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Maquise
2012-07-28, 08:58 PM
Due to my personal aversion to swearing, and as an extension of my world-building, I've been trying to come up with some decent expressions of a more colorful nature to include in my games.

Examples I've come up with so far include "Bonerot" (it sounds nasty enough), and "Mother of Oblivion." "Thrice-blasted" and other, stronger variants are common in places where worship of the Three Thrones is common.

I've also been thinking of some race-specific ones, and failing miserably. You'd think that dwarves would be easy to come up with this stuff for, but I'd like to avoid cliches. I don't even know where to start with elves.

NecroRebel
2012-07-28, 09:35 PM
I hear that in human languages, curses tend to be in one of three categories: religious ("god," "hell," and the like), sexual ("screw it," for one example that's less rude in English), or related to bodily functions ("crap," "piss," and similar). It seems like different cultures make one of these categories ruder than others; in American English, sexual terms seem to be the worst, but I'm given to understand that in Quebecois French, religion-related oaths are rudest.

You could follow those same sorts of lines for your fantastic swears, but it might make other races seem more other if they used swears that most of us would just find baffling. Maybe dwarves use plant-based terms as swears ("you flower!"), or consider calling someone a swimmer a deadly insult, for instance. Elves might use entomological terms, based on their historic schism with the spider-worshipping drow.

Gamer Girl
2012-07-29, 12:26 AM
I've also been thinking of some race-specific ones, and failing miserably. You'd think that dwarves would be easy to come up with this stuff for, but I'd like to avoid cliches. I don't even know where to start with elves.


Oh, I have hundreds of these.

Dwarves:The basic idea behind common dwarven is bad work. So you'd get things like 'Cold Fire', 'Smashed Forge', 'Broken Hammer' or 'Holey Bucket'. Then would come people that don't work or are lazy like 'Slow Snail', 'Empty Head' or 'Lazy Lizard'. Then a slight mix of militaristic ones like 'Dull Blade', 'Broken Shaft' or 'Holey Armor'.

A lot of dwarven ones also come from the idea that stone and metal are good and other things are bad, such as wood. So ''Wood Rot'' or ''Soft Wood'' or ''Leaking Leather''.

The worst dwarven ones are the monster ones. This is simply calling a dwarf an orc or worse. ''Orc Nose'', ''Goblin Ears'', ''Troll Snot''.

ElvenThe basic idea for elves is bad nature. So 'Cloudy Skies', 'Thorns', or 'Rotten Fruit'.

A lot of elven ones simply use animals, ''Bird Droppings'', ''Bear Scat'', or ''Hairballs''

And again, elves often use monster ones too, such as orcs as in ''orc ears''.



In General:Come up with a couple of famous people, places and things. They can make great ones. A dwarf might say ''King Grolum'' the same way people say ''Jesus Christ''. Or an elf would say ''By the Towering Trees of Elsgurd''.

Oracle_Hunter
2012-07-29, 01:41 AM
I gotta say, Bioware does it best (http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Forum:Good_Curses_Or_Insults_From_The_Game) :smallbiggrin:

I still use "knife ears" as a derogatory term for elves.

NiteCyper
2012-07-29, 01:42 AM
Fantastic replies (and swears).


A swear from the Sword of Truth book series is "bags". Mundanity turned scandalous.
A religion in the NSFW Oglaf web-comic is based on luck. They uttered something akin to, "oh my odds!"
I can't remember any, if any, from the War in the North LotR video-game. Here (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForeignCussWord)'s a consolation repository.
Artemis Fowl series, Gnommish: "D'arvit."
Erfworld: "Disband it."
StarCraft (http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/StarCraft_unit_quotations): "Adun, save me...!" I actually couldn't find any true ones, excluding generic English.
GameFAQs boards - what are some elder scrolls curse words? (http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615803-/59890271)

Cerlis
2012-07-29, 04:22 AM
In warcraft, an orc commander is heard uttering "Thrall's* Balls!"

the same i've seen in a few other books.

"Bigger than Pelor's foot"

"By Mirodin's Great Swinging Jimmy/Hammer"






*the orc leader

LongVin
2012-07-29, 03:37 PM
Dark Elves to other Dark Elves: Ssussun pholor dos!(Light upon you)

Dark Elves to the stupid surface dwellers: Oloth plynn dos!(darkness take you)

jackattack
2012-07-29, 09:10 PM
Some languages don't really have specific words for swearing. One race might not swear at all, but might state the obvious ("oh that hurts") or insult the source of their distress ("stupid thorns").

I like the idea of dwarves not swearing, just because it goes against the stereotype that they are the "earthiest" of the demihuman races.

jackattack
2012-07-29, 09:11 PM
Some languages don't really have specific words for swearing. One race might not swear at all, but might state the obvious ("oh that hurts") or insult the source of their distress ("stupid thorns").

I like the idea of dwarves not swearing, just because it goes against the stereotype that they are the "earthiest" of the demihuman races.

