Curses and Slang

[Whisper]

I've searched, and I didn't find a thread for this yet, so... Are there any popular curses or slang common in Althanas, particularly Corone? On top of that, medieval slang and curses is actually a difficult subject to google, so if anyone wants to add curse/slang/insult ideas, go for it. I always find myself dry in the creative department here and resorting to the shakespearian insulter for ideas.

[googlyeyesultra]

One of my favorite, although rarely used, is one directed towards mounted soldiers (such as knights or lancers). It goes something like "Go home. Mount your wives instead of your horses." Aside from that, "bastard" tends to work well, and Shakespeare often alluded a character to something vile, such as "a poisonous, bunch-backed toad." Hope that helps you a bit.

[hamnat]

"Oh, stop yer qualming, ye wretched, weak, bastardous son of a mule." How's that sound?

[Whisper]

Heh. Like those both. Bastard is a regular word i use, along with gutter__ (gutter rat, gutter wench, etc), and (animal)head (pigeon-head, oxhead, etc).

One of my favorites, though, has always been the use of "Darkness!" and "Light!" in Modesit's Recluce series, where instead of good and evil there is black and white, neither being truly good or truly evil, and each uses the other's color as a curse.

A couple findings from google:
Swive is apparently the medieval F word.
"God's Wounds" was popular. "Swounds" for short, which is where zwounds came frome.

[googlyeyesultra]

Of course, there are a couple of ancient equivalents of the middle finger as well. I believe the bow finger salute (using the index and middle fingers) was used to taunt longbowmen (as they had their fingers removed so they couldn't fight?) and biting one's own thumb, of course. Sometimes the best insults are the most clever. "May your sword ever be wet, and your bottom dry" isn't really an insult, but I think it deserves some notice. Harlot and strumpet work well when referring to women, and... Ya.

[Aryr de Morte]

As for your question whisper, I don't think there are any Althanas specific insults, I suppose the best way to do it would be to make fun of a character's appearance. Also, contemporary writers usually use contemporary words. As in, "shit" would be "shit", not "horse dung!".

Althanas has guns so it isn't all medieval either. It all depends on your preferences I guess.

[hamnat]

Firearms had been invented during the medieval period, originally by the Saracens, I believe.

Erm...how about "I take my horseshoe off to you, ye two legged colt."

[Whisper]

LMBO...

Hamnat, don't be surprised if you ever get a PM from me saying "Quick! I need help! Curse this guy's hat off for me will ye?" Hehehe...

And yes, I've seen the (unfortunate) gun thing. *shivers*

[hamnat]

Meh..Don't be suprised if I PM you askin for some soulsyrup...NOW GET RP'IN!! Grrrr....ye humanoid fruit-fly(that is a fairy in your avatar, correct?)

[Die Sieben]

There are automatic weapons though. There weren't automatic weapons during the medieval period.

[The Valkyrie]

"May you be plagued with the fleas of a thousand AIDS infected camels" is one my coworker used to say to customers after they hung up on him...

"May you live in interesting times..." not nice if you think about it.

Bugger and bloody are always wonderful.

Of course using the gods works - and we have a selection in the Thayne (can't remember them at the moment except for Jomil).

[Whisper]

Meh..Don't be suprised if I PM you askin for some soulsyrup...NOW GET RP'IN!! Grrrr....ye humanoid fruit-fly(that is a fairy in your avatar, correct?)

Nope. I made my avie from this picture here (http://iasos.com/artists/), which was on a collector's plate I have always wanted to know the name of an artist on, and just recently found out. ^_^

RP... yes, right away, ma'am. *stops spending time in silly threads and goes to finish her post*

[Koran]

Think of Althanas as something closely akin to Final Fantasy. In that there are automatic weapons, super magical energies, contemporary swords, spears, armor and shields, along with some modern day armor.

Except we don't have everyone looking like complete idiots in about six hundred different varieties of short shorts and skin tight breeches that are a variety of eye searing colors.

[Aryr de Morte]

You really hit that one in the middle, Koran. :p

[Arsène]

No. Everyone just wears black trenchcoats instead.

Althanas is Hot Topic Final Fantasy.

[The Valkyrie]

That means we'd all be wearing bondage pants and cutsie Piratey stuff, pretending to be punk or goth or something...

[Koran]

My character is wearing 21st century black dress pants....'Splain that! :)

And I only know of two characters that wear trenchcoats...Well, knew of them, as I don't recall their names.

