Proverbs in your worlds.

[A. E. Lowan]

We have a couple of things that come up repeatedly.

"Life is long, and love is love is love" is a saying, mostly among vampires, that basically means gender is meaningless in the face of love.

"Getting some cottontail" is a rude term for having relations with a therian rabbit.

Seahaven, Washington, our fictional city, is called "The City of Peace." But many locals call it "The City of Pieces" and frequently vandalize the Welcome To Seahaven sign to reflect this.

 

[Svrtnsse]

"A man's gotta listen to his stomach. He'll carry it around for the rest of his life." - Anfylk saying.

 

[Lvl20wizard]

"Luck changes with the tide" on a world with several moons and large, FAST, unpredictable tidal changes.

That's a pretty cool proverb. I think a proverb needs to be something catchy as well, something that is crisp in the mouth to say.

And I think you are absolutely right, adding proverbs to a world strenghtens its reality, it's human nature to do so and often it is, as you also say, linked with the environment they live in.

So far I have only managed to invent a few, such as: "The living will grieve, and the dead will delight." This one is from a burial rite.

On the bat I'm thinking stuff like:

"Letters are the tracks of a writer."

"What is written cannot be silenced."

"Fear is the paralysation of reason."

"Logic is the sharpest of swords."

"Knowledge is merchandise."

"A coin in the hat is better than ten in the gutter."

This brainstorm is linked to my WIP, featuring a world with a homungously large city of many mages, guilds and scribes.

 

[Gryphos]

I have a few related to the religion of my world, the Saintry. Each Saint has Words which they are known for and in some way represent them. For example, the Words of St. Brigunson, Patron Saint of the sky and aeronauts, are...

"Which is the greater view? The sky from below, or the earth from above?", the words spoken by him in his early life as he gazed up at the sky. This holds some significance in the story as throughout it various people give their take on Brigunson's question, which reveals aspects of their personality.

There are some little proverbs that relate to Saints, such as "Pardinam paid the bills." a shortening of "Umbria mused in the comfort of lodging, but Pardinam paid the bills."

St. Umbria is the Patron Saint of spiritual prosperity and fulfilment, while St. Pardinam is the Patron Saint of material prosperity and wealth. The quote is essentially saying how spiritual fulfilment means nothing if a person can't survive. So a person deciding to skip a Saintry service in order to work extra hours would justify himself simply by saying "Pardinam paid the bills."

 

[Nihilium 7th]

"Ad'maic frem'ach Unis" Amongst those from the Adamaic regions in my WIP that phrase roughly means "May Adams seed be blessed". It is used as a greeting and a farewell amongst those who identify as a descendant of Adam (The forefather of an entire ethnic group and religion) and those who follow their faith. The phrase "Ad'maic frem'ach Ged'Unis" is also used but only in times of war it is roughly translated to "May Adams seed be blessed (in violence)". The former phrase has been used as a war cry and a deceleration of dissonance against a perceived enemy.

 

[SaintPandemonium]

A proverb common among certain groups of older people in my world is, "truth is the crown on the heads of those who despise her".

 

[Surad]

I didn't invent much proverbs or sayings, but I do have some made up so far. "He's got the scars." This means his courage is beyond question and been proven many times. "Take the heat off our skins" is either something done to actually cool a place down (like turn on an air conditioner) or one way of getting out of trouble.

For the military, I did develop a variant of the 'Thousand Yard Stare' for the Air Force, I call it the Cloud Piercing Gaze. I also had a character call out 'For Onlei's sake' in frustration. Religion isn't common for that character's society, but he does worship a goddess called Onlei. How devote he is, however, is pretty questionable.

 

[Tom]

My favorite proverb from my world is "A foolish man writes verse on cherry-blossom petals". It warns against saying or doing something that will fade out of memory and importance with time--in other words, doing something useless.

Here's a saying of my Barlandic culture: "The oath binds tighter than any cords." The Barlanders take oaths very seriously, and any oath taken--whether a marriage oath, an oath of fealty, or an oath of emnity--is believed to bind its swearer until his or her death and beyond. An oath broken or left unfulfilled is considered a sin, and a blight on the individual's and family's honor.

 

[Nagash]

"Truth is a poison the strong thinks best to give away, and the weak, to drink greedily"

"Mankind is the worst specie of all, except for all the others."

"He was always dead and never born, he who never fought under the flags of his nation."

"Torture is best used to confess lies than truth."

"He who takes the sea never return - for the land is always richer elsewhere."

 

[Svrtnsse]

"Go easy on yourself and the goddess goes easy on your world."

 

[WooHooMan]

This is honestly one of the most interesting threads I've seen on this forum for awhile. At least, I think so.

"Two trees make a forest" - As long as you have one person by your side, you're not alone. Unity/loyalty is an important theme in this story.

"What is, was once and will be again" - History repeats itself and all events are connected.

"Three times makes it true" - When an event happens once, it's an occurrence. Twice and it's a coincidence. Three times and it's a pattern/habit.

"You boat it, you float it" - If you mess up, you have to deal with the consequences. Alternatively, if you succeed, you can enjoy the rewards. This proverb is usually said ironically.

"An ocean ain't nothing but a whole bunch of drops" - The whole is worth exactly as much as the sum of its parts and all parts are equally important. Nothing is futile if it contributes to a whole.

 

[ChasingSuns]

Here's a couple of poverbs/sayings in the story that I'm currently working on.

"Ill weather brings ill news."
This is a superstitious saying usually said during a storm, although it has it's origins in warfare. In this world, when a great warrior dies, the sky rains blood. So soldiers originally said this in response to the sight of the blood storm.

"May your will be as strong as your blade."
This is a sort of "may the force be with you" statement. It is used specifically by the members of a group of sellswords who believe that will is what makes up the core of the self, and that all virtues stem from it.

There's more that I have used as well but can't seem to think of at the moment.