflict check" is *not* specific
-- "Purple Unicorns - Conflict Check" is specific.  As some people's
email cuts the subject line after a certain number of characters, the
most pertinent information should come first.

Separate name queries from device queries, as different people tend
to respond to each type.  Again, make the subject line specific —
"Name - Thomas Howard" rather than "Name Check."  Try to find out
from the submitter the desired gender
of the name, the intended language, time period and culture, where
they found it and if it is supposed to have a meaning.  All this will
help us document it.

If you have more than one query, make a separate message for each one
(unless they are closely related, like a device and a badge with the
same primary charge.)  This keeps us from following one query to the
exclusion of the other(s).

If you have posted a query and get no reply, post again.  Your
message may have been lost in the ether, or we are all nose-down on
another trail and everyone expects that "someone else" will answer
it.

If a blazon is potentially ambiguous, or you're just not sure how to
describe something properly in "heraldese", it's a good idea to
describe whatever-it-is in plain English.  (If it's very difficult to
describe a device in proper heraldic terminology, this is a warning
sign that the device may not have very good style.)

Please do not use HTML codings or characters with odd accent marks.
Some people's email programs can read them just fine, but others see
nothing but gobbledygook.  If the name you are querying has odd
characters, accent marks, etc., use the notations found at this site:
http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/~donna/sca/heraldry/notation.html

Please don't send pictures (bitmaps, GIFs, JPEGs, and so on) or other
attachments to the list.  For some people, extracting them is
difficult or impossible. Some people have to pay for their internet
use by traffic
volume, or have limits on the space in their mailboxes, and these
files tend to be much larger than the usual text messages.  If you've
got a picture that you need to show people, put it on a website and
tell people where to find it -- or ask for help in doing this.  The
same principle applies to word-processed documents with formatting,
and other files that aren't just message text.

This is a community rather than a scholarly list, so from time to
time we wander off-topic.  Past digressions have included new babies,
new kittens, degree announcements, new jobs or need for same,
citizenship attainment, marriages, new home ownership, bad puns,
flirting, pet peeves,
and all the other joys of living.

ARCANE TERMINOLOGY:
SCA specific:

AH --- Administrative Handbook.  Available on-line at:
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/admin.html
CD -- Clear Difference.  In general, 2 CDs are required between new
submissions and previously registered armory.
CoA --- College of Arms
CoH --- College of Heralds
HYNAPI -- Hold Your Nose And Pass It; said of really bad but
registerable armory .  See also Toyota, Rule of.
KWHS -- Known World Heraldic Symposium.  Annual conclave of SCA
heralds.
Laurel --- Laurel Queen of Arms.  The chief heraldic officer of the
SCA.
LoI --- Letter of Intent.  Produced monthly by kingdoms with names
and devices for Laurel to consider.
LoAR --- Laurel's monthly Letter of Acceptances & Returns
MP -- the Modest Proposal to stop protecting all mundane arms that
the CoA were aware of.  Instituted some years back.
New Rules -- the current set of rules, instituted in 1989-1990.
Complete overhaul of rules, instituting clearly defined CDs.
NPS --- Non-Period Style
O&A -- the SCA Ordinary and Armorial
Old Rules -- Rules previous to 1989.  Relied on major and minor
"points of difference" rather than CDs; a number of minor points
could add up to a major.
OOP --- Out Of Print or Out Of Period.
OP --- Order of Precedent
Pic Dic (or Pict Dict) -- Pictorial Dictionary of SCA Heraldry
RfS --  Rules for Submission.  Available on-line at:
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/rfs.html
Toyota, Rule of -- "You asked for it, you got it!"
X.2.  -- RfS dealing with simple armory
X.4. -- RfS dealing with counting CDs.
See also the Glossary at:
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/coagloss.html

General blazon mysteries:
The best source for learning modern blazonry terms is _A Glossary of
Terms Used in Heraldry_ by James Parker, first Published in 1894 and
now long out of print.  Some marvelous gentle has webified it at:
http://www04.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/ta2/saitou/ie401/index.htm
and made it searchable!  (Although I could do without the checky
background...)  Not everything here is applicable to SCA heraldry,
but it is a good start.  Your local library may have a paper copy.

Books:
Black -- _Surnames of Scotland_.
Foster --  _The Dictionary of Heraldry_, Joseph Foster.  Not a
dictionary, but an armorial compiled from period rolls.  With
pictures!
Geir-Bassi -- _The Old Norse Name_ by Geir-Bassi Haraldsson
OC&M -- _Irish Names_  by O' Corrin & Maguire
OED -- Oxford English Dictionary
R&W -- _The Dictionary of English Surnames_ by Reaney and Wilson.
Withycombe -- _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_ by
E.G. Withycombe.  Now out of print.
Other books referenced may be found at:
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/admin.html#APPENDIX_H

USEFUL HERALDIC SOURCES:

On-line O&A, organized by category:
http://sca.uwaterloo.ca/heraldry/OandA/ordinary
http://www.wgz.org/heraldry/OandA/ordinary

Searchable O&A:
http://sca.uwaterloo.ca:80/heraldry/OandA/index.html
http://www.wgz.org:80/heraldry/OandA/index.html

Laurel's Homepage, leading to many useful articles:
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/

Modar's Heraldry pages, ditto:
http://www2.kumc.edu/itc/staff/rknight/heraldry.htm

An Tir College of Heralds
http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/~donna/sca/heraldry/

Name Articles:
Academy of Saint Gabriel.
http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/

Arval Benicouer's Medieval Naming Guides (some duplicates from above)
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/

Alanna
***********
Saying of the day:
School days are the happiest days of your life -- if your children
are old enough to go!

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