What do we call ourselves?

[AudreyRose]

I was having a bit of a discussion with my husband earlier today while playing with my Megaminx in the car. I am a huge fan (like many of you are) of puzzles. I own cubes from 2x2x2 through 7x7x7, roadblock, mega/giga/pyra -minx's etc.

I believe someone that likes crossword puzzles is called a cruciverbalophile (I could be wrong though). So, how would you describe someone with a fondness of polyhedra puzzles?

My husband suggested polyhedronist. What do you all think?

xo
AR

 

[JonnyWhoopes]

Twisty puzzle enthusiast.

 

[TheMachanga]

Cuber...?

Edit: Yeah, it's cuber. I wasn't sure if you were just new, or talking about something else.

 

[HelpCube]

Umm, I believe the term is cuber? You must be new here .

 

[blakedacuber]

umm I generally refer to myself as a person called Blake? jokes aside "cuber" is what we call ourselves

 

[ottozing]

cuber.

 

[ukspeedcubes]

A Geek! at least thats what my Fiancee calls me!!!!

 

[drewsopchak]

Cuber..... I hate it when you talk to someone and use the term cuber or cubing and they laugh or react.

 

[hyunchoi98]

Cuber..... I hate it when you talk to someone and use the term cuber or cubing and they laugh or react.

A girl at my school said, "r u seriously CUUBING while walking to class? yeah that's right, i know your langauge now" i laughed on the inside so hard

On topic: I've heard 'cubist' before on a korean cube site

 

[Pete the Geek]

Cuber may be good for speed cube enthusiasts, or even for cubic puzzle enthusiasts, but what about people who mostly solve Starminx, Dyan Gem series, Crazy Megaminx series, cuboids, etc? Certainly they are not "cubers". I would say "Twisty Puzzle Enthusiast" is a suitable umbrella term that covers everyone who twists a puzzle, no matter the shape or size and no matter if competitively or for fun .

 

[Cheese11]

Cuber.

 

[MWilson]

I greatly prefer speed solver. Speed makes it clear what the point is, and solver doesn't restrict to just cubes. It also doesn't sound as stupid as "cuber" to people who aren't familiar with the hobby.

Edit: Now that I think about it, what I usually say to people doesn't even refer to it as a title, but just the name of the hobby. I say something like "one of my hobbies is speed solving" and they usually ask what that means so I say I try to solve puzzles quickly. If they want specifics I tell them I mainly do Rubik's Cubes and by that point they've been eased into the idea and don't seem too surprised.

 

[Owen]

"Cuber" covers everything, speedcubing and general twisty puzzle interest.

 

[BigGreen]

speedcubin?

 

[iEnjoyCubing]

speedcubin?

Speedcubin?

 

[Dene]

I prefer polyhedronist. That's what I'm going to tell people from now on.

 

[JoSpies]

since the preference for certain objects or attitudes is usually expressed by adding the ending "phile" (which is derived from the greek word philos "friend") to the greek word for the subject of the preference, it should be something like

kyvophilists - people who like cubes
pazlophilists - people who like puzzles
enigmaphilists - people wo like riddles​

(i have to admit that I'm not familiar with the greek language and just used google to translate)

I prefer the second one because to me it sounds best.

btw "cruciverbalophile" is a mix of latin ("crux", "verbum") and greek words ("philos") and is for that IMHO not classically composed

 

[qqwref]

The only really modern term IMO is cuber (and speedcuber for someone who specifically solves the puzzles fast). I don't think the word itself sounds bad at all; if there's any negative feelings associated with it, it's because of what people think of the community itself. And although many puzzles aren't actually cubical, if you think about it from the POV of the average non-cuber, they'll understand a lot better if you say "it's like the Rubik's Cube" than if you say "it's a twisty puzzle".

I think a lot of the other terms people have mentioned are either too long and awkward, or else reminiscent of the early 80s cubers, and I don't like that comparison because of how amateurish and ridiculously geeky a lot of the cubers back then were. "Cubist" in particular was widely used back then.

 

[MalusDB]

The term cuber is misinformative. Its merely a bias that it is more popular as a name because people tend to begin solving twisty puzzles with the Rubik's Cube. People who actually solve various twisty puzzles as a hobby are not cubers. They are Twisty Puzzle Enthusiasts. You can say "it's cuber" all you want, it doesn't make it any more valid.

 

[Kirjava]

People who actually solve various twisty puzzles as a hobby are not cubers. The are Twisty Puzzle Enthusiasts.

snappy.