Speakin' like a Zalanthan

[Only He Stands There]

Let me start off by saying that most of this is compilation, not original thought, as well as suggestions, not rules.

There are plenty of things native to Zalanthas that are unheard of on Earth: kanks, templars, magickers, et al. There are plenty of things on Earth that are not on Zalanthas: sheep, fish, Gatorade, etc. There are, finally, things on Earth and Zalanthas that don't go by the same name: gum disease, athelete's foot, diabetes, krath-struckness, Lover's Bleed, etc.

For these reasons and more, a lot of euphemisms, double entendres, insults, and cliches that work on Earth don't work on Zalanthas. Let's fix that.

Differences in Location

Allanak:
Allanaki commoners curse a lot more commonly and frequently than Tulukis. They also tend to have more more gruff manners of speech, and are a lot more direct and blunt about subjects.

Examples:
Yeah? Well, yer fuckin' ma was a 'Rinthi whore, y'tiny-peckered kylori-shit.
Whattaya think, we gonna feck 'em up good er what?
Yeah, we get this done and it's smooth sands from here on.


Tuluk:
Tulukis tend to be more refined, and pride themselves on this fact. While by no means a hardfast rule, they tend to speak more clearly and with a good deal less swearing. They also tend to dance around subjects, dropping faint hints at their true meaning.

Examples:
We're going out into the scrub plains to scrounge up some vittles.
That so? Mind if I tag along, see if we can't roll up some fun?
Not at all. In fact, we were planning to light up some fun on the way out.

Cliches:
Dumber than a blonde:
-becomes dumber than a half-giant. However, one probably wouldn't say they had a "half-giant moment."

Your mother/father was a...:
-practically anything other than the recipient's own race will work. Halfling, gortok, half-giant, elf (for humans), human (for elves), etc.  Half-elf would probably be a grave insult to any.
-any sort of bad job would work, too. Shitsweeper, 'Rinthi whore, 'Rinthi, magicker.

Easy street/smooth sailing
-Smooth sands.

You've got brass balls/huge balls/balls:
-wouldn't necessarily even be in-game. For one, most people wouldn't know what brass is, and secondly, it implies men being greater than women. An alternative is You're as ferocious/courageous as a halfling/tembo/mek.

Awesome, cool, sweet, wicked:
-cliches depend on location. In Tuluk, it's not uncommon to hear "sweet as ginka," which is, of course, in reference to ginka's sickly-sweet taste. In the 'Rinth, the common metaphor is wet.  In Allanak, it becomes smooth sands, fan-fuckin'-tastic, or any other variations.

Take it like a man:
-Men are not superior to women in any way, including metaphors and cliches. This would best be replaces by Take it like a true 'Nakki for the south and Take it like a true citizen of the Ivory for the north, though I'm open for suggestions.

Faster than two shakes of a lamb's tail:
-a personal favorite to replace this is two shakes of a jozhal's tail, as well as two clicks of a kank's pincer.

Have a nice day:
-commonly replaced by shade. Variations exist, including shade and profits (commonly used by merchants), shade and water, and shade and sweet water (usually used by upper-crust Tuluki citizens.
-Allanak-specific: Walk in His Shadow, referring to Tektolnes. Usually used by nobility, templarate, and upper-crust commoners.
-Tuluk-specific: In His Light, referring to Muk Utep. Commonly used by all.

Shit:
-Shit's shit, although it is commonly replaced with Krath when used as an interjection. I.E., one would say "Krath, I forgot to meet the Lord Templar!" but not "I need to take a Krath." (This may be possible by Krathis, but sounds very, very, very painful, and is not recommended without a skilled healer nearby.)

God:
-There is no God in Zalanthas, or at least, no religion. This is replaced with God-King, Sorceror-King, or Highlord (Allanak) or Sun-King (Tuluk). Also can be replaced with Krath when taken in vain, I.E. "Krath damn it!"

Go to Hell:
-There is no Hell in Zalanthas, but there are the Hellpits of Suk-Krath, as well as Drov, and both are perfectly acceptable places to want to send someone you hate.

