worldbuilding: swearing and rudeness
Once I've done enough worldbuilding posts on tumblr, I'll compile them into posts on DW/LJ. So here's some background/explanation on what's rude in oenclar culture!
1. given names
For oenclar, the given name comes after the family name - because the family you belong to can often be more important than who you are as an individual. But given names are as unique as possible - essentially, there are no standard oenclar names. Each one is created specifically for the child being given it, and there’s a fair amount of time that goes into choosing that name; at least six months to a year, traditionally. Each name is put together out of at least two Isji words and has an individual and directly translatable meaning - as well as a ‘shorter’ version of the name (called the casual name) that is decided upon by the parents.With all this special ceremony around given names, this means misusing them can get very rude very fast.
Using someone’s casual name without being given permission to use it is really rude. It comes across as presumptuous and overly-intimate, even though knowledge/use of casual names does not necessarily mean two people need to be close. Even if you know someone’s casual name and everybody around you calls the person by it, but you’ve never been told it by them personally or been told it’s okay to do so, calling them by it is still rude.
Usually, when two people are introduced for the first time, they’ll include their casual name after they’ve said their full name (given and family). This is the most common way of giving permission, just by telling someone else what the casual name is. If permission happens later on in the relationship, then it’s usually just by saying “you can call me X”. It’s very basic and simple, but important to do. Instances where people don’t share their casual names right away are when one outranks the other or often in the military in general, when the situation is political, when the people don’t expect to be socializing much in the future, or when they simply don’t feel friendly towards each other.
Fun fact: Keyd never introduces himself to Alan with his casual name (not for any of the previously listed reasons, but mainly because he was honestly just not thinking about it), but Alan hears it all the time from Rysa and assumes it’s okay to call him that, because why would he think otherwise? So Alan is pretty much being rudey mcruderson to him constantly in the first book. Keyd overlooks it.
Also, it’s rude to call someone by their casual name if you don’t have permission to - it’s equally rude to call someone out on doing that. It’s also rude to ASK for permission to use someone’s casual name. These are all unspoken social rules so no one would ever tell a foreigner about them or react to this kind of rudeness, they’ll just be thinking “wow this person is rather rude” and never say/do anything about it at all. YOU CANNOT WIN.
2. personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are very important in oenclar culture and speaking in general, even though all verbs already insinuate person, personal pronouns do a lot to enforce the relationship and understanding between the speaker and the listener. So mixing them up or misusing them gets very rude very fast, because it either makes you look presumptuous about your relationship with another person - either too intimate or even too distant or not respectful enough, or like an idiot. There are specific pronouns to use between caste members, between differing ranks in military, in religious sects, between friends and family. There’s also a general set for civilians, which works as a ‘safety’ set to rely on if you don’t know exactly who another person is or what would be be used to address them.
Certain pronoun “sets” can supersede others in social situations, also depending on the personal relationship between the people or the specific situation at hand. Ex: two close friends both in the military would likely use the intimate pronoun set with each other and around other friends, but around anyone who outranked them it would be more polite to refer to each other with the military-specific pronouns (even if they aren’t talking TO the higher ranked person, even if they were just speaking within earshot). If one friend outranked the other, then it would be rude to others to use the intimate pronoun set with each other except when they were completely alone, otherwise it would set a ‘bad example’ by not showing proper respect to each other in relation to the military hierarchy.
Mostly where pronouns get the most complicated is in the government and military, because there could be any number of ways to correctly refer to/address someone grammatically, but not socially. Especially since the use of pronouns can shift the tone of a conversation and also purposefully show respect or disrespect depending on when and how they’re used. it’s not uncommon for pronoun usage to change from sentence to sentence, especially in military or government situations.
So basically, using pronouns is a really complex and delicate social thing and really easy to mess up if you’re a foreigner, OR you come from a caste that’s not used to dealing with them. The higher up in the system you go, the more complicated it gets. Most people outside the military/government only deal with the ‘civilian’ set of pronouns and the intimate ones (sometimes religious ones, but since religions have such a small social presence, it’s not often). It’s generally safer to stick to the general ones, because while the use of them to people in higher up castes is considered pretty pedestrian and uncultured, it’s not exactly seen as rude. However, messing up the fancy specific ones is definitely a huge social gaffe and it’s preferred that you don’t even try at all if you’re going to be bad at it (this is what Alan does - he doesn’t even attempt it. Which is actually a good decision on his part).
