ABOUT

THE DIPTIONARY is a project I launched in September 2024 to pull together definitions for the game of Diplomacy and the Dip Hobby.

The idea is to make Diplomacy accessible to everyone… well, as far as understanding the metalanguage of the game goes, anyway. And assuming they can access the site. And if they’re interested.

But, with these caveats, the idea is to make Diplomacy accessible to everyone.

Organisation

There are currently 23 pages on the site:

• The ‘HOME‘ page is where you’ll find the ‘blog’. It’s not really a blog but a list of posts that I’ve written to explain a little more about selected entries. Occasionally, a definition (or multiple definitions) need a little more context.
• The ‘ABOUT‘ page is … well, you’re reading it. I’m sure you can work it out.
• The ‘THE DIPTIONARY‘ page is the lead page for the Diptionary itself. You’ll find 18 sub-pages listed here, each for a letter of the English alphabet or multiple letters. Definitions for words and phrases are included in alphabetical order and, where multiple letters are featured on a page, are separated from each other. Some entries will be links to the posts on the HOME page.
• The ‘DIPLOMATICON PUBLISHING‘ page contains information and links about my other two Diplomacy blogs, “The Diplomaticon” and “Diplomaticon Quarterly“, as well as to books (currently one but the plural stands) I’ve written.
• The CONTACT PAGE is where you can get in touch with me to add your thoughts.

Content

Currently, each entry is my own definition or taken from the Diplomacy A-Z. The latter is a site with another list of Dip-related definitions. From the A-Z I’ve taken definitions that seem to fit in with the content I’m covering; there are plenty of entries on the A-Z I’ve not included, for a number of reasons.

You’ll find entries that relate to playing Diplomacy and the Hobby as a whole. I’ve usually not mentioned any Diplomacy notaries (Diplominati) as I’m not interested in listing people who are in the Hobby. You may find information about these people if there’s an entry related to their name in a post. I have often included entries that are no longer in widespread use, especially if they are alternatives to a word or phrase of my own.

You’ll also find entries that define words or phrases that I tend to use in my own writing because they’re not yet widely used. Of course, they will be, eventually, because I’m brilliant. Well, when I say “brilliant”, I’m quite good at coming up with terms.

Well, when I say “quite good”…

Anyway, they’re defined as well!

An On-going Project

THE DIPTIONARY is an on-going project. While I’ve got a number of entries pretty much semi-completed (in other words, I’ve listed entries that came to me quickly and I’ve pirated entries from the A-Z) those pages will be pretty fully represented. As I haven’t yet gone through the whole of the A-Z, there’s more to come.

I will continue to update things as I write on my blogs and in my books.

But also I’d love to use your ideas as part of THE DIPTIONARY, too! I will look to add a Contributors page for those people who provide a new entry.

Get Involved!

There are things I don’t know. Surprising, I know, but true. And this is where you come in.

You can add your thoughts to a blog post, where I give the context to definitions, by simple commenting on the post.

You can contact me at diplomaticonpublishing@gmail.com to suggest entries – I’d love to receive these ideas!

You can also use the email to clarify, redefine or correct any entries I’ve used. I may not always go with your suggestions as the main definition, but I’d be happy to include them as additional info otherwise.

More on participating on the CONTACT page.