Money, dollars, greenbacks, bills, C-notes, etc:
-Money in Zalanthas is in sid. 100 sid is a small and 1000 sid is a large.


Insults and Slang

About Tulukis:
-Heathens and barbarians, because they're anti-magicker.
-Shameless and tasteless whores, due to their slutty, skimpy, skin-revealing outfits
-references to them being pampered, due to their happy-go-lucky templarate, their "lush" forests and plains, their cheap water, and their sunshine-and-smiles attitudes all the time
-Baby-eaters. Just because.
-references to frolicking and pansy festivals, due to their saturation with bards
-conniving, due to the backstabbing, suddenly-your-best-friend-disappears nature of Tuluki politics
-References to Muk Utep or Muk in an unfavorable light, such as Muk's crooked teeth, Muk's withered pecker, or Muk's forked tongue is an insult to any Tuluki.

About Allanakis:
-Brutal, barbaric and bloodthirsty due to their Arena games
-Shameless for their insatiable urge to have sex with everyone
-Witch-lovers, witchfuckers, and a multitude of other names dealing with their open support of magickers
-The reference of Tektolnes or Tek in an unfavorable light, such as Tek's balls, Tek's whiskers, or Tek's sagging tits is a surefire insult to Allanakis.


Magicker:
-derogatory: fingerwiggler, freak, tainted, cursed, defiler, vile, foul, witch, abomination, baby-eater, among others.
-neutral: magicker, mage, gemmer, gemmed, elementalist, shaman, caller, Vivaduan, Rukkian, Krathi, Whiran, Drovian, Elkran, Nilazi
-positive: empowered, gifted, talented, touched, or, by element name:

Droplet/Oasis/[Little] River - Vivaduan
Pebble/Stone/[Little] Boulder - Rukkian
Gust/Breeze/[Little] Gale - Whiran
Kindle/Flame/[Little] Blaze - Krathi
Shade/Shadow/[Little] Darkness - Drovian
Spark/Jolt/[Little] Lightning - Elkran
Die/Die/[Die more] Die - Nilazi

(Bear in mind that virtually anyone who isn't a mage themself hates, fears, or at least distrusts magickers, so these wouldn't be common outside of the magicker community.)

Elves:
-sharpear, longneck, skinny, runner, slanteye, necker

Humans:
-roundear, shortlegs, walker

Half-elves:
-freaks, breeds, halfies, worst of both worlds, halfbreeds

Muls:
-collared tembo/mek, thrasher

Half-Giants:
-Big dumb bastard

Dwarves:
-stumpy, stunty, baldheads, shorty, stubby, baldy

Halflings:
-anklebiters and kneebiters

Gith:
-clawfoot, bentback, scales
-Gith unfailingly smell horrible, and are reknowned for their stench. Ergo, telling someone they smell like a gith is a bad insult.
-Gith are also extremely ugly, so a face like a gith is a fairly potent insult.


See also:

Help Curses.

Zalanthan Insults

Slang

[EonBlueApocalypse]

Very enlightening.  Though I have managed to adhere to most of those city-state concepts, it's nice to see things more fleshed out.

[Dresan]

Krath is the equlivilant to Damn or Dammit, IMO

Gruff talk reflects someone thats spent most of their lives in the wilds, or not around people, or a person that hasn't actually had to listen or do alot of speaking around city folk. Again, IMO.

And both Nakkies, Tulukians and especially gypsies have been known to eat babies depending on who your talking to. :twisted:


Nice post though,  sums up alot of good details, esppecially with nakkies being more direct whereas Tulukians are more subtle.

ex. A tulukian wouldn't say they are going to kill you, but instead warn you of how dangerous the world can be sometimes and to take care.

Again though good post.

[Jherlen]

Very nice thread all in all. I just have one rather big nit to pick:

Allanak:
Allanaki commoners curse a lot more commonly and frequently than Tulukis. They also tend to have more more gruff manners of speech, and are a lot more direct and blunt about subjects.

