Asking us is so questionpunk.

Punk indicates rebellion against the status quo as part of the theme. If that isn't part of it, then IMO it has no place in the name.

-Core is the new term for just aesthetics, and I think that's much more fitting over punk. Though in the case of steampunk, it's one of the oldest -punks so getting people to swap over to steamcore or something would probably be met with a lot of opposition.

We are in our suffix-punk arc. We’re such word-pilled portmanteau-maxxers.

I believe the term punk has kind of drifted towards a catch-all term to describe something that clashes against what is considered the norm for most people.

There are definitely traditional punk themes in genres like cyberpunk and solarpunk. I feel like with dieselpunk and steampunk it's largely a matter aesthetics.

Kind of an easy way to describe broad themes. If you are looking for a game similar to Mad Max for example with a post apocalypse desert that's full of scavengers it might be easier to just use the term desertpunk.

Typically speaking in the aesthetic sense, _punk means taking a certain look to its extreme. Cyberpunk of course infusing everything with computer technology, steampunk infusing everything with the looks of a steam powered machine, etc.

Starfield was described once as having its aesthetic "NASApunk," which sounded really cool to me when I heard it. I expected white and black, gold foil, etc. Which isn't really how the end product ended which was a bit disappointing, but the point remained that calling it "NASApunk" had me immediately expecting a certain aesthetic.

In the case of Frostpunk, I am not sure. It takes place in a frozen world, but it doesn't have an aesthetic to fit that name so it may just be a title.

yeah folkpunk, magapunk, its getting wierd. Also whats with putting gay before everything. gay magapunk porn and etc.

Eh, it is kinda watering down the original punk, as a term for what the original punk movements represented. But that's language. No matter what a word starts out meaning, people can use it for something else. If that new use takes off, there's nothing that can stop it other than people as a group ceasing that usage. Isn't that cool? See what I did there?

Tbh though, once a word gets used a new way, and it spreads, it's just as likely that the original usage fades away. Don't forget that words like idiot and moron had a more clinical jargon usage originally.

Living languages love shifting. Humans are sort of like birds with words. We collect shiny ones and play with them.

The various _punks and _cores are just a current example of playing with words.

As far as disliking or resisting that kind of appropriation, it can be frustrating. Anyone that was a punk back in the day would likely sneer at some of the _punk iterations, possibly calling anyone using them a fascist (and if you've never seen the show The Young Ones, you really should just so you can see an early version of the caricatures of what punks, hippies, and such were. Real life punks and hippies were a much more diverse and interesting thing, but less funny).

My advice as a fellow old dude that knew some of the old school punks? Just shrug and smile. Change is inevitable, might as well just roll with it.

I was a tween when the first version of "punk" came around (yes, that makes me old). I think I can say with authority that the ideals were: anti-corporate, anti-consumerism, and anti-commercialism. Ever since then people have tried to sum it up (and marginalize it) as "DIY." But that falls well short of what it really was.

Of course, the second it showed any sign of viable popularity, the forces of capitalism, well..., capitalized on it. The obvious examples are bullshit, high production, made-for-tv bands like Green Day getting sold as punk rock. But does anyone remember Urban Outfitters? Holy crap, the open, unashamed corporate pandering!

Punk as a suffix was first made mainstream by cyberpunk, implying a high tech setting with low life, punk anti authority DIY characters. The next big use was steampunk, which was (as far as I know) purely an aesthetic for cosplay / costuming. Now it's a general term for aesthetic, such as desert punk, atom punk, or solar punk, where the punk part completely lost its original meaning.

Those are sci-fi genres generally describing a dystopic future strongly leaned to a particular technology and is mainly related to it's esthetic.

Atompunk is a future society based in nuclear technology. Steam, diesel are other known alternatives.

Alphabet boys are excellent at dividing and conquering. The only term I'm willing to engage with is cypherpunk which has origins in cryptography and other privacy enhancing technologies. Our current situation makes corroboration difficult as privacy has become so grossly stigmatized beyond belief.

I desperately wish for a reunion of like-minded privacy enthusiasts (what was cypherpunks). Unfortunately I'm more often than not met with hostility because our kind is often pessimistic, critical, and honestly paranoid of everyone else being feds lol

It's a tough struggle but I think the other _*punks were an attempt at renewing the movements of old in a new way.

Punk Punk is an umbrella term:

They varied considerably, but all have one of the following in common with cyberpunk:

• A world built around a particular technology that is pervasive and extrapolated to a highly sophisticated level.
• A gritty or transreal urban style.
• A cyberpunk-inspired approach to exploring social themes within a Speculative Fiction setting.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PunkPunk

I think as a "genre", it refers to being more than an aesthetic, but also a setting. It's probably bastardized by now from the original meaning, but I'd wager that looking into the etymology of steampunk might help you find what you're looking for.

From there, it was probably like..."Well, steampunk, but with X! Xpunk!"