www.alphadictionary.com

• cosplay •

Pronunciation: kahz-play • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: Dressing in a costume of an historical, fictional, or some other character appropriate for the occasion.

Notes: Cosplay may be used as a verb meaning "to dress as a character appropriate for the occasion". Otherwise, this brand new word has had time to beget only a personal noun, cosplayer.

In Play: George Kovac recently visited Château Gaillard in Les Andelys, France, and the tour guide was dressed as Richard the Lionheart, a former resident. Rob Towart noticed that, in the UK, one of the contenders for the post of Prime Minister wore Margaret Thatcherish clothes. My wife and I had lunch at a local inn recently and were joined at table by a woman dressed as Martha Washington who, interactively, told Martha's story as we dined. The company was memorable.

Word History: Today's Good Word is a 1990s blend of costume and play after Japanese kosupure, ultimately borrowed from English 'costume play'. Cosplay originated in Japan. Costume "customary clothes" is a variant of custom, a word borrowed from Old French costume (today coutume). French reshaped its word from Latin consuetudo "habit, tradition", which Latin created from com- "(together) with" + suescere "accustom oneself", the latter built on PIE swe-/swo- "oneself", source also of English self, Russian svoj "one's own", Latin sui "self" (as in suicide), and German selbst "self". The trail behind play is a bit twisted. It seems to share its source with plight, pledge, and indulge, PIE dhlegh- "to engage oneself". It was plegian "move spritely, play" in Old English. How it came to be in Old English remains murky. (In an incredible coincidence today's brand new Good Word was recommended by wordmasters George Kovac and Rob Towart on the same day!)

One of the delights of examining a useful and precise, but obscure, word (a feature in which the Agora excels) is discovering applications of that word outside the discussions on this site. Today I found this usage of “cosplay,” a word of whose existence I was unaware until 6 months ago.

Here is an example published today on line in The Atlantic:

Certainly, some rock aesthetics have shown up on the pop charts lately, including new takes on indie rock (Steve Lacy), emo (Olivia Rodrigo), and Mick Jagger cosplay (Harry Styles).

—Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic “ This Is the Band That’s Supposedly Saving Rock and Roll?” January 18, 2023.

The public has taken a fancy to the word “cosplay.” Since that initial posting, use of “cosplay” has become widespread (or, at least, I am noticing it more.) I hear it said on TV and frequently find it in print.

I just encountered a related word—more of an acronym really: “LARP. ” It’s usually spelled in all caps in its original form, but curiously mixed in others, e.g.: “LARPed,” “LARPing.” The word can be used as a noun or a verb. It means “live action role playing.” The participants dress up in costumes, agree to meet up at a specific time and place, use props and act out situations. Fantasy battles, historical royalty, etc. Yeah, it’s a thing.

Before cosplay and LARP entered our vocabulary, we had a well known example: the Civil War re-enacters who, in full cosplay, pretend to fight battles from that war. Their events are LARPs, their participants cosplayers.

I think cosplay is a useful word, and likely to remain a fixture of our language. It can be used descriptively, ironically or pejoratively. It comes trippingly off the tongue.

LARP I’m not so sure about. I would not nominate it as a Good Word. LARP describes a specific and limited activity. That weird capitalization is a problem for me. But perhaps LARP does have some ironic or metaphoric possibilities as in this example I created: “This unruly confederation of naive activists claim to constitute a viable third party, but so far they have proved to be more of a LARP than a real political party.”

For an actual example of “LARPing” in print, see today’s New York Times Magazine, page 18.

Japan used to have an active cosplay scene -- I'd see lots of small groups of folks walking around dressed to cosplay (in cosplay mode? cosplaying?) in Odaiba, the magic island in Tokyo bay. But not recently.

As for LARP, the New Yorker had a piece on it a year ago. I gather this gathering gathered but a few miles up the coast from where Mr. Kovac lives.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022 ... sney-world

The way I understand it, cosplaying is dressing up as a character for going to a convention or even a movie; LARPers do it to act out entire adventures. It's come up a few times in crossword puzzles, and it nearly always gets me, as it's so specific and a culture I know nothing about.