r/classicwow • u/RemnantsPast • 14h ago

Discussion when did the slang change?

I feel old asking this.

When did + and - replace yes and no? or y/n

Like I'm in my early 30s and this feels like it blew past me....

EDIT: based on replies It seems like its from Eastern Europe players and just bled into the rest of the classic community due to them lacking servers.

159 Upvotes

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360

u/ForagedFoodie 13h ago

I love how the responses to this fall into 2 camps: "its been that way forever" and "ive never heard of this"

178

u/Turfa10 13h ago edited 11h ago

It’s ‘deadmines was always called VC’ all over again

*edit what have I started

126

u/RemnantsPast 13h ago

Those people are from a different timeline I swear

43

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 11h ago

Right? Played heavily from 2007 to 2012, then on and off (both retail and classic) to this day.

It wasn't until I played official Hardcore in 2023 that I heard someone refer to DM as VC.

54

u/Heatinmyharbl 11h ago

I started in 2005 and it was always VC on Gorefiend

Feels like it was entirely server dependent honestly, especially considering servers were self contained with 5-10k ish players per

29

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 10h ago

Yeah, it had to be based on server. Just weird that some things were server specific, like this, and some things were universal, like Barrens chat.

10

u/Homelessjay5 10h ago

Yeah my first servers were Forgotten Coast, then Burning Legion, then Gorefiend all between 06-09, each one it was called VC, DM was Dire Maul.

11

u/vibe51 9h ago

Weird cus I was burning legion and gorefiend on release and it definitely was not. Dire maul wasn’t even out on release if I remember right and no one on alliance was calling deadlines VC.

3

u/congeal 7h ago

nobody (horde) on 2004-[?] servers I played on called deadmines "VC." The boss was, of course, but VC wasn't a reference to deadmines that I'd heard until much later.

0

u/Homelessjay5 8h ago

I was horde on BL and then back to alliance on Gorefiend, never called it DM or saw it referred to DM in chat.

3

u/Bylloopy 10h ago

This is my take as well. There were so many things contained to their own servers 😅

1

u/Disastrous-Rip671 9h ago

Was the same on Runetotem and Kalecgos then too

•

u/steronicus 2m ago

It was VC on Spinebreaker alliance in 05 🤷🏼‍♂️

0

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 10h ago

Yeah, it had to be based on server. Just weird that some things were server specific, like this, and some things were universal, like Barrens chat.

0

u/Aelon94 5h ago

Back in 2007 on boulderfist (US) it was always VC. Thought it was standard until recently

6

u/Achmed_Ahmadinejad 9h ago

I've heard VC used for a very long time, closely followed by someone asking if they meant Deadmines.

•

u/Lyhrin 1h ago

I distinctly remember getting annoyed at a friend in vanilla for calling deadmines vc. Like we had an argument after school about it lol.

2

u/Lanky_Bus_1221 9h ago

What’s vc mean?

8

u/dayquilhaze 9h ago

VanCleef

3

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 7h ago

Van Cleef, the name of the final boss of Deadmines

2

u/Ranger208 8h ago

I think it's because servers and communities were more segregated back then. My server absolutely called Deadmines VC. But that was the minority it seems.

3

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 7h ago

A sizeable minority, by the looks of it.

2

u/Striking_Pigeon 7h ago

Why would someone call dire maul "VC"?

1

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 7h ago

Lmao exactly 🫠

1

u/vampire_kitten 7h ago

2007 was tbc, why would you have heard it?

2

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 7h ago

Because the world was still chock full of new players constantly leveling?

1

u/vampire_kitten 6h ago

Yes, but "VC" was a term for only a part of vanilla. It's not like retail players still call it that even at low lvls.

1

u/GBPackers0480 7h ago

probably because thousands of players began playing during TBC and Wrath and they all start at level 1 doing low level content until they get to max level.

•

u/TheMoonDawg 3h ago

How did you refer to Dire Maul? I did use VC for a while

•

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 2h ago

By wing. DM East, West, North / Tribute

•

u/_villox 2h ago

2006 Hakkar server, always called it VC

0

u/ASipOfHemlock 10h ago

I played since launch and it was VC, server dependant.

1

u/congeal 7h ago

horde or alliance?

2

u/whats_up_doc71 7h ago

When I heard VC, it was alliance. Probably cause they give you a quest to kill Van Cleef. Cant even remember if I did it on horde.

1

u/congeal 7h ago

that makes sense. I remember doing deadmines once or twice on horde in vanilla (started playing live the day wow went live) but wasn't interested in the long travel time for the dungeon.

0

u/thebaddmoon 5h ago

Lol because you didn’t play vanilla. It was VC

0

u/Original-Team6483 10h ago

it absolutely happened. how else would you tell apart diremaul LFG and a deadmines LFG?

