Common Slang: Collaboration

[hyzhenhok]

Derail:   If enterprising players want to start a thread for slang, and not derail it, and then make a concise list.  Someone (me) might consider making it into a helpfile.

A thread for collaborating on trying to build a concise list of important slang. We should try to limit it to stuff that newbies are very likely to encounter other players using. Specifically we should look for slang that is in the common usage. This isn't the thread for discussion what you think is good or bad slang, or what slang you personally think is cool and fun. We just want a list of what is used. Also we should probably leave out curses; there is a separate help file for those.

Here's what I came up with after a brief brainstorm. Feel free to make suggestions as to anything else that should go on the list, or anything here that you don't think is necessarily worthy of inclusion. Hopefully we can quickly put together a nice list to help newer players.

money
small - 100 coins
large - 1000 coins
black, 'sid - obsidian coins, money

Allanak
'Nak, The Black - Allanak; negative in connotation, not usually used by Allanakis
His Shadow - the omnipotence of Tektolnes, Highlord of Allanak; also a common farewell in Allanak
His/The Arm - The Arm of the Dragon, Allanak's militia
the alleys, the 'rinth - the Labyrinth
rat, rinther - denizen of the Labyrinth

Tuluk
His/The Ivory - Tuluk; positive in connotation, usually only used by Tulukis
His Light- the omnipotence of Muk Utep, Sun King of Tuluk; also a common farewell in Tuluk
His Faithful - the templarate of Tuluk
His Chosen - the nobility of Tuluk
His Legion - The Sun Legions, Tuluk's militia

Elsewhere
The Known - the world
The Pah - the Tablelands
The Grey - the Grey Forest
The Red - the Red Desert
shade - a politically neutral farewell used throughout Zalanthas

Occupations
artist - specific to Tuluk, can refer to any skilled commoner; often a euphemism for thieves and assassins
greb - to go out and scavenge/forage for things that can be sold, especially outside city walls
sift - to forage for spice near the Silt Sea
the Byn, shitcloaks - the T'zai Byn, famous mercenary company

Race
stump - dwarf
breed - half elf
necker, sharp, skinny - elf
roundear - human

Magick & Superstition
abomination, finger wiggler, gick, gicker, witch - a magicker
gemmer, gemmed - Allanaki magickers bound to service to that city's templarate
mindbender, mindworm - a psionicist
asher, ashlayer, defiler - a sorcerer
krath-struck - dazed, stunned due to heat or exposure, an in-character explanation for AFK or linkdead characters

[rpgguy2000]

Add rinther to Race & Origin for people from the Labyrinth

And add Rinth or 'rinth to Cities as slang for the Labyrinth

[Kismetic]

Money
tyrant scales - Tuluki reference to Allanaki-minted coins

Occupations
sifter - someone who sifts spice

Locations
the black/white pit - Allanak and Tuluk, respectively
the Post - Luir's Outpost
the Ivory - Tuluk

Race & Origin
skinny - an elf

Magick & Superstitions
ashlayer, asher - a sorceror

Objects
skimmer - a sailing vehicle of the Silt Sea

[Wastrel]

this is extremely helpful

[Kismetic]

I've got some more.

Occupation
picker - a lockpick
salter - a salt grebber

Race & Origin
bentback, clawfoot - gith
gypsy - a member of the Tan Muark tribe

[Kassindra]

Could probably put in brackets that His Light and His Shadow (and variations of these, such as "Walk in His Light"/"May His Shadow protect") are often used in parting, like saying good bye.


Greetings
Lord Templar/ Lord Templar (whatever House name, eg Lord Templar Tor) - Allanak.
Faithful Lord/Lady (whatever House name, eg Faithful Lord/Lady Winrothol) - Tuluk.

PS I just woke up, sorry if some of this looks wrong. 

[rpgguy2000]

Could probably put in brackets that His Light and His Shadow (and variations of these such as "Walk in His Light") are often used in parting, like saying good bye.

Could probably also add "His Arm" to the militia terminology not just "The Arm" - I've seen people use both - plus when said like that you can say things like "twisting His Arm" to mean bribing the militia hehe 

[hyzhenhok]

I think for most of those His/The are used pretty interchangeably. I put the one I feel I've seen more commonly for the sake of avoiding clutter. We don't need to include every variety. Perhaps as disclaimer should be added to the helpfile to note that players are encouraged to modify their usage of this slang or create their own; this is by no means supposed to be an inclusive, definitive list.

Also remember we want this to be an in-game help file. There's probably only room for a few more lines to keep it manageable, and so we'll have to leave a lot out. Thoughts on which slang newbies are most likely to encounter in their first few hours of play, and that misunderstanding is most likely to threaten their enjoyment of the game, would be helpful.

[i can haz mantis]

Curses/Swears
Krathdamn/Krathdamnit = a swear akin to "God damn it"
Drov = hell
fucking Drov = fucking hell

Phrases
Thank His Light = Tuluki reference akin to "Thank God"
"Sun King help me..." / "So help me Sun King..." - Tuluki phrase oft used akin to "God help me..." / "So help me God..."

[Wastrel]

More geography stuff

[Barsook]

Occupation

Shitcloak- Byner

[James de Monet]

Can do.