3. pjorhahd
This translates to literally mean ‘rude hand’, the English translation would basically be “give the finger”, “flip someone off”, etc and the gesture that goes with it is to make a fist with the pinky finger up and touch the fingertip to the chin. This is an old old old gesture from the pre-clar society, so this gesture also exists in clarbach society and is also impolite. The original meaning of the gesture is pretty much obsolete now, as it’s actually a religious-related sign that is part of a completely dead/inactive religion. So it actually shouldn’t be rude, but as these things tend to go, it still is for no real reason other than it being a social imprint that’s hung around.
To make the gesture extra rude/emphasized, you can tap your pinky on your chin a couple times.
4. touching the back of someone else’s neck
Don’t do it unless you’re SUPER CLOSE with someone. Especially in the active military, but it goes for everyone. This kind of goes beyond rude into like…offensive and upsetting. It’d be like groping somebody you don’t know, or that you do know.
The back of the neck is a really sensitive spot for the entities, since the core power of them is in the chest, but the mental connection to the host is literally inside the head, so the neck/spine is basically a main channel for information/the actual entities to travel through. Getting hit here, either physically or by some kind of spell/energy, can really fuck you up or even kill you. Obviously there’s a bit of an example in the beginning of Skiagraphia.
One word for ‘friend’ (used most commonly in the military) is koulji, which actually means “neck person”. Basically means someone who you trust to literally protect your neck. It’s kind of like the expression “got your back”, except just with the neck instead. And touching, or covering, the back of someone else’s neck is a way to express this non-verbally. It’s a very affirming, comforting, trustful gesture. So, obviously, if you do this to somebody that you don’t have that kind of relationship with, it becomes kind of offensive and uncalled for.
5. swearing
Cursing is extremely rude, and very rare to hear. The oenclar language conveys a lot of tightly packed information though word choice, and also tends to be more expressive/emotional through that than through the speaker’s tone, so by default swearing ends up being more offensive and often personal when used. There are a few mild words that are considered more ‘acceptable’ and okay to use in most situations, but overall swearing is really avoided. That’s not to say they don’t have plenty of offensive words to use if someone really wants to! A few examples here:
fys/fysat
Literal meaning: weed, thistle
Explanation: This comes from back in the day when the clar were a heavily agrarian culture and farming was more central to the culture and more influential on society and language. This word functions more of an expression of frustration or surprise than an actual curse word (imagine tending your nice garden and spotting an offending weed and basically shouting ‘WEED!’ at it, that’s a bit how it evolved as a ‘swear’ word). Fys is actually the kouml (Isji proto-language) word for a specific type of plant similar to a thistle, fysat is the modern Isji word that just means ‘weed’ in general.
English equivalent: somewhere between ‘darn’ and ‘damn’, pretty mild
jyet
Literal meaning: unwanted
Explanation: This word can actually vary from mild to pretty severe, depending on how it’s used. Despite being an adjective (one in common modern usage), it’s only rude when being forced into application as a noun and used to refer to a person. The connotation of it is that there is something about the person’s very nature or existence that is unwanted, not just that they are currently not welcome in a certain place or situation. It’s very often used as a term to refer to homosexuals or those who manifest the wrong entities (though there’s another specific word for that as well).
hetemej
Literal meaning: term for someone who refuses or contests an arranged marriage
Explanation: Because arranged marriages are common and pretty normal in oenclar culture, especially in high-blooded families, someone who makes a fuss about one is seen as a bit of a brat. While the term hetemej is still in common usage with its original meaning, it’s also used in colloquial speech to insinuate that someone is being contrary or kind of obnoxious, especially if they’re doing so unreasonably.
English equivalent: asshole, douchebag, dick, etc.
