RL to Sirihish slang

[Taven]

On a side note, how do we feel about "Cool" as a term?  I've heard it pop up every now and then, and it seems like something that would parallel the RL meaning, the Known World being a desert and all.  We use "shade" after all.

I personally think cool is fine, if used sparingly. I think it can be used too much, and almost think that for a more "Zalanthian" flavor it should have something added to it, although I'm not sure if it would immediately make obvious sense. "Cool as water", "wind-cool"?

"Yeh know wha' I'm sayin'? It was feckin' amazin', it was wind-cool!"

Ehhhh, maybe.

[SMuz]

ice queen = heart of obsidian?

[Taven]

ice queen = heart of obsidian?

Heart of 'Sid (and hence, obsidian) sounds more like "Heart of Gold" to me, but "stone hearted" would work.

[a strange shadow]

Ohhh, no, no! You'll never break this heart of stone!


.... what?

* a strange shadow wanders off, grooving.

[SMuz]

heart of gold = heart of copper, i think

'sid is sharp, hard, and I'd imagine very cold (compared to other things) in the shade. But then again, it is money.

Ohh.. how about heart of glass? Wait.. glass is harder than obsidian.. but worth more? I'm confused now.

[Bluefae]

     Thanks for the thoughtful responses, everyone.  One of the sticky areas of rp for me has always been language, and how it's used in the game via dialog.  Remaining authentic to the world while avoiding OOC confusion is sometimes a balancing act.

     Great thread, with a lot of good points raised on all sides.
     Even though I can't play currently (grr!), one that's baffled me in the past is "Ice Queen"?  As in, "Yeah, she's a real ice queen."  There's a certain flavor to the term that's different from simply proclaiming someone a 'tok or the like.  Any suggestions?

I don't think it's really going to be a flavor that exists in Zalanthas.  In English there isn't really a male equivalent of "ice queen" because men aren't derided for lacking empathy, being cold callous leaders, or turning down sexual advances.  In Zalanthas, women shouldn't be specifically derided for those things either.

     Spot on, and thank you for articulating this, Moe.  The character that was most likely to use this term would have been just as likely to say "ice king", but the context is impossible to tell from what I originally posted.  Truly, the gender-relations which exist in our shared fantasy land remain a unique feature of the world and a delight to delve into when done well. 
     As someone who has a long-standing love-affair with the English language (which occasionally degenerates into sullen silences  ), I'm constantly on the look-out for new and more precise ways of conveying my experience, or what I perceive another's experience to be.  Terms like what have been discussed in this thread have aspects to them that are both evocative and accessible to most players, and are of particular interest to me (and apparently to many others, as well).  One of the reasons I'll always be drawn back to Arm. is this shared sense of dedication to establishing and maintaining the game-world's themes and texture - if we didn't all care a lot about the game, we wouldn't be having these kinds of discussions at this level!   
     For example,

Just remember that if using them as part of a colloquialism, keep in mind that all types of metal carry a connotation of inherent value and rarity much greater than even the usage of "gold" does in our language.  Describing someone as having copper hair would be very flattering.

     is a very good point, and something I'm going to take back into the game with me.  Good stuff.

[Archbaron]

However, no matter how much we all think it is, Tuluk is not France.

<3

That aside, I think that using words like "double-entendre" and "deja vu" are fine because we are restricted to a text medium and if using other idioms and such from our culture is common, then so should these.