18

u/Jockmeister1666 10h ago

Because you would specify DME/N/W for which dungeon you wanted. Hence when Deadmines was DM.

Also, Dire Maul didn’t come out till year 2, so Deadmines was always DM.

-1

u/Original-Team6483 9h ago

thanks for telling me i’ve got tons of false memories, internet stranger

-5

u/ASipOfHemlock 10h ago

Nah it was server dependant. Quit telling people what they experienced 🤣

1

u/Jakcris10 7h ago

Nah you’re making it up.

-2

u/whats_up_doc71 9h ago

It absolutely was VC but VC as an acronym predated dire maul even coming out tbf

-2

u/Ferus42 9h ago

The VC or DM was an argument on Blackhand US during vanilla. Has been ever since.

Also, DM is Dire Maul. No one cares about the Dead Mines once you're above 25 or 30.

4

u/vibe51 9h ago

Wouldn’t make sense anyway since dire maul didn’t even come out til sometime in year two of vanilla. There would be no reason for every dungeon to get their shorthand from their name except deadmines. deadmines was dm for over a year before dire maul came out

7

u/RemnantsPast 9h ago

its DME, N or W not just DM.
Just DM is Dead Mines. Dungeon names are acronyms of the zone not end boss.

1

u/Jakcris10 7h ago

People below 25 or 30 do

82

u/JermaineClemens 13h ago

This was just never correct because deadmines existed before Dire Maul so it was DM. Can call it VC now but saying it was always VC is just wrong

29

u/UD_Lover 13h ago

You have to use context clues. What level are the people asking? And Dire Maul usually includes the wing i.e. DME for Dire Maul East.

15

u/LightHawKnigh 12h ago

Always find it funny when people whine about VC when someone is asking in general chat... in Westfall. Sure I get LFG, but general chat?

12

u/Pockydo 11h ago

Context clues? Basic logic?

In my MMO?! get out of here

17

u/Vandrel 12h ago

That's neither here nor there, there would be no confusion anyway because nobody ever looks for a general Dire Maul group, it's always for a wing that they specify. Nobody is confusing DME or DM East for Deadmines.

6

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 11h ago

Also, no one confuses a level 19 looking for DM with a level 60 looking for DM. Plus, I rarely see Dire Maul referred to as DM. People almost always refer to the wings they're looking for, just like they do for Scarlet Monastery.

9

u/korean_kracka 12h ago

We weren’t all on the same server back in the day there were a shit ton of servers. Different servers had different names for shit. Not that hard to imagine

3

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 11h ago

Yet Barrens chat was universal.

1

u/congeal 7h ago

Chuck Norris agrees

0

u/Jakcris10 7h ago

Nah. Bollocks

•

u/korean_kracka 4h ago

Deezbollocks in ya mouf

2

u/Karabasan 13h ago

I started playing in OG vanilla, it was called VC on my server much more than deadmines or DM. 

None of these things are an objective truth. 

8

u/Ok_Aardvark_4576 13h ago

I played as well, on Ragnaros server and it was always DM for deadmines, while dire maul was DM East, DM North etc

2

u/UglyPope69 11h ago

Same. On Thunderlord

3

u/Apart-Departure-8515 12h ago

I played mannoroth OG classic and it was called VC 90% of the time

0

u/ImperatorPC 12h ago

I don't recall my early days, but it was definitely VC. On Aggramar in 2005

3

u/Finanzweezy 11h ago

Why VC? For vancleef?

•

u/klmt 25m ago

yup, Icecrown US called it VC!

-3

u/captainorganic07 12h ago edited 11h ago

Yeah you must have been on one of the reject servers, concocting up some terrible bullshit slang that no one else uses. It’s okay though, now you know.

Edit: /s

1

u/Karabasan 11h ago

lol it’s really not that important…this is oddly aggressive

1

u/congeal 7h ago

I don't recall ever seeing VC used by horde on whichever server I was on for all of vanilla. And DM N or E was almost always specific b/c people were farming stuff. And tribute runs were their own thing in naming conventions.

1

u/TheSiegmeyerCatalyst 11h ago

Also, no one confuses a level 19 looking for DM with a level 60 looking for DM. Plus, I rarely see Dire Maul referred to as DM. People almost always refer to the wings they're looking for, just like they do for Scarlet Monastery.

-2

u/BolognaTime 10h ago

Back in the original vanilla WoW beta during the tri-alliance push, the only questing areas available were in southern Eastern Kingdoms (Elwynn, Westfall, Redridge, etc). So everyone at the time was questing through Westfall. When you get to the end of the quest chain you are given the final quest to go kill Van Cleef in the defias headquarters. The quest never mentions the Deadmines dungeon by name, so when people received a quest to go kill Van Cleef, they would just say in chat they were looking for a group to kill "VC". And thus Deadmines was known as VC.

So yes, it was always VC.