Fun facts: A milder form of the word is temej, which can actually be used jokingly but only if you’re close/very sure of your relationship with the other person. In this form it’d mean something closer to ‘jerk’ and might not be considered a swear word, depending. (Whenever Alan calls Keyd a jerk, jokingly, this is the word he would hear through frequency)
etunfe
Literal meaning: clutter-minded person
Explanation: That doesn’t sound too severe. Unless you’re part of a religion where clarity and focus of mind is a major aspect of it. This is a word originating from the bautan religion, and within the sect it’s less of a straight insult and more of a way of describing someone’s state of being. Because meditation and the ability to think carefully and clearly is very important in the religion, having a cluttered mind is a sign of poor observance of the faith and something that an individual must work carefully on. Of course, when the word became popular in usage outside of the religion, the subtleties were mostly lost and the term just became a way to call someone an idiot. It’s a ruder way to call someone an idiot though, enough to be included in as a swear word.
English equivalent: dumbass, fucktard, etc.
hrapre jtrai
Literal meaning: 'with haste'
Explanation: This is a fun one. While it has a perfectly normal, common, and everyday use as a way to say goodbye (like ‘see you later’), it can also get a little twist that changes it to, basically, ‘fuck off’. This difference has to do with the pronunciation/slight spelling of it, which harkens back to the alphabet and the two e'sthe language has. e1, which is pronounced like the e in pet, makes this phrase the first meaning (‘goodbye’). Hrapre, pronounced this way, means ‘with’. e2, which is pronounced more like a short a or the German e (think the pronunciation of danke), turns this phrase into ‘fuck off’, because hrapre spelled that way is basically the equivalent of the word ‘bitchslap’. So a tiny little change and you’re either saying ‘with haste’ or ‘fast slap in the face’. You can bet Alan’s fucked this up before.
lahtsri
Literal meaning: skin rash
Explanation: This is that other term for people who manifest the ‘wrong’ entities. Fairly self-explanatory, as the easiest way to spot which entities someone’s got (after hair color) is looking at their skin. While this seems like a fairly mild term for something that’s a huge huge issue in (both) clar societies, it’s ruder when used to refer to people who haven’t manifested the ‘wrong’ entities. Since in that case it’s used to insinuate that someone is an outsider or too different to be accepted or fit in, inherently an outlier. The strength of it as a swear word/insult comes from its use as a term for wrong-entity people and less from its original meaning.
English equivalent: no specific terms, but generally along the same lines as ‘loser’ or ‘freak’. since the oenclar are very big on community/family, the idea of not fitting in is really not as trendy as it might be seen in real Earth societies, and it’s a much bigger deal
yktemur
Literal meaning: blond
Explanation: The Kouml term was originally yte mer, with yte meaning ‘pale’ or ‘light’ in regards to coloration, and mer meaning ‘hair’. The term in Isji evolved into yktemur, and became a derogatory term aimed at the clarbach before the races split apart, when the oenclar were more of second-class citizens. The clarbach were generally unaware of the negative connotation, so the word was in common usage among the oenclar as a small way of rebelling without being penalized for it. After the split of the races the word continued to be a derogatory slang in Isji until the present day. It’s about the rudest word in their language, and just about never used in any sort of polite company. This is the noun form; ykte is the adjective form and is just as offensive.
English equivalent: Probably any racial slur.
Fun facts: when oenclar children still have their natural hair color, the ones that are blond or very light haired are never referred to as ‘blond’; there is no term in Isji to legitimately describe blond hair. Instead the word used is ahjtanys, which means ‘child of the sun’. This is the term that Rysa and Keyd and others would use to describe Alan and his hair color, as literally anything else would be an insult (not to say that others might not use a more insulting term)
ifchar
Literal meaning: infertile
Explanation: This is a baddity bad one, probably right the next step down from yktemur. The term comes from an older term for ‘infertile’, most literally translating as ‘broken branch’ from Kouml (eph char)-meaning that with a person who cannot have children the family tree ‘breaks’ and can’t ‘grow’ in that direction. In Kouml the term wasn’t offensive, more like a considerate/gentle way to talk about someone who was barren/infertile. But in modern oenclar society, the ability to conceive and high fertility are extremely important and a really huge deal. Babies everywhere. So insults insinuating a deficiency in that area are basically the worst. Right after ‘blond’. This word, while technically an adjective, can be used also as a noun and a verb
English equivalent: grammatically it’s about as diverse as ‘fuck’, so via frequency it probably would pop up a lot in its place. As far as meaning, there isn’t anything very similar, maybe some kind of sexual slur
If you want to keep up with these things on my tumblr, the specific tag for that is here.