Tuluk:
Tulukis tend to be more refined, and pride themselves on this fact. While by no means a hardfast rule, they tend to speak more clearly and with a good deal less swearing. They also tend to dance around subjects, dropping faint hints at their true meaning.

This is painting things far too black and white, IMO. You can have refined Allanaki commoners in the middle/upper classes who can speak normally and without a curse as every third word. They can also *gasp* be subtle.

Likewise (and this is something far too many people seem to ignore so I'll put it in bold) Tulukis can be low class. They can swear, they can slur, and especially among the poorer types, they don't have to be refined in their speech at all. Neither city has any public education system, and poor Tulukis don't grow up learning to speak any more nicely than Allanakis do.

If you changed your "Differences in location" to "Differences in social class" I think this would be absolutely great. I just don't think Amos the Allanaki miner and Malik the Tuluki lumberjack will have speech patterns all that different from each other.

[Larrath]

First of all, about the last part on the magickers (droplet, pebble et cetera) - this is only intended for one magicker to address an inferior or younger one, usually from the same element.

The part about Nilazi is both a joke and a reference to the fact that Nilazi are the least likely to have mentors of their own element.  If such a situation did occur, I imagine the Nilazi would be referred to as a Fixer, a Drainer or something of that nature.


My main point is about Tulukis, however.  Tulukis appreciate art and lingual versatility, but being 'subtle' also means being subtle about being subtle.  That means they won't rub their subtlety into people's faces and try to be as incoherent as they can possibly be.  Tulukis aren't artful during every waking hour.  In fact, most Tulukis would probably see that as excessive and annoying.  You should only be subtle or use eumphemisms when there's a point.
If you're an assassin and you talk about going hunting, that could be subtle.  If you're a lumberjack and you talk about eating a fruit which may or may not be horta fruit (and no-one must ever be sure what it will be!!!!1111), that's just silly.

About 'walk in His shadow', anyone in Allanak can say that, but it's generally something only said by those who are devote, who try to appear as if they're particularly devote, or by templars.
When said by a templar, 'walk in His shadow' is more of a blessing than a mere parting.

And 'shade and sweet water' is a very uncommon parting.  In my opinion, it has a mildly elementalist feel to it.  I have heard 'shade and sweet Tenneshi water', but that's more advertisement than anything.

Shade and water is the standard Zalanthan goodbye in the cities.  In the tribes, it's either that or 'smooth sands'.
Shade is the more casual form, mostly said to those who don't have to worry about water.
Shade and profits is generally used between merchants, especially the successful ones.  It can also be said to a merchant, but it isn't said to non-merchants in most cases.

[Beux]

Mmmm...all these threads on languages, at the moment, are -really- useful. I think it would be kinda cool if someone compiled the information from them (insults/sayings/and this thread) into a meaningful info file for the website.

It's all really good stuff that I, as a pretty new player, would have loved to have had when I started. I think it would be a shame for other new players to come to miss out on this well of information.

[veryalien]

as a desert wanderer/trader i've been using these two terms which could really come from anywhere in Zalanthas:

grebber -- any city folk.
'jink -- any goods.

[jstorrie]

Grebber I use to refer to anyone with less class than my PC. Waster, as well. Also, pleb.

[spawnloser]

Grebber is a term used to refer to those that make their living by scavenging...aka, those that make their living by foraging.

[Beux]

Hokay...

I got a question...

If Krath is like 'damn', that kinda makes sense in comments like:

"Krath! That fuckin' grebbers actually a mul!" Or whatever...

But what about...

"The bitch drank all the damn water."

"The bitch drank all the krath water."    ....Just doesn't seem right....

Would zalanthians use the word 'damn' in this instance? Or is there something else that can be used as an emphasising curse word? (besides 'fucking')

[LauraMars]

Use your discretion, Beux.  There's never going to be a hard and fast list of zalanthan-to-terran swear ratios or something equally technical and icky.  If you think it sounds too awkward, don't use it! XD

"Krath" can be used in place of shit, damn, or whatever other traditional curse you think sounds appropriate.

[EonBlueApocalypse]

That bitch drank all the Krath damn water.

[Beux]

That bitch drank all the Krath damn water.

