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The word 'beatmap'

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Total Posts
23
Leeg
290 posts
Joined March 2009
Topic Starter
Leeg
Hi to everyone.

I'm Spanish university student of English Philology taking my final degree dissertation on 'Video game localisation'. I was thinking on explaining some of 'osu!' vocabulary in my paper, and I thought that the word 'beatmap' could be quite useful for my essay. So... I'd like to know how and why was the word 'beatmap' used to refer to the songs played in the game. It would be nice if you could try to give me a 'dictionary entry-like meaning' of it. Also, I'd like to know what the lexeme 'map' stands for.


My attempt of definition would be: " This word is composed of two lexemes: “beat”, which is a rhythmic unit; and ‘map’, which has a more general meaning, in this case the word ‘map’ is employed making reference to the creation process of a ‘beatmap’ in the game, as the ‘beats’ are placed in the screen as if it was some sort of ‘map’ "

Thanks. :)
Last edited by Leeg , edited 2 times in total.
Hika
1,553 posts
Joined February 2010
Hika
wow i failed so hard
http://osu.ppy.sh/wiki/Beatmaps

hf
Leeg
290 posts
Joined March 2009
Topic Starter
Leeg

Hika wrote:

wow i failed so hard
http://osu.ppy.sh/wiki/Beatmaps

hf

Oh, thanks, but I'm interested in something more linguistically related. I already know that information. I've been around here since 2009 ;)
Hika
1,553 posts
Joined February 2010
Hika
brb finding someone smart to help you out because that obviously isn't me
Kanye West
2,222 posts
Joined July 2011
Kanye West
Why are you asking us to do your homework for you? Use the wiki and come up with something yourself.
JappyBabes
666 posts
Joined February 2011
JappyBabes
Beatmap is a portmanteau of the words beat, meaning the song, and map, in reference to the placement of notes synchronized to the music. ???
Last edited by JappyBabes , edited 1 time in total.
Aeidxst
291 posts
Joined July 2012
Aeidxst
I have no idea about "map" but it's "beatmap" because you beat it, I (want to) believe. So don't question it, just beat it. They told him don't you ever come around here. Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear. The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear. So beat it, just beat it. You better run, you better do what you can. Don't wanna see no blood, don't be a macho man. You wanna be tough, better do what you can. So beat it, but you wanna be bad. Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it.
Leeg
290 posts
Joined March 2009
Topic Starter
Leeg

Kanye West wrote:

Why are you asking us to do your homework for you? Use the wiki and come up with something yourself.

I have my own guesses, however, I cannot put in my paper the first thing that comes into my mind. I'm not asking anyone to do my work. I'm simply requesting some information I do not own.


JappyBabes wrote:

Beatmap is a portmanteau of the word beat, meaning the song, and map, in reference to the placement of notes synchronized to the music. ???
Thanks for the attempt, ^^.
Hika
1,553 posts
Joined February 2010
Hika

Aeidxst wrote:

I have no idea about "map" but it's "beatmap" because you beat it, I (want to) believe. So don't question it, just beat it. They told him don't you ever come around here. Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear. The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear. So beat it, just beat it. You better run, you better do what you can. Don't wanna see no blood, don't be a macho man. You wanna be tough, better do what you can. So beat it, but you wanna be bad. Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it.
EY, shut up.
mathexpert
1,699 posts
Joined March 2011
mathexpert

JappyBabes wrote:

portmanteau
what a nice word~ looks better on paper than said out loud though.
she_old
she_old
Leeg sounds so empty.
Wojjan
806 posts
Joined August 2008
Wojjan

loseri wrote:

Leeg sounds so empty.
Dutch jokes.
ahue
silmarilen
5,582 posts
Joined February 2010
silmarilen
huehuehuehue
XPJ38
osu! Alumni
3,570 posts
Joined February 2010
XPJ38
I always thought it as a pun with the word Bitmap (because beatmaps contain a background image).
UnderminE
osu! Alumni
4,011 posts
Joined August 2010
UnderminE
^ This.
Cyclohexane
osu! Alumni
4,568 posts
Joined May 2009
Cyclohexane
beat as the beat in music, related to rhythm etc etc

map as in the placement of said beats on a restricted area. I think it originates from the term "mapping" from other games out there.
winber1
4,519 posts
Joined February 2010
winber1

Leeg wrote:

My attempt of definition would be: " This word is composed of two lexemes: “beat”, which is a rhythmic unit; and ‘map’, which has a more general meaning, in this case the word ‘map’ is employed making reference to the creation process of a ‘beatmap’ in the game, as the ‘beats’ are placed in the screen as if it was some sort of ‘map’ "
Honestly, that's pretty much it in my opinion. It's just a compound word essentially...

Snowman = man of snow
Earthquake = quake of the Earth
Mailman, toothpick, grasshopper --- those are all pretty self-explanatory.

And Beatmap = map of beats

It's just a clever little name and nothing more. Beatmap obviously isn't an official English word or anything (yet ahehuahue), and it's probably just something a random person or group of people came up with. The term may have had some influence from other games as Mr Color said, but idk.

I mean, the only thing I can go in more deeply about the name is that a map is essentially 2D. It's just a flat surface showing where things are. A Beatmap is a map of beats--it shows where the beats are on a 2D screen.
awp
osu! Alumni
11,869 posts
Here since the beginning
awp

winber1 wrote:

Snowman = man of snow
Earthquake = quake of the Earth
Mailman, toothpick, grasshopper --- those are all pretty self-explanatory.

And Beatmap = map of beats
well, at least it only took one page for us to get there this time

winber's right. It's basically just a map of beat placements

I mean, there's other metadata in there, but at its core it is a map of beat placements
Wojjan
806 posts
Joined August 2008
Wojjan

winber1 wrote:

grasshopper --- those are all pretty self-explanatory.
Oh yes, the creature that hops grass.
Leeg
290 posts
Joined March 2009
Topic Starter
Leeg
Thanks to everyone :D You've been really helpful.


Mr Color wrote:

I think it originates from the term "mapping" from other games out there.

Thanks ^^ , I'll try to search on this too.
Foxtrot
1,165 posts
Joined April 2012
Foxtrot
I always thought it was beat, as in the basic unit of time in music, and map, as in map. So it's literally like

I dunno

musicmap


don't mind me
KoumeSh
762 posts
Joined December 2010
KoumeSh
Beatmap = a map consisting of beats, this includes hitcircles, sliders and spinners and other info like BPM, songname, etc. etc.
one of those picture formats, lossless, yet it takes a lot of space... you can compress them though...
Zelda
5 posts
Joined June 2012
Zelda

Anzo-nii wrote:

Beatmap = a map consisting of beats, this includes hitcircles, sliders and spinners and other info like BPM, songname, etc. etc.
one of those picture formats, lossless, yet it takes a lot of space... you can compress them though...
No. That would be a bitmap.
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