Its a game of pirates and sailors, who well...Swear like sailors!
For one of the NPCs, A first mate or captain of one of the ships later on, it says its one of her defining characteristics to Swear profusely.
Without actually being vulgar what are some ways that you represent this aspect.
I just stared this week and have so far just said
"Blankedy, Blank Blank Blank!" a lot!
"Avast, cease your yammering pecker-holsters and make yer carbuncle-ridden hides useful, ya crusty bunch of kraken spunk bubbles!!"
(I had the captain of the Sea Wyvern say this)
If Blackadder is at all accurate, you could probably get away with using the word "sodding" or "sod".
In general, though, perhaps you could focus on concepts rather than words. Heritage seems to be a popular insult of the time, so maybe phrases like "impotent son of a drunk goat!" or "burn my mother for a blind beggar" or such. And no, I don't think they should have to make sense either.
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I think that you should go with the Yosemite Sam school of swearing from the old Warner Brothers/Bugs Bunny cartoons. Every time Yosemite Sam would fall off a cliff or get blown up while matching wits with Bugs Bunny, all you would hear is "briken, braken, wriken wraken, as he bounced of cliff walls and smacked into the ground. Even though you couldn't understand him, everyone knew that he was saying "I hate that f****** rabbit!"
Some Shakespearian stuff would work well too. I'd go through there--particularly the really grungy peasant guys for some of the archaic choice words of the day. Fie! and Spite! are always good as standalones.
Frankly I wish more people would try to have the swearing feel more period--not for prudish reasons, just more for trying to make the setting feel like the setting.
EDIT: I sometimes as an American wonder if sometimes the really tame sounding "nonesense" swearing they do in Britain is really vile and offensive--that I just don't know it. I'd give some examples, but then I would be in danger of not only accidently saying something really vulgar, but doing so on a site where I'm explicitly not supposed to. Watch Shawn of the Dead though and you'll hear all of them.
"Bloody" is always a good period-esque curse. I'm also going to go through my world's deities and come up with curses based on them - "By Pelor's flaming eyes - move your worthless carcasses, you bloody sahaugin spawn!"
Ooh, this should be fun!
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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I remember reading an article about Deadwood where the creators said that blasphemy was the way people swore during that time period. They replaced it with contemporary swearing because otherwise the characters would sound like old ladies. That being said, blasphemy might provide for colorful curse words, particularly since you are unlikely to offend given the fictional pantheon involved.
Then again, you might just end up sounding like Thor/Aquaman ("By Zeus's beard!")
I remember reading an article about Deadwood where the creators said that blasphemy was the way people swore during that time period.
Then again, you might just end up sounding like Thor/Aquaman ("By Zeus's beard!")
That was more or less where I was going with it. I figure by being blasphemous with a fictional pantheon you get the feel of period cursing without stepping on anyone's toes.
Shakespeare is also a good source - way call someone "fat" when you can call them a "mad mountain of flesh."
There was an earlier thread on nautical jargon that had lots of juicy expressions in it. Mr. Logue, of course, had the most creative entries.
Oaths and blasphemies involving the deities and religions of your setting always work well. Depending on what tone you wish to set, you can use fantasy and historical fiction as a resource here. The one-chili-pepper archetype is Tolkien's orcs. For two chilis, see Robert Jordan's wheel of time series, paying especial attention to the characters Mat Cauthon and Birgitte Silverbow. For three chilis or more, I'd go with George R.R. Martin.
It is certainly true that most sailors have pretty foul mouths, especially in an all-male environment. However, much of the language we used to use routinely on ship when I was in the Navy would not be fit for even our rather impolite contemporary society, and you might not want to use them. Let's just say that "sodding" is the milder semantic equivalent of at least 50% of all naval profanity.
EDIT: I sometimes as an American wonder if sometimes the really tame sounding "nonesense" swearing they do in Britain is really vile and offensive--that I just don't know it. I'd give some examples, but then I would be in danger of not only accidently saying something really vulgar, but doing so on a site where I'm explicitly not supposed to. Watch Shawn of the Dead though and you'll hear all of them.
Being an Englishman myself I'd like to know what you mean by this and maybe I can answer that.
Then again, you might just end up sounding like Thor/Aquaman ("By Zeus's beard!")