'Spose that sounds better.

Ok, so are there any swear words Zalanthians -don't- use? Because they wouldn't have developed in their society?

[Dalmeth]

I tend to use Krath in places where I would use God.  Like that Krath damned gortok.

Now, I wish I had something better for hell than Drov.  I just can't imagine it sounding as harsh.

[EonBlueApocalypse]

I tend to use Krath in places where I would use God.  Like that Krath damned gortok.

Now, I wish I had something better for hell than Drov.  I just can't imagine it sounding as harsh.

The drov with you, then!

[Jherlen]

Ok, so are there any swear words Zalanthians -don't- use? Because they wouldn't have developed in their society?

"Hell" is used less frequently in Zalanthas, because there's no concept of Heaven/Hell in most places. I've heard the term "hellpits of suk-krath", though, which is I guess as close as you can get.

[Marauder Moe]

I would say "damn" is fine, but "hell" and "bitch" are not, one having out of place religious context and the other being primarily a gender-based derogative.

[ThirdEye]

I use Whira be damned (if a storm comes up)...Or Krath be damned sometimes. Yay or nay?

[Dalmeth]

I would say "damn" is fine, but "hell" and "bitch" are not, one having out of place religious context and the other being primarily a gender-based derogative.

I tend to disagree in regard to bitch.  It refers to a female dog, admittedly usually one used for breeding.  In the curse help file, it is listed as referring to a female gortok.

[Beux]

Surely if 'Hellpits of Suk Krath' was used and common, some lazy ass commoner would have shortened this to 'Hell' over time? Thats normally the way the cookie crumbles right?

[rishenko]

Surely if 'Hellpits of Suk Krath' was used and common, some lazy ass commoner would have shortened this to 'Hell' over time? Thats normally the way the cookie crumbles right?

"It's hot as Krath in here!"
"Burn in Krath you ugly tok-fucker!"
"AWWW KRATH NAW!"

Of course, you can play variations with other meanings for Krath, with it becoming the generic be-all end-all Zal curse word.
"KRATH!"
"Krath-damned son of a bitch!"

[Vynestra]

Whenever I see posts like this I tend to cringe. I love some of the information but when people tend to broad-brush how people should think, act, and speak, I tend to get turned off from the RP. Guidelines are cool. Suggestions are great. Some rigid way we are supposed to interact to me is tendious.

My problem with speaking and how someone RPs it is that you get multiple ways that people try and create their accent through the way they type the words. If we are all from Allanak or all from Tuluk, then wouldnt we understand the words used perfectly? Having to sift through the typed in accent to the words is time consuming and doesnt help the flow of the RP. If I type in the words normally like I would speaking English, isnt it still vallid that my character is speaking in an Allanaki accent? I understand the slag phrases and such being wrong but the accent? I am definately for cutting back on the text version of accents (misspelling words to the phonetic sound).

[Intrepid]

Did you guys ever see My Fair Lady?

An interesting point in this movie is that the linguist in the story was able to narrow down accents to the street name.  While this is a slight exaggeration, keep in mind that people do not move around all that much in a society like Allanak.  Homes that are not tenements tend to be generational, and there are no actual rezonings or urban renewals in such a cramped city as Allanak.  As such, most people probably live where they always have, and there could be several accents in the Common Quarter alone.

[Boggis]

My problem with speaking and how someone RPs it is that you get multiple ways that people try and create their accent through the way they type the words. If we are all from Allanak or all from Tuluk, then wouldnt we understand the words used perfectly?

Not necessarily. Where I grew up there was one kind of accent. About a mile and a half away was a pretty poor neighbourhood where the Dublin accent was very strong, they had their own slang and understanding them took a bit more of a conscious effort. I don't see why Allanak or Tuluk has to have one homogenuous acccent. They're large enough cities and likely has a variety of accents that some may find difficult to understand if they've not been exposed to them much. Somebody making the effort to put an accent to their speech is simply showing you where they are on the social ladder or at least where they've come from. Instead of breaking the RP flow they're actually providing you with additional information that can be brought to the RP in my opinion.