Subject: What in the name of zarking fardwarks is the old fool doing?
Author:
Posted on: 2016-09-05 04:30:00 UTC
Quote from Ford Prefect, in Chapter 3 of Life, the Universe, and Everything. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds very froody.
--Key
In other words, fictional curses!
Fictional curses have always interested me. They add color (ha) to the universe, they can be used for emphasis without annoying me (I'm not much for actual foul language), and I can say them without feeling guilty. You white-livered sons of goats. =]
So I was wondering, what are some of your favorite fictional curses, and why? "Blood and ashes" and "Burn you!" from The Wheel of Time are my favorites, followed closely by "Storms!" and "Storming [x]!" from The Stormlight Archive, because they fit very well in their respective universes.
-Alleb (it feels like it's been forever since I've posted!)
is the main Hani swear from the Chanur novels, which is "[gods] rot [x]". For example, "Gods rot the internet in this building.", which feels like the right thing to say when it takes five minutes to connect to campus wifi. As with many swearwords, it's short and grammatically versatile, with derivatives ranging from "gods!" to "gods-rotted".
From the same books, "gods-be" is probably a euphemism for something, and works OK for general-purpose frustration.
(And there's the tangential question of why any of these expressions might be swearwords. Everyone who's perspective we see thinks it's too obvious to mention.)
Second, in no particular order; "Vera's tits" "By the blood on Vera's floor" from the Dragaera novels, "Frag" "Drek" from Shadowrun, "Slag" "Scrap" "Pit" "Great Smelter" from Transformers, and "Merlin's Beard" from Harry Potter.
You exist! And are around! :o
You just returned from an extended absence as well, didn't you? Nice to figuratively see you again! How have you been?
-Alleb
I just had my first day of school—it's my last year of high school, which is pretty cool. They have a science fiction class! About three quarters of it is on Dune, which I somehow have not yet read.
Whenever I get sick it feels like I'm always under the weather for at least two weeks, even if it's just a cold. I'm glad you're feeling better now.
Ooh, fun! I haven't read Dune yet either, actually; I should check it out. I've heard it's good. By the way, what fandoms are you into? I'm largely fantasy, with a very tiny splash of sci-fi. *makes small shelter out of LotR copies*
-Alleb
In no particular order: Star Wars; the Imperial Radch; the Vorkosigan saga; Young Wizards; Steven Universe... I have a lot, but those are some of the major ones.
Mostly fantasy and sci-fi, basically. Seems like mostly sci-fi right now. (I should *write* more sci-fi. The insect politics are calling to me!)
I can't wait for Rogue One. I'm not very familiar with the other ones, though; I've heard of Young Wizards and Steven Universe, but not the other two. What're they about?
Ooh, you should check out Perfect State, by Brandon Sanderson. It's a novella, so it's dirt cheap and you can probably finish it in an afternoon. It's a sci-fi story, and I quite enjoyed it. You should check out anything by Brandon Sanderson. He's awesome.
Insect politics, eh? *cracks lame joke about the election* Sci-fi politics can be quite fun. Fantasy politics, too. The Wheel of Time's Daes Dae'mar, the Game of Houses, is fun to read about.
-Alleb
The curse is from Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan series, which I mostly read for the sake of seeing people use that curse (and the steampunk animal-dirigibles, of course). Scott Westerfeld's books in general have pretty great slang; he borrows from everywhere. "Barking spiders" used to be a Victorian euphemism for farting, but it fit the setting better as a curse.
Fly By Night, by Frances Hardinge, (as well as the sequel) has some fun stuff: "pixelated" is used to insult someone, saying their senses must have been stolen by the pixies. There's lots of different kinds of slang in that book, because there are lots of dialects, and it's full of competing rulers and gods to swear on.
This is historical fiction, so it's probably based on real curses, but Karen Cushman's Catherine Called Birdie, a book I really loved when I was about ten, has a nice part about curses. It's set in medieval England, and the title character (a girl of mildly noble birth) hears that at court, everyone has their own individual curses, usually along the lines of "G-d's [body part]!" So she spends months going through ideas, trying to find one of her own. The nice-sounding ones like "G-d's beard!" and "G-d's teeth!" are taken, so she's playing with curses like "G-d's elbows!" and driving her family crazy.