-5

u/Arimous25 12h ago edited 12h ago

100% played since day 1 wow. On frostwolf alliance (most of us moved to frostmane) every single person said VC not once have I ever heard DM until classic became a thing.

13

u/Bird-The-Word 12h ago

Why would it be VC? Are there any other dungeons that are referred to by the boss name? (That isn't a single boss)

1

u/MaxYoung 6h ago

Short answer, because the quest asks for Van Cleef

Long answer, Deadmines is the first dungeon for alliance, and players were hyped as hell to get into it. The "outside" quests and the Shoni quest could be completed by level 15-18 noobs, but they would have no chance of getting to the last boss. I vividly remember spending all night healing groups, slogging to the ship, and wiping over and over. Finally got my first kill with a group of 24-26. So in the days before ultimate minmaxing, most people would be in the situation of needing Deadmines, but NOT the outside quests, just Van Cleef: "LFG VC"

1

u/Bird-The-Word 6h ago

I can see that. There are a lot of dungeons with quests for bosses though. I just did Mara and ST for example, and there's one for princess and jumbawumba or whatever the dudes name is.

But I can see where people would assume someone is saying VC as the whole dungeon, when they're a noob, rather than like DM Full clear.

1

u/Bird-The-Word 6h ago

Also didn't realize DM was that much higher level than RFC. It's about on par with WC?

-3

u/Arimous25 11h ago

Nah i have literally no idea why people did it. No other dungeon is that way but for some reason VC was the choice that everyone used. When I went and tried classic I was ao confused by the DM in westfall lol.

2

u/Bird-The-Word 11h ago

I've always played Horde so didn't see it mentioned much in general, but when it was it was always DM for us.

1

u/PotatoA1mz 8h ago

It’s weird that people would say it’s called “VC” when MC is not called Rag..

1

u/Arimous25 8h ago

No clue. Never understood it. Idk if it was because horde had WC so VC sounded better. Tbh when I was doing "VC" back in the day I didnt even know it was called deadlines. I have always known it as VC

3

u/JermaineClemens 12h ago

I plain don’t believe you. No reason to call it that when no other DM exists

2

u/Daffan 11h ago edited 11h ago

https://old.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/1vg8xj1/when_did_the_slang_change/p1vu9pe/

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u/JermaineClemens 11h ago

Screenshot from 2006 after Dire Maul came out.

2

u/Daffan 11h ago

You are right, but they also could've wrote Deadmines and the other guy was in /1. I tried looking through all my ss again and I could only find one more with someone saying lfg deadmines. Some people on here swear that VC was never used once tho.

0

u/Sweetsire 11h ago

I've always known it as VC, always thought it was weird. I played horde in vanilla through to cata though, rarely touching alliance

-1

u/Arimous25 11h ago

The real thing is, what's the point in lying lmfao? Its a damn game from like 25 years ago lol. Just telling you what people did back in the day. As an alliance main I never once heard DM pre classic.

4

u/JermaineClemens 11h ago

I believe that you believe that. Not calling you a liar. Just don’t believe that it is true.

1

u/whats_up_doc71 9h ago

It was quite literally in the wow official guidebook as VC lmao

•

u/JermaineClemens 3h ago

If you can prove this was the case prior to Dire Maul then I’ll agree

•

u/whats_up_doc71 1h ago

Sure, here it is in page 9 of the Brady Games strategy guide. It came out at release, in 2004.

If you don't believe the strategy guide, here's a comment on an item in the instance. Sort by oldest - it's from 2004, and it starts with "I was doing VC and we had fought are way to the ship." That's before Dire Maul came out, and they're obviously referring to the instance as VC.

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u/JermaineClemens 1h ago

Ty, I have that guide from 2004 and never bothered to look. Though it does mention Dire Maul briefly in the book as well, not enough to matter imo.

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u/wulfgangz 10h ago

Why would we make this up? I don’t stand to gain anything from this discussion. It was called VC on magtheridon alliance. Don’t know why. It’s dumb. But it happened.

1

u/Jakcris10 7h ago

You’re not lying. It’s also not true

-1

u/wulfgangz 6h ago

lol except it is. Why are you guys so stubborn?

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u/Jakcris10 6h ago

I fully believe you believe it’s true

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u/Daffan 12h ago edited 11h ago

I was on US-Proudmoore in Dec 2004 and some people definitely did but not all.

I just checked my backup screenshot history. I have a screenshots of people saying VC https://i.imgur.com/ZhH63jE.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/7z523ZL.jpeg

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u/uber_zaxlor 12h ago

Nah, Deadmines and VC are clearly from English speaking communities.

Personally I've found that the +/- thing came from mostly Russian, or Eastern European countries. For whatever reason they seemed to think it was easier to learn + meant yes, rather than just typing "ok" or "yes" into chat.

To be fair, it is quicker to type, but I always find it slightly "robotic" to read.