Geography
The Red - The Red Desert, the area around Luirs Outpost
The Salt/The Flats - The Salt Flats, the area east of Allanak
Gol Krathu/The Scrub - The scrub plains surrounding Tuluk (not technically equivalent, but occasionally used synonymously)
The Grey - The Grey Forest northwest of Tuluk
Vrun Driath/The Dunes - The sand dunes area around Allanak
The Tablelands/The Pah - The area west of Luirs, bordered by the Shield Wall
The Silt/The Sea - The Great Silt Sea, south of Allanak

Clearly there are others, but these are the major ones.

[ShaLeah]

Some posts:

Bast's Zalanthan Dictionary
Da Ghetto Slang - aka The Rinth
Moar Ghett-toe
Another post on slang...
Yet another post on Zalanthan terminology!
Speakin' like a Zalanthan
One Moar, for flavor

That's just in the first two pages. I probably coulda kept going and found more.

I think we're due for a compilation!

* ShaLeah feels decidedly... Nyr-ish after this post.

[hyzhenhok]

Updating the list in OP only with stuff that I have really seen multiple characters using semi-regularly.

I love both 'rinth specific slang and the peculiar way certain Highborn class members speak, but they don't strike me as suitable for this list. I think we should be aiming here for common slang that would be used and understood nearly universally. I think most of the location/culture specific lingo is easy enough to pick up once you know the basics.

[ShaLeah]

Updating the list in OP only with stuff that I have really seen multiple characters using semi-regularly.

I love both 'rinth specific slang and the peculiar way certain Highborn class members speak, but they don't strike me as suitable for this list. I think we should be aiming here for common slang that would be used and understood nearly universally. I think most of the location/culture specific lingo is easy enough to pick up once you know the basics.

Anyone in Allanak will know rinthi slang if they're smart. At the very least be familiar with it.

[benegesseritwitch]

Is Krath Southern specific or do Northerners think of the Sun as Krath as well? Or do they refer to the Sun King as the Sun too?

Same question, but for Drov (is it Southern specific).

[Riya OniSenshi]

Is Krath Southern specific or do Northerners think of the Sun as Krath as well? Or do they refer to the Sun King as the Sun too?

Same question, but for Drov (is it Southern specific).

Suk-Krath is the proper name of the sun, and the shortening to Krath is not Southern specific.

Drov is also not Southern specific, however, while it's common slang use is equivalent to "hell", the word and meaning is not analogous to our hell. I think there's a thread in the Player Collaboration board about that under a topic about cosmology, and it might include something about krath.

EDIT: Actually I can't find it, but I recall some thread a few years back where it was mentioned in regards to the changes between arm's planes of existence and the Dark Sun source's.

[Maso]

Under curses:  For Krath's sake! Or just Krathsake! (like 'for god's sake!' tut)

A general one...for anything that uses Gortok...often abbreviated to 'tok. Which rolls off the tongue a lot better for curses etc. "Son of a 'tok!'

Also, rat and rinther work, but also 'rinth rat'. Sorry if it seems obvious.

I'm all for generic slang being put into a doc - this is great. But would like to see slang for smaller communities (elves, 'rinth etc) be learned IG. It's pretty easy to pick it up if you are part of that community, but if you are playing an outsider (and a newer player) it's quite fun to discover as part of learning about a community that you are interacting with.

[Barsook]

carru'd and others mean you got killed by a carru or another animal

[Fathi]

It's minor, but I might add "His Arm" to "The Arm" under "Arm of the Dragon" and I might add "finger wiggler" to "wiggler" since it's where the term "wiggler" originates. Also "witch."

The term "abomination" is also very widely used to describe magickers in the north if not as common in the south. It may warrant a mention.

If we are also possibly including semi-OOC slang, I'd mention the fact that linkdead people are often called "Krathstruck" since that could help newbies.

[Inks]

Jiggler: Someone who uses lockpicks.
Jiggling: The act of picking locks.

[Delirium]

I really don't think that's common. Isn't this supposed to be slang everyone and their mother uses?

[hyzhenhok]

I've been updating the OP with all the suggestions I feel meet the following crieteria:

1) Widely used (have I seen multiple PCs, excluding myself, use it casually in conversation)
2) Meaning not self-evident
3) Usage not mostly restricted to an exclusive social group ('rinthis, nobility, etc)
4) No cursewords (there's already a helpfile for that, presumably this helpfile would link to it)

Basically I would like to have a help file that will enable a newbie to >point Allanak or Tuluk, walk into the tavern, and understand most conversations that would be held there.  But encountering and learning new slang is an important part of both exploration and playing characters in new areas.

Admittedly every players' experience with what slang is common will differ, so I'd like to see a discussion on anything I'm leaving out you think qualifies, or if anything I've included shouldn't be on the list.

[Maso]

I'm surprised we have so little slang on there for occupations (that aren't self-evident)...like burglars, assassins, mercenaries, nobles, templars etc! It could be that we do and I can't think of it (terrible memory), but would be cool to see some more.

[Maso]

Templars = robes (e.g. blue-robe, red-robe)??

In 'Nak anyway?