A New Way to Curse

[Good for Nothing Captain]

Hi!
So, I've come to realize that in the world of Althanas there are a great many interesting and profoundly creative ways to make someone feel like a so-and-so. Buuuuuuut, as a newbie I have no ideas what kind of slang terms and vernaculars are popular in a world so wide. I just wanted to see if anyone had any particular insights to add, any terms or phrases they preferred to use, or a system to come up with them. I know that every character is free to speak in any way they want but I think changing things up every now and then is an important part of keeping things interesting.

...

Anyone?

[Breaker]

There's one I use occasionally that I think The International came up with... calling someone a "Coronian Captain" implies bossiness, it's a turn of phrase I generally use with Salvic characters, but really anyone not from Corone could use it.

I also created two curses of my own linked with Salvar - "Berevar's Blanket" is one and a "jilted glacier" is the other. Rather than try to describe this from an OOC perspective, I'll just post a snippet from the thread that it originated in.

[Mordelain]

I've coined jihta for Fallieni, meaning bastard if said of a male, or bitch of a female.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

And I have the entire Sigil vernacular for my tiefling darling.

Some of it is pretty obscure, but it's usually easy enough to work out from the context.

[Breaker]

So it means "without a father" to a male, and "female dog" to a female? That is a complex piece of language :P

Here's a heavily redacted snippet that should explain my salvic curses a bit:


“Berevar’s blanket on a jilted glacier! Cronen, this is no time for that. We’ve got a job to do!” Her voice only wavered a little, and she tried to march imperiously away but tripped on the headboard of a dismantled bed. Stumbled and caught herself then kept right on marching. As if I started it. Well, perhaps we shared the blame. I took a moment to adjust myself then followed her, rubbing my head gingerly. I began to see why the lesser soldiers feared Kristina Rythadine. But the same qualities that scared them more than a night naked outdoors attracted me to her. She carried enough vitality to inspire the entire abandoned district. My long legs propelled me along the desolate road until I reached her side. She stared straight ahead, but I knew that the colour of her cheeks didn’t come from the cold. Best not to mention it.

“Was that some kind of curse? Berevar’s blanket on a... jilted glacier? What the hell does that mean?” She quirked an eyebrow as though I had asked why the sun rises. “Oh come on,” I defended myself, “I’ve been in Salvar for less than two months. I’m not exactly an expert on local turns of phrase. Look, I know that Berevar is the northern border, but—“ She took a deep breath and cut me off in a needlessly patient voice.

“Yes, Berevar borders our northern territories. But we’re not friendly with the orcs that reside there.” She touched her dagger, perhaps unconsciously, at the mention of orcs. “In fact, there’s enough bad blood that we rarely venture into the orcish domain, and they behave likewise. The only conflicts we have beyond skirmishes are verbal. It’s common knowledge here that the orcs refer to themselves as a blanket that coddles Salvar, a blanket that could smother us at any time.” The patient tone receded as anger heated her voice, and she walked faster, feet thrashing the frozen road. “Of course, they are far too disorganised to challenge our military force. Berevar’s blanket is a ludicrous concept, Cronen.” She swelled with pride as she went on, and I had to look away from the generous bosom that bulged against her coat. “Are you not interested in hearing the rest?” She asked when my head turned. I barely managed to not stammer.

Roht Mirage has also been using the idiom "bury me" to great effect - his character is from Fallien, where being buried in sand is a very real fear.

The most important things (to me) to remember when inventing foul language is where you character comes from. In north american English most of our curses are rooted in "rude" words or acts - shit, cunt, fuck - two nouns and a verb. They're only "curses" because of the stigma our culture attaches to them. Contrastingly, in north american French all the "bad words" are church related. "Tabernak" is just about the worst thing you can say to a kindly Quebecois (it's a bastardization of their word for the host), but you can tell them to fuck off and they won't care, because "fuck off" is an English idiom they've re-appropriated to mean "nevermind".

This leads to some interesting social interactions when French and English Canadians live together :P

Help yourself to my curses if they fit what you're looking for, but I find coming up with unique ones helps me gain perspective on the character and culture they came from. Crazy shit.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

Also, in the Thief games they have one of my favourite insults ever:

'Taffer'

Which essentially means "bastard", "fucker", things along those lines.

[Brand]

Try Russian. That's all i have to say.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

I can swear in Russian. Along with five other languages, not including Scottish. (Preparing for my world wandering)

And unless you plan to write in cyrillic, you're not missing much (and I don't recommend that either). Any foreign language can be used, but without any sort of knowledge then it just means no-one will understand; it's almost like my Sigil vernacular. Except you'll just need to write out in in English what your insult means, instead of just providing context like I do. This is extra effort when you could just make up your own insults and slang. Unless that's your intention - such as an NPC from another country to your character swearing at you without you knowing or understanding.

Edit: I also believe Mordelain (in whatever account he was using at the time) coined the word killa as Ettermire slang in A Hello To Arms.

[Enigmatic Immortal]

Also, a good one is to take the various gods of Althanas and put a rude descriptor to them. Yedda's Sagging tits is a fun one!

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

By Trisgen's pendulous balls!

[Breaker]

I recently tried applying this same logic to inventing Althanian sex acts, and the results are hilarious.

Love that Njalian Sixty-Nine.

[Aurelianus Drak'shal]

I recently tried applying this same logic to inventing Althanian sex acts, and the results are hilarious.

Love that Njalian Sixty-Nine.

I'd try the same, but I don't want to be carried away on the deluge of vomit everyone would unleash reading my depravity.

... actually, that does sound kinda hot...

[Good for Nothing Captain]

I'd try the same, but I don't want to be carried away on the deluge of vomit everyone would unleash reading my depravity.

... actually, that does sound kinda hot...


While that does sound like a good time, on a separate note, is there any place I can get a list of gods or something?



...



Now, on to the depravity!

[Breaker]

Check the regional sections of the wiki, most of them contain info on different cultural deities.

[Good for Nothing Captain]

Check the regional sections of the wiki, most of them contain info on different cultural deities.

Awesome, that's exactly what I needed! Thanks all!