Was it L. Sprague deCamp that used to have great blasphemous swears like "By Imbal's Brazen Balls!" and "By Wotan's Shriveled Pizzle!" and the like?
I just play her like she's a character in "Deadwood". The vulgarity is nothing to her, it's part of her natural cadence.
I just play her like she's a character in "Deadwood". The vulgarity is nothing to her, it's part of her natural cadence.Perfect!
Yeah, I kind of pictured Trixie from the aforementioned show.
I just play her like she's a character in "Deadwood". The vulgarity is nothing to her, it's part of her natural cadence.Perfect!
How long until we get streaming video of the show on the Paizo site as a web enhancement? I've never seen the show and I feel like I'm being cheated of the same value of Dungeon material that other, more HBO-centric readers are receiving.
(Is there some special toungue-in-cheek font I should be using for this post?)
My grandmother used to always say "Son of a suck-egg seacook!" whenever she meant s.o.b. That phrase seems appropriate here.
I just play her like she's a character in "Deadwood". The vulgarity is nothing to her, it's part of her natural cadence.
Almost all of which is written in iambic pentameter. Best show on TV as far as I'm concerned. Almost too well written. I put on the close captioning while watching it so I won't miss anything.
Applying iambic pentameter to pirate talk might yield you something like this:
"Listen here, ye scurvy melon-faced rube
Avast ye advance or ye'll taste blood and brine
I'll let air out yer head, you dandified boob
And place coppers right 'cross them sweet bovine eyes."
c. 2007 Rone Barton.
I sometimes as an American wonder if sometimes the really tame sounding "nonesense" swearing they do in Britain is really vile and offensive--that I just don't know it. I'd give some examples, but then I would be in danger of not only accidently saying something really vulgar, but doing so on a site where I'm explicitly not supposed to. Watch Shawn of the Dead though and you'll hear all of them.
I find swearing across variations of english is really interesting. Linguists have recorded that Australians swear far more often among friends than other english speaking groups, probably as a combination of our convict and Irish heritage. I'm used to it now, but when I first started posting on message boards I had to remind myself not to write the way I speak!
Ever hung out with an Irish person? There's a word they use a lot as maybe a low-mid range curse which is THE most offensive word in Australian usage. A few years ago an Irish backpacker couple were staying in a share house I was living in and they were constantly embarrassing me in public. I've never heard an 18 year-old girl use the other c-word so often :0
The American reluctance to blaspheme, and the eupehmisms used instead (eg. darn, heck) sound comically weak to me just like British swear-words do to Americans.
I think bloody is a good one. But since I play with adults I would just swear when the character swore. All our PCs and NPCs swear when they need to anyway!
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Ever hung out with an Irish person? There's a word they use a lot as maybe a low-mid range curse which is THE most offensive word in Australian usage.
Yeah, I used to have an Irish dude sitting across the desk from me at work. He’d use that word frequently, especially after hanging up the phone after a conversation with a client or consultant.
Us aussies would all just look at each other and think “S*** these Irish b******* are f***** rude b****** aren’t they?”
(yeah, the irony is intentional).
The American reluctance to blaspheme, and the eupehmisms used instead (eg. darn, heck) sound comically weak to me just like British swear-words do to Americans.
This is true in polite company, in front of children, etc. But often Americans don't necessarily find the blasphemous words as bad as the one you mentioned the Irish couple using, or for that matter the "f" word used to describe copulation.
Honestly, I swear so much in real life, that my players wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Personally I would just swear. if you players are of an age where that's appropriate, anyway. If it's out of character for you, then it will make the NPC stand out that much more.
The American reluctance to blaspheme, and the eupehmisms used instead (eg. darn, heck) sound comically weak to me just like British swear-words do to Americans.This is true in polite company, in front of children, etc. But often Americans don't necessarily find the blasphemous words as bad as the one you mentioned the Irish couple using, or for that matter the "f" word used to describe copulation.
Yeah, we use the f-word as an afterthought or for emphasis quite frequently. A little while ago I was talking to a friend who moved to the US to do his PhD. He's teaching English Lit. at the University of Buffalo, and he said it took him a while to realize that most Americans don't swear like Australians do. They only swear if they are unsavoury types or really angry. He learnt this from two instances:
1: He was chatting to his neighbour in suburbia just after he moved in, and the guy asked him how he was liking the states. My friend said in typical bland Australian manner "yeah, it's not bad, but I can't find any bread that doesn't have f***ing sugar added to it!" His neighbour said something like "yeah, that er... that can be a problem. Anyway gotta go." And then never spoke to him again.
