One of the things I want to include in the text of Everlasting Empire is a lexicon of appropriate language, replete with examples. I'm sure there are many obvious words and phrases that I'm missing out, so if anyone has further suggestions to add to this list, please do so.
Some words don't have definitions yet, I just hadn't got round to writing them prior to posting this. And yes, some terms are a bit offensive, but it makes sense within the context of the game.
Balderdash! - Something that is perceived to be nonsense: “Pah! Talk of an invasion by the French is total balderdash!”
Bally – A slightly more polite form of 'Bloody' (see below): “What the bally heck is going on here then?”
Blighty – A colloquial term for Britain: “Been out in the colonies for a few years now, be jolly wonderful to see good old Blighty again!”
Blimey – Used to express astonishment or amazement: “Blimey! Look at the size of that!”
Bloody – A mild form of profanity, normally used to add emphasis: “What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Carruthers?”
Bought a packet – Used to indicate that someone (usually an ally or friend) has died: “Poor old Carruthers, I heard he bought a packet out on new Albion”
By George! - An exclamation of surprise: “By George, that fellow seems to have his hand in your coat pocket!”
By Jove! - An exclamation of utmost surprise: “By Jove, I believe he's had away with your wallet!”
Chocks away!
Colonial – An individual who comes from one of the Imperial colonies, whether on Earth or otherwise: “I see the New Zealanders are agitating for home rule again. Bloody Colonials!”
Egad!
Frenchy (or, more insultingly, Frog) – Someone of French nationality: “I see the Frenchies have been up to their usual shabby tricks again!”
Guv'nor – A term of address, used when speaking to a male social superior or someone in a position of higher authority: “Right you are, guv'nor!”
Johnny Foreigner – Any personage who does not hold a British passport: “Looks like we managed to give Johnny Foriegner and good cuffing, eh?”
Jolly good! -All purpose expression of delight or satisfaction: “You managed to give those Frenchies the slip? Jolly good!”
Rather! - A hearty expression of agreement: “Do you think we should retire to the lounge bar for a snifter of brandy?” “Rather!”
Rum cove, a – A individual who is judged to be rough or suspicious in some way: “I say, that fellow who accosted us in the aerodrome, he was a bit of a rum cove, don't you think?”
Spiffing – Something that is remarkably good or otherwise pleasing: “That was a spiffing meal, Mrs Rowbotham!”
Sticky wicket, a – Being in a desperate or otherwise very difficult situation, possibly life threatening: “Hmm, with the best part of a score of rifles pointed at our heads, we appear to be on something of a sticky wicket.”
Tally ho!
Top hole – An expression of delight: “That plum pudding was absolutely top hole!”
Topping -
What ho! - Can either be a friendly greeting: “What ho, Carruthers!” or an exclamation of surprise: “What ho! There's something funny going on here!”
What what!
Yank – An American personage: “I can not believe he attempted to lay hands upon your good lady! Typical Yank!”
A few extras for you, and
Submitted by Destriarch on Sun, 28/10/2007 - 11:01.
A few extras for you, and explanations of a few you'd left blank.
Cave (pronounced kaivee) - latin for 'Beware'. Used in the same context as 'Look out!'
Bounder, Cad, Blaggard (corruption of Blackguard), Cur, Blighter - Bad person, villain.
Bully for you! (or just Bully) - well done, or good. I believe that this derives from the army ration favourite, bully beef. So 'bully for you' basically means 'you've earned your supper'.
Chocks Away! - this was Biggles' catchphrase. A chock was a triangular piece of wood wedged under the front wheel of a propeller plane to prefent it from rolling forward the instant the propeller was started. The chocks were removed when the pilot was ready for takeoff. Therefore, Chocksw Away means 'Let's Go!'
Corker - something of particular worth, most often used in the same context as 'beauty' for example: 'I hear Parkinson's sister is a real corker!'
Egad! - probably a corruption of 'By God'
Gobbledegook - Nonsense
Jape - Joke
Kite - Aeroplane
Piffle - See balderdash. The two were often used together, i.e. 'Balderdash and Piffle!'
Prang - Accident, or to have an accident, particularly an injury or a crash in any sort of vehicle. 'Oh dear, I hear Wally's pranged his car!'
Wager - bet, both an actual bet and used in the same context as 'I bet' for instance 'Rolls Royce? That cost a fortune, I'll wager!'
Wizard - Excellent! Used both on its own and as an adjective, hence 'Wizard Kite, Monty!'
Wheeze - practical joke made at someone elses' expense.
What What - made popular by Mad King George, who used to put it at the end of practically every sentence without even realising it. It was a symptom of his porphyria. Its meaning eventually became 'don't you agree?'
Zounds! - Nobody has said this since the twelfth century. Do not use!
A few more
Submitted by Destriarch on Sun, 28/10/2007 - 11:08.
Oh, incidentally, you forgot to include 'By Jove!' which of course means 'By God!' since Jove is a truncation of Jehova (which is itself a corruption of the Hebrew IHWH, pronounced Yahweh)
Ash
Ye Gods!
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Sun, 28/10/2007 - 22:21.
Oh, incidentally, you forgot to include 'By Jove!' which of course means 'By God!' since Jove is a truncation of Jehova (which is itself a corruption of the Hebrew IHWH, pronounced Yahweh)
Ash
Thanks for the comments and suggestions! Oh, and 'By Jove!' is in there, it's the 8th one down. Interestingly, I always understood that 'By Jove' stemmed from Jupiter, in the Roman pantheon and related to swearing upon Jupiter in his aspect as the arbiter of all justice (although the Jehovah explanation also rears its head with frequency). Although, such a discussion is probably best reserved for another thread, so as not to derail this one!
Cheers
Malc
Contested Ground Studios
Could've sworn that wasn't there yesterday...
Submitted by Destriarch on Mon, 29/10/2007 - 09:30.
It's likely that there are multiple versions of where the phrase came from and that different people quote different sources. That happens a lot with the origins of words and phrases. I've seen both too, the Jupiter one usually claiming the Latin root 'Jovis' so you could well be right. All too often though nobody can really tell who's right or who's wrong because the origins go too far back.
Ash
Will you be having foreign phrases too?
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Wed, 31/10/2007 - 18:42.
Gott in Himmel!
Schwein!
Sacre Bleu!
... etc. for the NPCs.
Zut alors!
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Wed, 31/10/2007 - 21:23.
Gott in Himmel!
Schwein!
Sacre Bleu!
... etc. for the NPCs.
Hmmm....that's a very good point, and one I hadn't really considered at this point, so thanks for pointing it out! It seems that the British lexicon should dominate and be by far the biggest (how thematically appropriate!), but the notion of having some choice foreign phrases and words is certainly worth considering.
Cheers
Malcolm
Contested Ground Studios
Ou la la!
Submitted by Destriarch on Wed, 31/10/2007 - 23:00.
Sacre Mierd! Insults en francais? C'est terrible!
Ash