1. given names
For oenclar, the given name comes after the family name - because the family you belong to can often be more important than who you are as an individual. But given names are as unique as possible - essentially, there are no standard oenclar names. Each one is created specifically for the child being given it, and there’s a fair amount of time that goes into choosing that name; at least six months to a year, traditionally. Each name is put together out of at least two Isji words and has an individual and directly translatable meaning - as well as a ‘shorter’ version of the name (called the casual name) that is decided upon by the parents.With all this special ceremony around given names, this means misusing them can get very rude very fast.
Using someone’s casual name without being given permission to use it is really rude. It comes across as presumptuous and overly-intimate, even though knowledge/use of casual names does not necessarily mean two people need to be close. Even if you know someone’s casual name and everybody around you calls the person by it, but you’ve never been told it by them personally or been told it’s okay to do so, calling them by it is still rude.
Usually, when two people are introduced for the first time, they’ll include their casual name after they’ve said their full name (given and family). This is the most common way of giving permission, just by telling someone else what the casual name is. If permission happens later on in the relationship, then it’s usually just by saying “you can call me X”. It’s very basic and simple, but important to do. Instances where people don’t share their casual names right away are when one outranks the other or often in the military in general, when the situation is political, when the people don’t expect to be socializing much in the future, or when they simply don’t feel friendly towards each other.
Fun fact: Keyd never introduces himself to Alan with his casual name (not for any of the previously listed reasons, but mainly because he was honestly just not thinking about it), but Alan hears it all the time from Rysa and assumes it’s okay to call him that, because why would he think otherwise? So Alan is pretty much being rudey mcruderson to him constantly in the first book. Keyd overlooks it.
Also, it’s rude to call someone by their casual name if you don’t have permission to - it’s equally rude to call someone out on doing that. It’s also rude to ASK for permission to use someone’s casual name. These are all unspoken social rules so no one would ever tell a foreigner about them or react to this kind of rudeness, they’ll just be thinking “wow this person is rather rude” and never say/do anything about it at all. YOU CANNOT WIN.
2. personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are very important in oenclar culture and speaking in general, even though all verbs already insinuate person, personal pronouns do a lot to enforce the relationship and understanding between the speaker and the listener. So mixing them up or misusing them gets very rude very fast, because it either makes you look presumptuous about your relationship with another person - either too intimate or even too distant or not respectful enough, or like an idiot. There are specific pronouns to use between caste members, between differing ranks in military, in religious sects, between friends and family. There’s also a general set for civilians, which works as a ‘safety’ set to rely on if you don’t know exactly who another person is or what would be be used to address them.
Certain pronoun “sets” can supersede others in social situations, also depending on the personal relationship between the people or the specific situation at hand. Ex: two close friends both in the military would likely use the intimate pronoun set with each other and around other friends, but around anyone who outranked them it would be more polite to refer to each other with the military-specific pronouns (even if they aren’t talking TO the higher ranked person, even if they were just speaking within earshot). If one friend outranked the other, then it would be rude to others to use the intimate pronoun set with each other except when they were completely alone, otherwise it would set a ‘bad example’ by not showing proper respect to each other in relation to the military hierarchy.
Mostly where pronouns get the most complicated is in the government and military, because there could be any number of ways to correctly refer to/address someone grammatically, but not socially. Especially since the use of pronouns can shift the tone of a conversation and also purposefully show respect or disrespect depending on when and how they’re used. it’s not uncommon for pronoun usage to change from sentence to sentence, especially in military or government situations.
So basically, using pronouns is a really complex and delicate social thing and really easy to mess up if you’re a foreigner, OR you come from a caste that’s not used to dealing with them. The higher up in the system you go, the more complicated it gets. Most people outside the military/government only deal with the ‘civilian’ set of pronouns and the intimate ones (sometimes religious ones, but since religions have such a small social presence, it’s not often). It’s generally safer to stick to the general ones, because while the use of them to people in higher up castes is considered pretty pedestrian and uncultured, it’s not exactly seen as rude. However, messing up the fancy specific ones is definitely a huge social gaffe and it’s preferred that you don’t even try at all if you’re going to be bad at it (this is what Alan does - he doesn’t even attempt it. Which is actually a good decision on his part).
