Well of Souls Forums

Arioch wrote: Spoken words are used in diplomacy, either because you're trying to conceal information or you don't trust the other party not to telepathically attack you. Such diplomatic communication may be overtly hostile in content ("I am going to attack you now"), and the use of the spoken word itself may be considered an insult (as it indicates distrust or subterfuge), but the language itself is usually technically polite.

You don't need offensive words to insult someone; just tell them what you think of them. "You are ugly and your mother dresses you funny." A racist Loroi might call her enemy a "filthy Arran miros", but none of those words are inherently offensive in and of themselves.

Ah... that explains it.

For the same reason that Loroi laugh out loud.

Okey i should have really seen that coming (sorry just my swedish humor).

Solemn wrote:Also, I have heard that several human cultures use copulation with animals as harsh insults, along the lines of "go take a horse's dick," "screw a pig," that sort of thing. English is somewhat limited on that front; our animal insults are generally fairly tame and nonsexual.

I imagine that if most of us still lived on farms they'd be much more common. But for that matter, we apparently have blunted some of our curse words by overuse. "Thief" and "Liar" apparently used to be fighting words.

Victor_D wrote:I think the nature of English as an isolating, analytical language which almost lacks inflections, can turn any noun to a verb, and creates wild shifts in meaning by changing prepositions/phrasal verbs is really conducive to innuendo in general, sexual or otherwise.

In theory, you can get some really good dialogue if you try to make use of that.

fredgiblet wrote:My expectation is that this is the rule, not the exception, so I doubt they'll feel strongly about it when applied to us.

That they have encountered examples of non-caste-based military service systems before, but that tells us nothing of how they would view it. Also, from what we've seen of them so far, meeting all sorts of aliens hasn't really hindered the Loroi's ability to form strongly-held preconceptions.

absalom: curious question, what ARE fighting words nowadays? not talking testosterone filled teen fighting words, but something reasonably sensible adult fighting words?....it is curious since i can't really come up with anything, are we really THAT lawyer whipped?

I wouldn`t know any sensible fighting words, most of them are a drivel filled rehash. However, I find that spiting either on the ground or directly at me to be extremely offensive, I have cracked heads for that insult.

Well spitting in someone's face is battery plain and simple, so I guess you could call that an incitement to violence. (Tangent) Which is what irritates me with this anti-technologist protesters at Balcombe, Sussex, not just because their wrong (that's a different rant), but because my cousin-in-law who is a sergeant in the Sussex police has had these wonderful-peace-loving-new-agey people quite literally spit in his face.... (Tangent over)

I can't really comment, as I think "fighting words" is a particularly North American legal concept. But again seems to come under the broad subjectivity of incitement to violence, or murder.

But I think to assume English (authentic or otherwise), would contain such specific words for fighting is to one ignore the cornucopia of mongrel-like collection of words the English language has been so kind to gift us, but secondly and importantly is to forget the dynamic ways in which we can use these words. I think comments attesting to this effect have already been mentioned above.

There are plenty of words, and plenty of ways to weave them for your "fighting talk", saying otherwise I think just makes you unimaginative (I jest).

Just read some of the classic Ashes sledging through the years for some inspiration!

discord wrote:absalom: curious question, what ARE fighting words nowadays? not talking testosterone filled teen fighting words, but something reasonably sensible adult fighting words?....it is curious since i can't really come up with anything, are we really THAT lawyer whipped?

Well, without putting too much thought into it, I'd say that telling a Muslim that his mother has sex with pigs for money would count as fighting words. And where, in any of that, is even a single word that would count as profanity in isolation? As Smithy said, it's just a matter of knowing how to use the language.

That having been said, it really does matter, I think, if you and your opponent have already been worked up. Particular phrases that're enough to start a fight will tend to be rare, mostly because people aren't generally hot-headed enough for anything in particular to work, you have to find a soft spot. That having been said, the prideful are liable to be the easiest to stir up: if they think that your words can damage something they feel the need to defend, then you're half of the way to a fight by just picking the right subject.

Beyond that, it's worth noting that the Norse equivalent of the bard (the skald, if I remember correctly) had a place on the battlefield: this had absolutely everything to do with their skill with words, and absolutely nothing to do with their skill with diplomacy .