what is "malus"?

[capnq]

Originally Posted by MaxWilson

There is no English word "malus" with a similar parallel to the Latin malus, but we infer one (make one up) and use it in posts on these boards. The word doesn't actually exist in English, and the Latin word wouldn't, strictly speaking, make sense.

I've seen the word used on other gaming boards, but never by someone whose first language was English (AFAIK).

[archaeolept]

the word is commonly used in French, probably other European languages as well.

[Dedas]

Malediction and Malicious?

[lch]

What troubles me most is that the plural of the English "bonus" is "bonuses" instead of "boni". Brrr.

Some game system used "boon(s)" and "bane(s)" instead of "bonus" and "malus".

[MaxWilson]

Originally Posted by capnq

I've seen the word used on other gaming boards, but never by someone whose first language was English (AFAIK).

Hmm, interesting. My first language is English, so you've seen it now. (Although I don't use it consistently, and usually would use a real word like "penalty". I'd probably only say "malus" if I had used "bonus" in the same paragraph.)

-Max

[Archonsod]

Originally Posted by lch

What troubles me most is that the plural of the English "bonus" is "bonuses" instead of "boni". Brrr.

Blame William. When the French Vikings were imposing Latin on the Germanic tongue of the Britons his advisors suggested grammatical rules were more important than unifying the lexicon.
Little known fact, but the rebellion in the North was entirely an attempt to avoid generations of British schoolboys being forced to spend five years of their life attempting to distinguish between nouns, pronouns, gerunds, participles and infinitives.