Really, either term can often be replaced with "LOL" for better effect

[rmd]

[Poll #1728048]

Comments

[wotw]

I do not recall ever having seen either of these words used in advertising/marketing.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

"Tactical" is particularly common among people aiming at would-be adventurers. My favorite example is the phrase "tactical pants" (http://tacticalpants.com).

One etsy.com search I like to do (at the suggestion of a friend) is to look for things tagged "steampunk" (http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_query=steampunk&search_type=tag_title) and look for the thing that seems to least have a Jules Verne sci-fi sort of aesthetic.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's hard, although I think "steampunk" is less an explicit term than an aesthetic sense. (It's also at least kind of self-aware of its absurdity.)

The search results for "steampunk tactical" are in any case ossim.

[dfjdejulio.livejournal.com]

What, no love for "artisinal"?

[rmd.livejournal.com]

oooh. that's a good one, too.

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

It might just be my shopping interests these days that I voted for tactical, but in thinking about it, I find steampunk a more annoying marketing term overall.

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

I can't recall ever seeing steampunk in marketing. And given my dislike of steampunk, I think I would have noticed it.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

especially on ebay.

[maellenkleth]

steampunk tactical involves elephant-guns, I suspect

[rmd.livejournal.com]

probably armor-plated dirigibles, too

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I am just completely over steampunk in any context. It's tiresome as a literary genre, as a subculture, and as a metaphor or descriptor for anything.

"Tactical" actually has some meaning and I guess I don't shop for the products that use it in marketing.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i think steampunk has some promise, if people look beyond OMGDIRIGIBLES. the thing that makes me think this is that someone (nisi shawl, maybe?) says she's writing a steampunk book set in the congo - where all the rubber comes from for all those dirigibles. which, right there, sounds like the potential for a very cool story.

[lil-brown-bat.livejournal.com]

i think steampunk has some promise

Uh, yeah...so do vampires...and werewolves...

Get all that stupid shit off the SF shelves, I say.

says she's writing a steampunk book set in the congo - where all the rubber comes from for all those dirigibles. which, right there, sounds like the potential for a very cool story.

Where all the rubber comes from? Same as it did in this reality: from King Leopold's "hand-maimed host", that's where.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

right. which i think makes for an interesting alternate history, particularly from a writer who deals with race issues -- what happens if, for instance, you fight back (or negotiate away) from leopold and put an african nation in charge of that kind of important resource? how would it parallel and differ from, for instance, what happened with the middle east?

[miss-bowtruckle.livejournal.com]

I have no opinion either way, but I can never resist checking a 'yes' checkbox. Go figure.

:)

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

I chose B because it's companies rather than individual doofuses on etsy who use it. Though I think the individual doofuses are probably further off the mark.

[hariyos.livejournal.com]

http://thelightrifle.com/site/category/editorials-and-commentary/tactilol-tuesday/

So, actually, every time I see 'tactical' I already s/tactical/tactiLOL/g.

Given that, steampunk pisses me off more. tactical is already idiotic. steampunk is a bunch of posers gluing gears to perfectly reasonable Victoriana, pining for blimps, and thinking this makes them awesome.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

wow. tactilol tuesday is full of lovely snark. yay!