Kelb_Panthera
2012-07-29, 09:46 PM
Given dwarven stoutness and their collective distaste for elves, calling someone scrawny would likely be considered a more greivous insult than it is amongst humans. By the same token, I imagine dwarves would asign insult to anything disparaging a persons beard. Ancestry is another big thing in dwarven culture, calling someone out on their parentage would be a real zinger.

For example, "Your father was a beardless stick boy!" would almost certainly be considered fighting words.

JetThomasBoat
2012-07-29, 10:11 PM
I seem to remember in one of R.A. Salvatore's novels, Bruenor called Drizzt an "elf lickin' fairy" or something weird like that.

I was thinking specifically for dwarfs, they might say something to do with a lack of beard or hair, like "That beardless storyteller skipped town before paying me for that rapier."

I guess someone already said that, though.

Kelb_Panthera
2012-07-29, 10:39 PM
Does anyone else notice a high density of dwarf specific swearing in here? :smallconfused:

CoffeeIncluded
2012-07-29, 10:54 PM
Maybe an orc would use something like, "Tuskless" as an insult?

Admiral Squish
2012-07-29, 11:01 PM
I think elves would comment on how dull, stupid, or uncultured others were. It'd all be very subtle and political, though. Full of doublespeak and backhanded compliments.

LongVin
2012-07-30, 12:00 PM
Given dwarven stoutness and their collective distaste for elves, calling someone scrawny would likely be considered a more greivous insult than it is amongst humans. By the same token, I imagine dwarves would asign insult to anything disparaging a persons beard. Ancestry is another big thing in dwarven culture, calling someone out on their parentage would be a real zinger.

For example, "Your father was a beardless stick boy!" would almost certainly be considered fighting words.

The only think I hate more than <insert whatever he dislikes here> are Elves.

BootStrapTommy
2012-07-31, 11:48 PM
I'm iffy about alot of these, in case I violate any rules about profanity.
But it is a thread on profanity. So apologies for the translations.
Further apologies to the female gender for how misogynistic some of these might be.

Back a couple hours long past, a trip through the D&D 3.5 Draconomicon came up with the insults "maurg-ner" (breed spear) and "maurg-waere" (breed cave) We've used them ever since as "****" and "*****". Technically "maurg-waere" as we use it could be replaced with "faessi" or coward. "Pothoc", which we use frequently, means stupid. Ugly is "nurh"

Ones we have more recently begun to use are "throden-sthyr", "charir-aesthyr", and "thurkear-rhyvos" (many-man, red-women, night-cow) which are all refer to promiscuous women.

elizasteave
2012-08-01, 12:47 AM
Well in this case before anything comes in my mind, I can't think anything better than that of Gamergirl. She has suggested a lot of terms and truly I say nothing extra comes to my mind after that and I "swear" out for this.

Logic
2012-08-01, 01:02 AM
Maybe an orc would use something like, "Tuskless" as an insult?

I was about to suggest this, or perhaps "nub-tusked" to be a lesser insult.

BootStrapTommy
2012-08-01, 01:35 AM
In the Dragon Age universe they use the words "sod" and "plough" much like the f-bomb in English.

Sod is most often used as the gerund "sodding". Like "What a sodding idiot!"
Plough is used as the verb. Like "Let's go find that lyin' twoface bugger and plough him in the arse!"

The dwarves seem the most apt to use those, unlike what jackattack said, which to me fits their drunken midget personas.

Kelb_Panthera
2012-08-02, 06:21 PM
In the Dragon Age universe they use the words "sod" and "plough" much like the f-bomb in English.

Sod is most often used as the gerund "sodding". Like "What a sodding idiot!"
Plough is used as the verb. Like "Let's go find that lyin' twoface bugger and plough him in the arse!"

The dwarves seem the most apt to use those, unlike what jackattack said, which to me fits their drunken midget personas.

I'm about 92% sure those -are- swears in several of the british dialects of english.

hamishspence
2012-08-03, 03:27 PM
Certainly the former.

I liked "fong" from the movie A Knight's Tale. I am told it actually means "kick" but it sure didn't sound that way.

Bruenor in the Drizzt books seems to use "Well I'll be a bearded gnome." in place of the traditional "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle."

Sutremaine
2012-08-03, 08:25 PM
"Let's go [....] plough him in the arse!"
Careful, he might be into that. Better stick a flagpole up there, paint him pink, and leave him in the town square. The odds of him being into that are considerably lower.

Kelb_Panthera
2012-08-03, 08:53 PM
Careful, he might be into that. Better stick a flagpole up there, paint him pink, and leave him in the town square. The odds of him being into that are considerably lower.

Lower, but not necessarily zero. :smallamused:

Accordion Twome
2012-08-03, 10:16 PM
Trolls may be insulted by being called "small nose".
Orcs, goblins and other monster races could call the more 'common' races "pale skinned" or "pink skinned" and use that as an insult to others of there 'texture' .

And for laughs out loud factor and have mind flayers insult people by calling them brainless. :smallbiggrin:

navar100
2012-08-03, 10:40 PM
Halfling insult: "You're boring!"