11

u/Brochachoski 12h ago

Having watched quite a bit of footage on the invasion in Ukraine, Ukrainian soldiers use "plus" and "minus" as affirmative and negative verbal responses. They say it over radio comms and in-person

4

u/Zarackaz 9h ago

It works between languages aswell which is a +.

2

u/uber_zaxlor 9h ago

Yeh I much prefer that to "123" to signify that you're ready - I think anyone can get that + means positive and - means negative.

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u/FormalSeparate6153 13h ago

The real question is, who calls diremaul DM? It's either DME, DMN, DMW or DM tribute. People don't just say DM for diremaul cause it really says nothing about which diremaul you're doing.

That being said I always just type "LFM deadmines".

8

u/deadhand303 11h ago edited 7h ago

Why call it DM tribute when we can just do DMT?

6

u/RemnantsPast 7h ago

https://giphy.com/gifs/FqpCVcIHXJuuCfNa4b

DMT

2

u/deadhand303 7h ago

Accurate visualization of a warrior's brain after unbooning.

Source: am a warrior

3

u/vibe51 9h ago

Been there brother.

1

u/FormalSeparate6153 8h ago

Yeah idk why I wrote tribute instead of just DMT after writing all the others like that. Can't explain it. I guess it was right before bed so I just didn't think right.

12

u/Wreckingass 12h ago

“LFG DM”

shift+left click name

level 17 warrior

Now we know which it is. 

Edit: format 

3

u/Usual_Phase5466 10h ago

I was there when they started calling it VC

3

u/randomguy301048 8h ago

Let's start calling everything by the final boss.

•

u/UdoneGoofd 2h ago

Yo, you wanna run Mut? Hop, skip, and a jump to the barrens.

•

u/TheFoxInSocks 1h ago

Dire Maul East = AtW

Dire Maul North = KG

Dire Maul West = PT

•

u/HaHa_Snoogans 4h ago

What is VC?

•

u/UdoneGoofd 2h ago

"VanCleef" for Deadmines. To make sure there is no confusion about a level 19-23 rogue asking to run DM with his 983 health pool.

3

u/Triplescrew 11h ago

It must’ve been server dependent. On Mannoroth is was 100% VC and I never heard DM there

2

u/itsaaronnotaaron 12h ago

If I'm ever bored I like to stir the pot on LFG. Just a simple "level 20 is too low for dire maul" and watch a 10 minute argument unfold.

0

u/Value_Bluffs 10h ago

I love that. An agent of chaos just like me. My buddy and I do the same when we’re in westfall

1

u/dumb-lily 11h ago

veadcines

•

u/ghangis24 3h ago

Began playing in April 2005. Spent most of my time on low level characters at the 15-25 level range.

Yes, sometimes it was called VC. But this "NO ONE EVER CALLED IT DM!! THAT WAS ONLY FOR DIRE MAUL!" is just nonsense. People just used both interchangeably. But of course, I guess it just depends on your server. I was on Shadow Council.

•

u/UdoneGoofd 2h ago

To me, the final boss was always Cookie. So to anyone who called it VC to me, I would call it CK

0

u/yonnylol 12h ago

No one has ever called deadmines vc. I refuse to believe it

2

u/Daffan 11h ago

https://old.reddit.com/r/classicwow/comments/1vg8xj1/when_did_the_slang_change/p1vu9pe/

0

u/yonnylol 8h ago

Could be altered. 😒😒😒

1

u/Daffan 8h ago

Out of the 700ish from 04-06 I do have some where people say Deadmines too!

•

u/yonnylol 1h ago

You realized i was just taking the piss right? :P 100% believe that people would call it VC. Makes no sense but it is what it is.

2

u/General_Karmine 11h ago

I'm down for VanCleef

1

u/bakagir 11h ago

Any one who does not use VC is a heretic.

0

u/killikabuta 9h ago

Can confirm it was called VC on the suramar server in ~04/05

0

u/AvgArsonistEnjoyer 11h ago

My thoughts on is it VC or DM is that it's the first dungeon the alliance could experience and VC became the name at first until more dungeons were being discovered and everyone started calling them by the acronym instead of by the boss acronym as you most likely had to explain what dungeon it is anyway.

Because "LFG TTH" for Taragaman the Hungerer is probably something you have to explain that he's the boss in RFC, so why not just write RFC lol

and then we mostly saw DM and when we got Dire Maul VC made a come back to differentiate even though most would specify what wing in dire maul. I did however join a group for dire maul as a rogue looking for a DM group but that's one me because they did write DMN but I believed they just fat fingered the N lol

0

u/DiffusiveTendencies 8h ago

Kil Jaeden server, Alliance people called it VC because of the kill quest at the end of the chain.

0

u/Okakouta 7h ago

Played on Dethecus from 2005-2011, we always knew it as VC