2: He met a co-worker in the hall at the faculty.
Co-Worker: Hey Pete, how're things going?
My friend: (with huge grin to show friendliness) Yeah pretty good. I wish the f***ing students would stop bugging us though, the f***ing b******s!
Co-Worker: (slowly backing away) uh yeah, they... they can be annoying I guess. Anyway see ya!
The guy never stopped to chat with him again.
Yeah, we use the f-word as an afterthought or for emphasis quite frequently. A little while ago I was talking to a friend who moved to the US to do his PhD. He's teaching English Lit. at the University of Buffalo, and he said it took him a while to realize that most Americans don't swear like Australians do. They only swear if they are unsavoury types or really angry. He learnt this from two instances:
1: He was chatting to his neighbour in suburbia just after he moved in, and the guy asked him how he was liking the states. My friend said in typical bland Australian manner "yeah, it's not bad, but I can't find any bread that doesn't have f***ing sugar added to it!" His neighbour said something like "yeah, that er... that can be a problem. Anyway gotta go." And then never spoke to him again.
2: He met a co-worker in the hall at the faculty.
Co-Worker: Hey Pete, how're things going?
My friend: (with huge grin to show friendliness) Yeah pretty good. I wish the f***ing students would stop bugging us though, the f***ing b******s!
Co-Worker: (slowly backing away) uh yeah, they... they can be annoying I guess. Anyway see ya!The guy never stopped to chat with him again.
This is interesting, because you are making me think carefully about something we kind of take for granted.
Americans tend to be more free with their language amongst people they know well. Amongst my friends, and even co-workers, I will cuss fairly frequently, although from the sound of it, not as often as an Australian. :) However, with someone I just met, I would be far less likely to do so. That said, having spent alot of job related time amongst criminals, I have noticed what you say about the unsavory types is absolutely true.
I'm British and live there and every other person swears. I don't know what the c would someone mentioned apart from c##t referring to a woman's anatomy. I guess I'm just used to it. Regarding swearing in game the best advice I'd give is to use a different accent so players would realise your talking in character.
If you want to talk like a pirate, well, talk like a pirate!
Just be sure to do it on "Talk Like a Pirate Day", September 19th.
--Ray.
Swearing well is definitely an art. You don't even need to use "rude" words if you do it right. I can imagine Harliss Javell starting her rant against Vanthus with something like this:
"That scurvy, no good excuse for a whoreson, I'll cut out his liver and feed it to him in chunks! I'll cut off his stones and wear them as a necklace, not that he has a pair of any worthwhile size, the yellow-bellied bilge sucker! That cowardly fish-face ran off when things went crazy. I bet he needed to change his breeches, too!..."
Then again, you might just end up sounding like Thor/Aquaman ("By Zeus's beard!")Was it L. Sprague deCamp that used to have great blasphemous swears like "By Imbal's Brazen Balls!" and "By Wotan's Shriveled Pizzle!" and the like?
I think it was "Imbal's Iron Yard" and "(deity)'s Pearly Pizzle." The books were The Goblin Tower, The Clocks of Iraz (I think), and The Unbeheaded King. Another good source is Harry Turtledove's Gerin the Fox books: Werenight (one character toward the end in particular), Prince of the North, King of the North, and Fox and Empire.
I'm kind of partial to "Noy Jitat!" myself.
I've been using a Shakespeare insult list from this site:
http://www.eff.org/Net_culture/Folklore/Humor/insults.lists
The first time I used it was to call one of the PCs "mammering pottle-deep pignut". I had to print copies of it for all the players.
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Meh, if your group doesn't have any hangups when it comes to language and profanity, just use what you know. If your group does, then just use modern euphemisms.... After all, it's not like the characters are really speaking English--you and the players are just using English to convey their dialog, so cursing is no different.
Though, if it makes you feel better, "modern" profanity is really, very old. The f-word, for example, has it's first known appearance in literature prior to 1500. Even the Romans were giving each other the "digitus impudicus." So, yeah, nothing new under the sun.