A Word Challenge
Dear FLIST!
Okay. Here's a challenge. I issued it already on Facebook, with a thread-response of 60 (that sounds like a phrase from an Anne McCaffrey novel), so I'm just reposting here, in case you have ideas.
My brother Remi is adapting my novella The Big Bah-Ha for the screen. 'Cause he's crazycool and has visions of half live-action, half computer-animated CIRCUS FUN! (An animation in the style, he says, of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.)
In the text of the novella, there comes a point where the Flabberghast says a word in a language Beatrice does not recognize as human.
And Jeremy, because he's ORNERY, is forcing me to ACTUALLY CHOOSE A WORD! Like. An out loud word. That, you know, a real ACTOR could speak.
And I'd love for it to be a real DOOZY of a word. Right now, he's got "Kerplow" or something written in.
All you all who have a background in languages -- Arabic, French, Dutch, German, Old English, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Swedish, Japanese (Later Edit: Hebrew, Finnish & Hungarian too, apparently) -- and know interesting sounding words (imagine it totally hyped up with effects, making it sound like something a fault line might roar when vexed), and know about neologisms and other things I don't -- do you have any ideas?
Ideas with PRONUNCIATION GUIDES, if you please!
I'll give you a prize, even.
When THE BIG BAH-HA does at last come out, I'll send you a free copy. Like a real one, that you could actually touch. Signed. If that's worth anything to you.
The text of the pertinent paragraph is below.
Questions Cleared Up On Facebook from Original Post
Amal:
But beloved, what would you have the word MEAN?
(Seconded by Alexandra Erin)
Me:
You must read the paragraph and choose accordingly. That would be part of the fun, I think. There are so many words in other languages that mean SO MANY THINGS at the same TIME!
...I like my fakes to have a pedigree. Which is why I'm axin my smarter pals.
...It might mean "Never, in this life or the next." It might mean "Your mother liked hedgehogs." It has to be a word that would result in getting thrown against a mirror. THEMS FIGHTIN WORDS!
...It doesn't have to be A REAL WORD. It could be a MASH UP!
Francesca:
Won't having it be a real word, that really means something, spoil the effect for viewers of the film who happen to speak whatever the language is?
Me:
I think that, in the spirit of creating imaginary words, I need some new words and their meanings that I never knew before.
PERTINENT PARAGRAPH:
The Gray Harlequin fisted the lapels of the Flabberghast’s red brocade vest and lifted him out of his shoes. His ruby mouth yawned open. Black gums studded with diamond fangs shone with saliva. A black tongue flicked out split like a snake’s.
“How sweet will a living Tall One taste, after all these years of eating death? Do you remember the old days, Flabberghast, when we had only each other to devour under the hills? How thin we grew then. But we always had enough, you and I.”
The Flabberghast said a word that Beatrice did not know. She thought it was not a human word. In answer, the Gray Harlequin slammed him into the mirror. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but over and over again, and each time the Flabberghast’s body against the glass made a sound like lightning striking cathedral bells.
Okay. Here's a challenge. I issued it already on Facebook, with a thread-response of 60 (that sounds like a phrase from an Anne McCaffrey novel), so I'm just reposting here, in case you have ideas.
My brother Remi is adapting my novella The Big Bah-Ha for the screen. 'Cause he's crazycool and has visions of half live-action, half computer-animated CIRCUS FUN! (An animation in the style, he says, of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke.)
In the text of the novella, there comes a point where the Flabberghast says a word in a language Beatrice does not recognize as human.
And Jeremy, because he's ORNERY, is forcing me to ACTUALLY CHOOSE A WORD! Like. An out loud word. That, you know, a real ACTOR could speak.
And I'd love for it to be a real DOOZY of a word. Right now, he's got "Kerplow" or something written in.
All you all who have a background in languages -- Arabic, French, Dutch, German, Old English, Greek, Latin, Spanish, Swedish, Japanese (Later Edit: Hebrew, Finnish & Hungarian too, apparently) -- and know interesting sounding words (imagine it totally hyped up with effects, making it sound like something a fault line might roar when vexed), and know about neologisms and other things I don't -- do you have any ideas?
Ideas with PRONUNCIATION GUIDES, if you please!
I'll give you a prize, even.
When THE BIG BAH-HA does at last come out, I'll send you a free copy. Like a real one, that you could actually touch. Signed. If that's worth anything to you.
The text of the pertinent paragraph is below.
Questions Cleared Up On Facebook from Original Post
Amal:
But beloved, what would you have the word MEAN?
(Seconded by Alexandra Erin)
Me:
You must read the paragraph and choose accordingly. That would be part of the fun, I think. There are so many words in other languages that mean SO MANY THINGS at the same TIME!
...I like my fakes to have a pedigree. Which is why I'm axin my smarter pals.
...It might mean "Never, in this life or the next." It might mean "Your mother liked hedgehogs." It has to be a word that would result in getting thrown against a mirror. THEMS FIGHTIN WORDS!
...It doesn't have to be A REAL WORD. It could be a MASH UP!
Francesca:
Won't having it be a real word, that really means something, spoil the effect for viewers of the film who happen to speak whatever the language is?
Me:
I think that, in the spirit of creating imaginary words, I need some new words and their meanings that I never knew before.
PERTINENT PARAGRAPH:
The Gray Harlequin fisted the lapels of the Flabberghast’s red brocade vest and lifted him out of his shoes. His ruby mouth yawned open. Black gums studded with diamond fangs shone with saliva. A black tongue flicked out split like a snake’s.
“How sweet will a living Tall One taste, after all these years of eating death? Do you remember the old days, Flabberghast, when we had only each other to devour under the hills? How thin we grew then. But we always had enough, you and I.”
The Flabberghast said a word that Beatrice did not know. She thought it was not a human word. In answer, the Gray Harlequin slammed him into the mirror. Not once, not twice, not thrice, but over and over again, and each time the Flabberghast’s body against the glass made a sound like lightning striking cathedral bells.