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characters socioeconomic class and mannerisms

One of my characters is a princess who for plot reasons claims to be the daughter of a humble herbalist. She have been exiled away from her home 8 years prior to the beginning of the story, but she hasn't spent time living in small villages or working in the fields. What mannerisms and speech patterns would she use to appear more humble and average.

The other main character have the opposite problem, he was born in very barbaric and backwater village in the middle of nowhere, but he want people to think that he is from some prosperous city and his family is well off.
It's easier for him , because he look very well fed and he have a very fancy staff.
 
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CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Doesn't that depend a great deal on the settings/cultures they are in?

But my rough gauge might be that the Princess would keep quiet and stay to the background more often than not. The less she say/does the less chance she has of getting it wrong. She might appear to let others take the lead and just go along with the flow...

Conversely if someone is out of their depth or trying to bluff their way through something, they might well over compensate for their lack of knowledge and misread the subtleties of situations. He might laugh at the wrong point in a story or not get a joke at all. He might not know which knife to eat with or glass to use for what wine. Or if and when to stand or sit if someone enters or leave a room. He might also be over-friendly while trying to hide his lack of confidence.
 
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Bee

Dreamer
I'd agree with the above, the princess would almost certainly be very quiet trying to appear as if it was all above her, she probably would feel awkward. The guy who wanted to appear as if from a rich and prosperous background who probably play up to people, being overly loud and try to appear important. Anyone who didn't know rich people well might believe him, but most likely other rich people would know he's not. This might be because he uses wrong words in places where they aren't appropriate or because he's making it up as he went along.

As for speech, design how you want your world's poorer people to speak and then have her try to mimic it but perhaps not terribly successfully all the time. The beauty of a world you create is that as long as you follow the rules you make then you can't get it wrong.
 

Jerseydevil

Minstrel
This is going to be one of my typical, many paragraph explanations, so here we go.

The best way for your characters to avoid attention, is to simply avoid attention. I know, profound, right? Just stay out of the way and say and do as little as possible. Each word can be a giveaway to their true identity.

Accents can be a real problem. People who live only a few miles away can speak totally differently. If the person is living in a society without rapid travel or mass communication, the difference will be even more pronounced. For example, I live in northern New Jersey. People from New York City, which I can see clearly out of my window, can tell instantly where I'm from by how I pronounce certain words (I towk to people, not talk). If a person is from an isolated rural area, he may not even know what an urban accent even sounds like, never mind how to re create it. There may also be stereotypes, that will show the impostor is trying too hard. To use a personal example, if someone tries to pass themselves off as an NJ native by acting like an extra from Jersey Shore, we will either laugh at that person, or be confused.

To move on to specific examples, the princess is posing as an herbalist. Does she know how to be a herbalist? If she states this to anyone, there is a risk that someone might say "Oh, an herbalist? I have a problem with (fill in the blank here). What do you recommend?" She would have to know enough to at least bluff her way out of the situation.

For the other one, he might lack social graces that can't really be taught, such as how much to laugh at a joke or what topics are acceptable for conversation and under what circumstances. Even which type of clothing to be worn under which social situation might be confusing. There is also food to consider. A rich person will probably only eat the best cuts of meat, and turn their nose at poorer quality food. A poor person might not have the same compunctions and eagerly consume lower quality food, including slightly spoiled, without batting an eye, which would draw suspicion.
There is also the issue of the person's hands. In a world of manual labor, a person's trade will leave permanent marks on the fingers and hands. A scribe will have callouses on the index finger and thumb, a farmer will have rough palms from gripping the plow, etc. An herbalist will have calloused fingers from grinding herbs with a mortar and pestle constantly, and they might be stained as well. Someone lacking this will tip off someone observant that things are not as they seem. For the other extreme, the backwater character will probably have rough hands when he should have smooth skin from an affluent life.
One more point. Pale skin was a sign of wealth, as the person could spend their time indoors. After years of being exposed to harsh weather, tanned, weather-lined skin will be instantly recognizable by observers.
 
He might laugh at the wrong point in a story or not get a joke at all. He might not know which knife to eat with or glass to use for what wine. Or if and when to stand or sit if someone enters or leave a room. He might also be over-friendly while trying to hide his lack of confidence.

These is exactly how my barbarian character behave at the moment. Although at moment he is not even trying to appear more civilised.


"Oh, an herbalist? I have a problem with (fill in the blank here). What do you recommend?"

In the city where she claimed she was born herbalist gather plants mainly for perfume manufacturers. She had spent some time with a alchemist who work in that industry and he have teach her all the secrets and tricks of produce perfume.
 

MiguelDHorcrux

Minstrel
Maybe this isn't really related to your question, but I do suggest not making them aware of such mannerisms. I spent most of my life in a protestant school since it's the only school near our house, and for about ten years I was used to having a pocket bible in the pocket of my shirt, and so do my other guy classmates. We all fear not having them, so we developed this mannerism of clutching the pockets of our shirts to confirm that our bibles are still there so as to avoid punishment. That mannerism stuck with all of us. On the train, having dinner with new friends, and even as I was writing this, I just have no idea that I keep on clutching my chest. I know this is not really connected that much to your question, but I just want to share that mannerisms are often what you call "focal points" or convenient antics to the social setting that a person has been in for a long time. For me, it was socially convenient to check that your bible is there. For commuters, maybe its a mannerism to constantly check for your train ticket? For your herbalist, maybe make her walk delicately since she was used to avoiding stepping on microherbs and weeds?
 
Hi,

With your princess, first I'd say look at her speech. Use contractions in her bits of dialogue, and just as importantly somewhere in the text say that she's working on deliberate trying to use informal speech contractions to blend in. And yes as others have said, the best way to not be noticed speaking in an odd manner is not to say much. So she likes to stay in the background, answers a lot of questions with a nod or a shake of the head, often instead of using a line of dialogue just uses a grunt (yeah I know - a princess!) or other non-verbal sound. When she does have to speak, one word answers would be better than sentences.

Next, never undervalue the worth of dirt and not bathing. Rich people bathe. If she's hiding think that she doesn't get to wash that often, her hair hangs uncoiffed (if that's the term) her clothes are torn and worn, and her hands are grubby from pulling plants etc. Maybe her feet too if she wanders around barefoot.

Mannerisms are also part of it. So she hangs her head when addressed by someone as if could be in trouble. She helps with chores etc without question. She also probably stays in the background a lot.

Cheers, Greg.
 
Next, never undervalue the worth of dirt and not bathing. Rich people bathe. If she's hiding think that she doesn't get to wash that often, her hair hangs uncoiffed (if that's the term) her clothes are torn and worn, and her hands are grubby from pulling plants etc. Maybe her feet too if she wanders around barefoot.

She bathe regularly, and she loves cleanliness a lot. However I can imagine that if she is in a really desperate situation she would cover herself in mud. It will probably backfired spectacularly considering that the mud will make her more nervous and the the people looking for her will notice her more easily.
 
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