[Arsène]

That means we'd all be wearing bondage pants (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=1637&highlight=Goth) and cutsie Piratey (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?u=322)stuff, pretending to be punk (http://www.althanas.com/world/member.php?u=512) or goth or something...

I prove my points with comedy.

[The Valkyrie]

Hardiharrharr.

[Nein]

Bloody...

Bugger...

"May you live a long life," might insult anyone of a war and honor oriented culture... wink wink...

[Hephaestion]

hmmm well Shakespeare added in Romeo and Juliet that bitting of the thumb is like giving the finger

[AdventWings]

@ Nein: "May you live a long and peaceful life" can certainly work as well. ;)

For me, any kind of cursing or slang is acceptable in account of timeline continuity and world alignment. I find it prefectly acceptable to have "what the hell" uttered in distress because there is the conccept of hell on Althanas. According to the Thaynes, anyways, and it's called the Purgatory. So another twist to that would be "By the Purgatory!" and all its variants. Technical terms and ones directly linked to Earth Religion (unless there is a counterpart of it on Althanas)... That's a tad too much of a push.

Example: It is perfectly acceptable to curse someone to hell, but it would be fairly far-fetched to believe an Aleran would ever utter "My God!" in alarm. Aleran drows don't believe in the obviously Earth Religion-related. If said "God" is linked to the Church of Ethereal Sway, well... That's a different matter. ^_^;

All in all, invoking a known "sacred" name on Althanas usually works fine. ^_^

[Karuka]

H'mm...archers to swordsmen/infantry/calvary, an insult (an up yours) is holding up the first two fingers of your drawing hand, palm facing inward.

"I still have my shooting fingers nyeh nyeh nyeh, you're gonna diiiiiiie because I'm gonna shoooooooooootcha."


And with Karu, I get to be creative with insults...go Gaelic, invoke a Celtic, Irish, OR Nordic diety, or just make it sound like it comes from Ireland. She recently said "Pog ma thoin" to an enraged Seth Dahlios. Probably not too smart, but it was funny.

[Dissinger]

I often use "Gods be damned."

[The Valkyrie]

Gobshite.

[streak101]

*Clears throat*

"YOU BLEEDIN SON OF A WENCHE'S BASTARD! ROTTEN SWINE! I OUGHTA PUT YOU IN A BLEEDIN' SACK AND CHUCK YOU DOWN THE RIVER! YOU UTTER SHITBAG OF A TART! I HOPE YOU AND YOUR WHORE GO DOWN TO THE BLOODY PITS OF HELL AND BURN LIKE THE BLOODY SCHEMING SNIVELING POMPOUS ROTTEN BASTARDS YOU ARE!"

*clears throat*

"That is all..."

[Lye]

I don't bother with the insults. An open stomach clearly states my dislike for you. :D

[Saxon]

Eh, I have to agree with Lye, if I can't come up with something clever I tend to either leave it to eviseration or some of the standard curses. I don't really see the point of Saxon swearing to some sort've God since he has a strange outlook on religion. But uh, I'd keep it to a sort've minimum if I were you and follow the three rules:

1. Keep it simple.
2. Keep it short.
3. Make it productive.

Other then that, its kind've a self-preference thing, and I wouldn't think some dainty elf would swear like a sailor.. or maybe. LoTR parody, anybody?

[Artifex Felicis]

Normally, whenever I swear I switch between God and gods. Mostly becuase Leon doesn't REALLY believe in either version of them, and merely grew up saying it. Also, whenever he really gets angry he tends to hiss instead, or I merely mentions that he swears instead of actually writing it out.

[Skylar]

I found this extremely relevant.

Elizabethan Curse Generator (http://www.trevorstone.org/curse/)

My favorite thus far: "Thou lewd earth-vexing pignut!"

[Sighter Tnailog]

I make curses by combining a member of the elvish pantheon with a body part.

"Galatiriel's Beard" is my favorite.

[Storm Veritas]

I don't believe in cursing. That's just for people with bad vocabularies.

[Sighter Tnailog]

Balderdash! A well-framed curse can be as vocally spicy as any other word in the robust and diverse English lexicon. If anything else, the repetitive use of the same curse word can provide insight into the workings of a character who does have a bad vocabulary.

[Ther]

I don't believe in cursing either, but I will bite my thumb and give the figs simultaneously to Storm Veritas.