Gnome insult: "You're uninteresting!"

Kobold insult: "You're not worthy for a dragon to poop!"

Winter_Wolf
2012-08-04, 12:06 AM
Elven, at least based on how they seem to be the ultimate race supremacist jerks in most fantasy:

"How very human of you." Replace the italicized word with any other race/species/sub-race. Say it with a condescending sneer. Would be especially insulting to other elves.
"Nothing but a leaf-eared human"


More universal:

"(By) [racial deity]'s [part of anatomy]!" e.g. "Brandobaris's Buttocks!", "Clangeddin's Beard!", "Urdlen's Undecarriage!", "Pelor's privates*!"
"May the Flaming Black Pit take you!"


Gnomish:

"You're as clever as Kurtulmak!" (Kurtulmak being the kobold deity who was trapped by one of Garl Glittergold's 'pranks'.)


Dwarven:

"Water sipping, baby faced, oversized oaf-hands"
calling a dwarf a "Rock grubbing stone eater"

NikitaDarkstar
2012-08-04, 01:37 AM
The Malazan book of the Fallen has a few I have to bite myself in the tongue to not use irl, but they could certainly be adapted to any D&D game.

"Hoods hairy balls." Hood being the death god, swearing by various bits of his anatomy is fairly common.

"Opponns/twins luck." Opponn is the twin gods of luck, both good and bad lucky. It's generally not used as a good thing.

"By the abyss." obvious.

"Gods below." Sometimes "Gods above" or "Gods above and below.". All slightly ironic since neither direction is really considered good, or bad, and in fact different realms aren't really considered above or below.


As for racials, I always see elfs as being somewhat condescending in their curses, with it being more about how something is said rather than the words. But one of my favorites is from a blood elf in World of Warcraft. "Common; such a crude language." everything after that is in elvish.
Bu other, more direct things could include references to age when dealing with shorter lived species. "Why should I take a child like you seriously?" Or possibly manners. "I've met gnolls with better table manners than you." Along with questioning certain species lack of understanding (and interest) in nature.

I could also see races such as orcs, trolls, ogres and so on insulting more "civilized" races for being weak city-dwellers and relying on equipment to keep them safe.

Tree and nature references, along with questioning others ancestry would most likely be common insults among dwarfs, along with references to elfs. "Your mother must have been half elf you tree-hugging pansy!"

Among halflings you'd probably get comments about being to serious and not having a sense of humor.

And of course mistaking anyone with dragon blood in their veins for lizardfolk or kobolds is a serious insult, along with calling a fully dragon a "glorified lizard!".

Jivundus
2012-08-04, 07:54 AM
A Forgotten Realms specific one would be "May you be condemned to the Wall (of the Faithless)."

For the elves, you could have "You round ear!"


Generally though, "By X's Y!" seems to be a good formula.

Masaioh
2012-08-05, 10:17 PM
I'd imagine that a mind flayer would consider 'idiot' to be the most grievous insult possible, and that any non-illithid brave enough to say that an illithid's would have its brain slurped out in retaliation.

yougi
2012-08-06, 01:40 PM
in American English, sexual terms seem to be the worst, but I'm given to understand that in Quebecois French, religion-related oaths are rudest.

It's not that they're the rudest, it's that it's the only ones we use in French. For the other two categories, we go to English terms, which does make them milder.

And as for bodily function, you forgot "come on!". :smallbiggrin:

I studied linguistics in college and I remember having an entire class on swear words and insults. Sadly, I remember very little from that class, except that swearing is fun. After that class, I made my characters swear a lot (just like I do in real life, cause once again, I'm a Quebecker), however I mainly used them in the original language: my Human wizard who spent time in goblin-run lands would often insult others by calling them "Poyesh", which is roughly (from what I've been told) Polish for son of a prostitute. My dwarven rogue would often go for "Srat tebe ve rot", which I hear is a Russian swear insult, that means something like feces in the mouth. Going to real life languages that sound like what I want them to sound like is the way to go, because to those of you who speak many languages, you probably only naturally swear in one, even when speaking another one.

However, sometimes, for a Human or someone raised up in Common, you want more cultural insults, as Common is *whatever your language is*, then I'd probably go to a religion-based one (then again, Quebecker, so biased right here).

NikitaDarkstar
2012-08-06, 02:19 PM
Going to real life languages that sound like what I want them to sound like is the way to go, because to those of you who speak many languages, you probably only naturally swear in one, even when speaking another one.


I might be somewhat odd, but the angrier I get the more languages I'll be cursing in simply because there's several from other languages that just convey my opinions better, but normally I actually stick to English curses. (If I start to string together long, creative mixes of Swedish curses however? Watch out, whatever tool I'm holding is about to go flying across the room.)

That said, when gaming (I only do Play by Post) I stick to English for claritys sake. I might state that the character is cursing in another language, and if there's another character around that speaks the language in question I'll actually type the curse itself out.