3. pjorhahd
This translates to literally mean ‘rude hand’, the English translation would basically be “give the finger”, “flip someone off”, etc and the gesture that goes with it is to make a fist with the pinky finger up and touch the fingertip to the chin. This is an old old old gesture from the pre-clar society, so this gesture also exists in clarbach society and is also impolite. The original meaning of the gesture is pretty much obsolete now, as it’s actually a religious-related sign that is part of a completely dead/inactive religion. So it actually shouldn’t be rude, but as these things tend to go, it still is for no real reason other than it being a social imprint that’s hung around.
To make the gesture extra rude/emphasized, you can tap your pinky on your chin a couple times.
4. touching the back of someone else’s neck
Don’t do it unless you’re SUPER CLOSE with someone. Especially in the active military, but it goes for everyone. This kind of goes beyond rude into like…offensive and upsetting. It’d be like groping somebody you don’t know, or that you do know.
The back of the neck is a really sensitive spot for the entities, since the core power of them is in the chest, but the mental connection to the host is literally inside the head, so the neck/spine is basically a main channel for information/the actual entities to travel through. Getting hit here, either physically or by some kind of spell/energy, can really fuck you up or even kill you. Obviously there’s a bit of an example in the beginning of Skiagraphia.
One word for ‘friend’ (used most commonly in the military) is koulji, which actually means “neck person”. Basically means someone who you trust to literally protect your neck. It’s kind of like the expression “got your back”, except just with the neck instead. And touching, or covering, the back of someone else’s neck is a way to express this non-verbally. It’s a very affirming, comforting, trustful gesture. So, obviously, if you do this to somebody that you don’t have that kind of relationship with, it becomes kind of offensive and uncalled for.
5. swearing
Cursing is extremely rude, and very rare to hear. The oenclar language conveys a lot of tightly packed information though word choice, and also tends to be more expressive/emotional through that than through the speaker’s tone, so by default swearing ends up being more offensive and often personal when used. There are a few mild words that are considered more ‘acceptable’ and okay to use in most situations, but overall swearing is really avoided. That’s not to say they don’t have plenty of offensive words to use if someone really wants to! A few examples here:
fys/fysat
Literal meaning: weed, thistle
Explanation: This comes from back in the day when the clar were a heavily agrarian culture and farming was more central to the culture and more influential on society and language. This word functions more of an expression of frustration or surprise than an actual curse word (imagine tending your nice garden and spotting an offending weed and basically shouting ‘WEED!’ at it, that’s a bit how it evolved as a ‘swear’ word). Fys is actually the kouml (Isji proto-language) word for a specific type of plant similar to a thistle, fysat is the modern Isji word that just means ‘weed’ in general.
English equivalent: somewhere between ‘darn’ and ‘damn’, pretty mild
jyet
Literal meaning: unwanted
Explanation: This word can actually vary from mild to pretty severe, depending on how it’s used. Despite being an adjective (one in common modern usage), it’s only rude when being forced into application as a noun and used to refer to a person. The connotation of it is that there is something about the person’s very nature or existence that is unwanted, not just that they are currently not welcome in a certain place or situation. It’s very often used as a term to refer to homosexuals or those who manifest the wrong entities (though there’s another specific word for that as well).
hetemej
Literal meaning: term for someone who refuses or contests an arranged marriage
Explanation: Because arranged marriages are common and pretty normal in oenclar culture, especially in high-blooded families, someone who makes a fuss about one is seen as a bit of a brat. While the term hetemej is still in common usage with its original meaning, it’s also used in colloquial speech to insinuate that someone is being contrary or kind of obnoxious, especially if they’re doing so unreasonably.
English equivalent: asshole, douchebag, dick, etc.
