Let's talk about less serious things.

[Svrtnsse]

So, to ease up on the tension a little, how about something more lighthearted for a bit? I've got a topic we've discussed in the past, and which maybe fits better under world building, but let's stick with it as a writing thing for now.

It's about the expressions our characters use in our stories. Stuff like proverbs and sayings and words of wisdom.

For now, here's a line Selene uses when she breaks up with Roy (and she's rather upset with him at the time):

Look, Roy, it's over. The cakes gone stupid stale. I will not be held responsible for your crap anymore.

The expression here is "the cakes gone stale" and it's partially inspired by the expression "it takes the cake" and it's partially inspired by GladOS' promise of deliciously moist cake in the portal games.

What expressions do you have to share.

 

[Heliotrope]

This is fun! I don't have words of wisdom, but I have insults.

I did a ton of investigating into 17th century sailor slang. I even found a book written in the 17th C for noble men or merchants to help them to be able to understand and communicate with the sailors. It was hilarious! It took me a few days to read through the entire thing and pick out what I felt was appropriate for a kids book (because a lot of it was more graphic and nasty than stuff I hear in modern day gang films). Some include:

“Turn around you bran faced, beetle-headed, bum fodder!” (bum fodder being toilet paper)

“You ever tried to drive with a wooden leg, you bracket faced wench?”

“I’ve had farts that pushed more wind than this rigging.” Teach grunted, hands firm on the wheel.

"Who are you? The Lord of Limbs?" (An insult for a tall skinny person).

 

[Penpilot]

I sometimes like to have my character's mix metaphors.

Don't pee on my head and tell me it's brain surgery.

Fit as a cat in heat.

Music to my eyes.

The fog of tunnel vision.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I came to think about another one, here:

”Lady's dirty toes Burje!” she snapped. “Stop spitting at the rain and spill it! If you've got something to say, just say it. I'm sitting right here.”​

In this case the expression is "stop spitting at the rain" and it'd mean something like "speak up" or equivalent. It's pretty much clear from context what it means.

Then there's also the first bit about the Lady's dirty toes, where the lady is a reference to the anfylk's goddess and dirty toes is a reference to how the anfylk don't wear any footwear.

 

[TheKillerBs]

"The Lord of Limbs" just absolutely slayed me

 

[Heliotrope]

This was the book, if anyone feels they need to add more colourful language or phrases to their manuscripts:

https://www.amazon.com/First-English-Dictionary-Slang-1699/dp/1851243488

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Lacking context but one of my favorites off the top of my head is:

...dumber than a shit-covered horseshoe...

And of course... paraphrased...

Just because you smell a skunk in the henhouse don’t mean it’s there... a warning against assumptions.

My old west favorite is still: A wax cat’s chance in hell.

 

[Heliotrope]

Skunk is a common smell in my town.... it is pretty much never skunk. As a kid I used to ask my dad what it was and he told me it was a skunk that got hit by a car.... I thought skunks were really stupid, running into the road all the time. Nope. Turns out the world’s supply of bc bud is grown in my town.

 

[CupofJoe]

Skunk is a common smell in my town.... it is pretty much never skunk. As a kid I used to ask my dad what it was and he told me it was a skunk that got hit by a car.... I thought skunks were really stupid, running into the road all the time. Nope. Turns out the world’s supply of bc bud is grown in my town.

In this as in many things, Context is the key!
As for proverbs and saying, I usually improvise on ones I know but from a different context.
"At dawn's light all fate is revealed" and "Reckless rolls the rock" have come up recently.

 

[bdcharles]

My MC says "pick the rug up" when she wants people to get a move on. It probably comes from her mother. One of the MC's associates says "like down in a duckwell" to mean perfectly, or very well. "It's working like down in a duckwell". I don't really know where that comes from; possibly from a realm outside the one in my WIP, the one from where she was travelling when we meet her. I guess I could pay it off in the sequel.

I love the expressions that some fictional atheists or atheistic societies have for expressions of amazement, where others may say "Oh, my God!". Stuff like "O Maths!" I read that once. I mean, I cringed, but it was a good cringe. By Determinism, it was a great cringe!

 

[Demesnedenoir]

Yeah, the skunk one comes from personal experience. Skunks like to eat chickens, but I’m happy to say, most of the time s I’ve smelled a skunk around chickens, it isn’t there... otherwise I probably would’ve eneded up smelling like a skunk, heh heh.

Skunk is a common smell in my town.... it is pretty much never skunk. As a kid I used to ask my dad what it was and he told me it was a skunk that got hit by a car.... I thought skunks were really stupid, running into the road all the time. Nope. Turns out the world’s supply of bc bud is grown in my town.

 

[pmmg]

BC Bud smells like skunk? Guess I don't know. I've smelled plenty of Skunks I assumed were road kill but maybe they weren't.

 

[Penpilot]

BC Bud smells like skunk? Guess I don't know. I've smelled plenty of Skunks I assumed were road kill but maybe they weren't.

If every time I smelled skunk, it was actually a dead skunk, BC would be like the skunk genocide capital of the world.

 

[Orc Knight]

My drow have, baffling to anyone not without some basic knowledge of their society, the particular insult of: "Your mother had small tits!" Which, at least they get a 'Your Mom' shot off, which is usually enough to set people off. It used to be a grave enough insult, given they are usually led by the large and in charge and boobs of steel sorts, that they'd kill over it. Now it's only a joke in poor taste, honestly about the only jokes they find funny anyways.

"Thick as the Golden Queen." - An insult that's managed to leak into nearly every races society. Obviously said over someone being particularly daft. As out of her particular trio, she's perceived as the dumb muscle. Very few would dare say it to her face.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Right, so I needed something for someone ferociously and without care for their personal safety attacking a group of enemies. It took some time, and it doesn't really make sense, but here's what I got:

She'd laid into a group of therianthropes like a badger in a beehive.​

I also thought about like a coffee grinder to a bag of beans, but it didn't quite have the same ring to it.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

The badger reminded me of this, a paraphrase from a western screenplay I wrote some time back:

Son of a bitch, boys, you lit outa there faster than a hound who done stuck his head in a hole to find the badger at home.

 

[skip.knox]

 

[Orc Knight]

Another one from my works, concerning the drow, again.

'There's always a drow.' - Usually a default sort of saying when somethings gone on or wrong and a scapegoat is needed. One can always count on blaming the drow. Even if it's that one time they didn't actually do whatever it is they're being blamed for.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

So, the drow are a lot like the dogs at my house, heh heh.

Another one from my works, concerning the drow, again.

'There's always a drow.' - Usually a default sort of saying when somethings gone on or wrong and a scapegoat is needed. One can always count on blaming the drow. Even if it's that one time they didn't actually do whatever it is they're being blamed for.