--Key
Quote from Ford Prefect, in Chapter 3 of Life, the Universe, and Everything. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds very froody.
--Key
I found a rather entertaining guide to swearing in the Uncharted Territories, saving me the work of having to explain it all. Check it out! It'll pretty much give you the flavor of the whole universe.
As for Pern... well, scorch it, you'd have to be a sharding deadglow not to love Pernese curse words. It's not wherryteeth, I swear by the First Egg. They're mostly clean and all secular, since the Pernese don't consider sex to be taboo and they have no religion to speak of, and they reflects their priorities—mainly the importance of dragons. Also, most of them are easy and satisfying to say. Shards! Shells! Shaffit! Fardles! It'll be a warm day between before I get tired of them. I'll be a begreened tunnelsnake if I lie, so don't be a hidebound flitterby: give them a try! ^_^
~Neshomeh
You know your fandom is deep when it has a list of curses with definitions and examples. XD They're are all quite fun-sounding; I'll have to use some of them. *Agent Alleb awkwardly tosses them out during a mission because she's been researching fire-dragons* *Jesse is concerned*
-Alleb
Alleb is back! Alleb is back! Alleb is back! :D
Take ALL the Infinite Pizza you can get!
It has been a bit, hasn't it? I lurk almost daily, though, at least weekly, so it doesn't feel like an absence to me. How're you?
-Alleb
But there's one part in Slaughterhouse-Five when the main character's daughter is described as a 'bitchy flibbertigibbet.'
Now that's a name I'd love to be called.
I mean, the whole novel's fairly bizarre, so I think it fits right in, honestly. Helps get the arguable insanity and unreliability of the narrator across, too.
Dresdenverse got Hell's bells, Star and Stones and Empty Night. And the three of them are working titles for his big apocalyptic trilogy to conclude the series.
Or you could go in crowbegotten place, aka Carna, with Codex Alera. By the Great Furies, you need to visit it.
Last good ones I remember are from te seequel books from Mistborn with Wax, with rusting wackos in the back. Rust and Ravage.
From Mistborn, we also have "By The Lord Ruler!", but you can always swear by any noun. Examples include Calamity, The Eternal Sparks(Steelheart); Gorlog's beard, teeth, and eyebrows (Ranger's Apprentice); Tartarus (PJO), Ruin (Mistborn), and etc. I personally would use The Avatars, from Dragonfable.
And not mention 'Shattering glass!' And, of course, 'Shatter yourself!'Those are rather entertaining, and now I'm considering using them, because nobody will get it.
Be forewarned, I've only listened to the audiobooks, so I'll misspell everything three ways from Sunday. You excited for The Dark Talent? =D
-Alleb
Not only is it incredibly convenient, it's gonna be awesome! And we're in the same boat. I've only listened to them, so I keep having to look things up to avoid a storm of minis. Though now that I think about it, I wonder what Alcatraz minis are...
Or maybe mini-dragons. Hey, you were making agents from the Alcatraz books, weren't you? I'd thought of doing that myself; a Smedry and her Knight of Crystallia.
Man, I can't wait to read it. I'll want it as soon as possible so I'll probably buy the Kindle version immediately. :D Do you read any other Sanderson books?
-Alleb
One of them is, yeah. He's an Oculator, but not a Smedry. I didn't want to copy a canon ability, wasn't sure what would make a really good Talent. Hmm... How'd they show up? Canonquake?
And yeah, I'm making my very, very slow way through the Mistborn trilogy. Oh, and I've read The Rithmatist.
I can't believe I forgot about Alcatraz vs. The Dark Talent. Kaz's cussing is hilarious. Cashews, pistachios, seagulls, fowl language of all kinds!
I'd say probably 'May your life be ever-interesting.' In that particular universe, 'interesting' can mean 'An Arch-Villain who has been alive for centuries and who has become increasingly insane had his minor plan to transport a flower from Point A to Point B thwarted by you, and so he has now decided to personally exact revenge.'
And it can be summed up in this one image: 