Fun facts: A milder form of the word is temej, which can actually be used jokingly but only if you’re close/very sure of your relationship with the other person. In this form it’d mean something closer to ‘jerk’ and might not be considered a swear word, depending. (Whenever Alan calls Keyd a jerk, jokingly, this is the word he would hear through frequency)
etunfe
Literal meaning: clutter-minded person
Explanation: That doesn’t sound too severe. Unless you’re part of a religion where clarity and focus of mind is a major aspect of it. This is a word originating from the bautan religion, and within the sect it’s less of a straight insult and more of a way of describing someone’s state of being. Because meditation and the ability to think carefully and clearly is very important in the religion, having a cluttered mind is a sign of poor observance of the faith and something that an individual must work carefully on. Of course, when the word became popular in usage outside of the religion, the subtleties were mostly lost and the term just became a way to call someone an idiot. It’s a ruder way to call someone an idiot though, enough to be included in as a swear word.
English equivalent: dumbass, fucktard, etc.
hrapre jtrai
Literal meaning: 'with haste'
Explanation: This is a fun one. While it has a perfectly normal, common, and everyday use as a way to say goodbye (like ‘see you later’), it can also get a little twist that changes it to, basically, ‘fuck off’. This difference has to do with the pronunciation/slight spelling of it, which harkens back to the alphabet and the two e'sthe language has. e1, which is pronounced like the e in pet, makes this phrase the first meaning (‘goodbye’). Hrapre, pronounced this way, means ‘with’. e2, which is pronounced more like a short a or the German e (think the pronunciation of danke), turns this phrase into ‘fuck off’, because hrapre spelled that way is basically the equivalent of the word ‘bitchslap’. So a tiny little change and you’re either saying ‘with haste’ or ‘fast slap in the face’. You can bet Alan’s fucked this up before.
lahtsri
Literal meaning: skin rash
Explanation: This is that other term for people who manifest the ‘wrong’ entities. Fairly self-explanatory, as the easiest way to spot which entities someone’s got (after hair color) is looking at their skin. While this seems like a fairly mild term for something that’s a huge huge issue in (both) clar societies, it’s ruder when used to refer to people who haven’t manifested the ‘wrong’ entities. Since in that case it’s used to insinuate that someone is an outsider or too different to be accepted or fit in, inherently an outlier. The strength of it as a swear word/insult comes from its use as a term for wrong-entity people and less from its original meaning.
English equivalent: no specific terms, but generally along the same lines as ‘loser’ or ‘freak’. since the oenclar are very big on community/family, the idea of not fitting in is really not as trendy as it might be seen in real Earth societies, and it’s a much bigger deal
yktemur
Literal meaning: blond
Explanation: The Kouml term was originally yte mer, with yte meaning ‘pale’ or ‘light’ in regards to coloration, and mer meaning ‘hair’. The term in Isji evolved into yktemur, and became a derogatory term aimed at the clarbach before the races split apart, when the oenclar were more of second-class citizens. The clarbach were generally unaware of the negative connotation, so the word was in common usage among the oenclar as a small way of rebelling without being penalized for it. After the split of the races the word continued to be a derogatory slang in Isji until the present day. It’s about the rudest word in their language, and just about never used in any sort of polite company. This is the noun form; ykte is the adjective form and is just as offensive.
English equivalent: Probably any racial slur.
Fun facts: when oenclar children still have their natural hair color, the ones that are blond or very light haired are never referred to as ‘blond’; there is no term in Isji to legitimately describe blond hair. Instead the word used is ahjtanys, which means ‘child of the sun’. This is the term that Rysa and Keyd and others would use to describe Alan and his hair color, as literally anything else would be an insult (not to say that others might not use a more insulting term)
ifchar
Literal meaning: infertile
Explanation: This is a baddity bad one, probably right the next step down from yktemur. The term comes from an older term for ‘infertile’, most literally translating as ‘broken branch’ from Kouml (eph char)-meaning that with a person who cannot have children the family tree ‘breaks’ and can’t ‘grow’ in that direction. In Kouml the term wasn’t offensive, more like a considerate/gentle way to talk about someone who was barren/infertile. But in modern oenclar society, the ability to conceive and high fertility are extremely important and a really huge deal. Babies everywhere. So insults insinuating a deficiency in that area are basically the worst. Right after ‘blond’. This word, while technically an adjective, can be used also as a noun and a verb
English equivalent: grammatically it’s about as diverse as ‘fuck’, so via frequency it probably would pop up a lot in its place. As far as meaning, there isn’t anything very similar, maybe some kind of sexual slur
If you want to keep up with these things on my tumblr, the specific tag for that is here.