The Slang of New Horizon

New Horizon, like any other place, has accrued many interesting and colorful additions to their day to day language. They vary from place to place as local dialects develop and the overall language grows and mutates. Contained below are an assortment of colorful metaphors for your perusing.

 

The Act of Darkness: A non-derogatory phrase describing the act of physical love between two species. The origin may have to do with the common notion that lights are off during love making. Usually used to describe human/wafan relations but can also be sued to describe other couplings such as an Aesir and a Jotun. Not derogatory, more of a polite way of implying a stage of a relationship in mixed couples. “It looks like those two are about ready for an act of darkness.”

 

Apple Peddler: A term for the typical market huckster who tries to sell various 'miraculous' remedies or items. They often sell apple related gimmicks as repellent for native animals, as well as powdered Dire Ram horn to improve a males sexual prowess and restore his thinning hair.

 

Bantam: Slang usually used by women to describe Aesir males. Jotun females use this most often, but others may as well.

 

Big Brother/Sister: A phrase used by non Jotuns to describe Jotuns. It is occasionally derogatory. “Hey Big Brother, you're blocking the road.”

 

Birds: Simple slang for women of any race.

 

The Black Oracle: The Black Oracle is a mysterious figure often used as a threat to keep young children and crechelings in line. “You be good, or the Black Oracle will get you.”

 

Broken ARM: Members of The Walk of Mans Allied Regional Militia who go out on a mission and simply never return.

 

Buck: Slang for coffee, Earth origins. Root word was originally believed to originate with a coffee house franchise, but it turns out Herman Buckman was a botanist aboard the colony vessel Icarus. He was in charge of recreational plants, and made the establishment of several varieties of coffee plants a priority, making him the father of local coffee. Phrases like a “Bring me back a cup of buck” are common vernacular.

 

Bucks Beans: These refer to coffee beans, the original supply of those found on New Horizon being supplied by a man named Buckman. Also known as 'Buckmans Blessed Beans.'

 

Bull: A common term for a Jotun male, non-derogatory.

 

Bush Tucker: Food gathered from the wild. Hunting and gathering is still a very common way for those living away from large cities to supplement their diets, as well as keep their survival skills sharp.

 

Chicken: Occasionally refers to actual chicken meat. Usually when someone says a dish contains chicken, it means that your better off not knowing what you're eating and just treasuring your ignorance. There are a lot of things that taste like chicken.

 

Chrome Plated: A term used to describe wafans, and occasionally prometheans, who are too caught up on their appearance. This is usually derogatory, but sometimes used in a friendly manner to tell someone they are worrying too much about the little things.

 

Cotton Box: A common, small storage container kept by young girls in the Xanadu region for storing small nonsensical knick knacks that girls collect at that age. These boxes are often kept hidden. This is also the root of the phrase for crazy individuals "he belongs in a cotton box."

 

Cow: A common term for a Jotun female. Derogatory when directed at pretty much anyone else.

 

Darkness: To Wafans, darkness is always a thing of dread. They don't fear it per se, but as a people whose very core of being is a radiant core of light, the darkness feels like the absence of life to them psychologically. They will often react to oppressive darkness with the same sort of concern as humans will to restrictive confinement.

 

Doe: A female Medean, most likely used only to contrast the Medean male slang 'Stag.'

 

Dog Piss: Vulgar slang for bad beer that's been rendered smelly by overexposure to UV light, replacing the less vulgar historical phrase 'skunk beer.'

 

Don't blink: A phrase usually uttered when one is under the impression they or a friend are being stalked by persons or animals, especially when they don't want to tip off their possible animal or human tail.

 

Don't tease the Fueno: A phrase often used to suggest that one might be biting off more than he can chew. A Fueno is the back end of the food chain, but when angered is more than capable of taking a finger off at the knuckle and leaving a bleeding stump.

 

Drone: A common term for a Vanir male. Considered extremely derogatory by some.

 

Enchanted Kingdom, The: Common slang for an insane asylum used in Xanadu, Red Haven and the Walk of Man region. Aquilon and New Chania prefer the term 'Puzzle Factory.'

 

Foam: Slang for beer. “Lets go get a pint of foam.”

 

Game Face: An old Earth saying meaning it's time to get serious about what's being done. “Game face, people” or even simply just “Game Face” is an almost sure way to let your companions know it's going down.

 

The Gray Oracle alone knows: A phrase often used to convey a sense of bafflement.

 

Gyne: A female vanir, non derogatory term.

 

Hen: A common name for an aesir female. Non derogatory. “What's a pretty little hen like you doing in a place like this?”

 

Hog Leg: Slang for large caliber revolver handguns.

 

Indies: Locals who have gone indigenous, and become backwards, inbred or hostile to the rest of the population.

 

Jack: A male Promethean. Contrary to popular belief, the root word of this phrase - while unknown - is not jackass. Though the latter is as often as not applicable to the Promethean in question.

 

Jenny: A female Promethean.

 

Little Brother/Sister: A phrase that Jotuns will often use to address members of other races they aren't acquainted with. Rarely ever derogatory. “Excuse me, Little Sister. I didn't see you sitting there.”

 

Mushroom: A person given as little important information, and told as little as necessary for the task at hand. I.E. They're kept in the dark and fed manure. "I'm not a dang mushroom, I need more to go on." Derogatory when referring to others.

 

Orange Popsicle: The generic orange flavor on New Horizon is particularly bad, and often these will be the last popsicles left in the box. This last one is usually eaten with reluctance. The phrase “The last orange popsicle” frequently refers to the weakest link in a group. For example, a man suffering a grievous head wound in a raiding party might be called 'the orange popsicle' or simply even 'the orange' by the leader of their raiding party. Additionally, 'the orange popsicle' can refer to a great personal hurdle as well. “Well, I'm not looking forward to seeing the divorce lawyer, but I've got to get my orange popsicle out of the way if I want to move on.”

 

Ousters: Those who have committed crimes so heinous they're no longer welcome in society. Often used to refer to bandits, pirates or rogue organizations with no regard for international laws or treaties.

 

Plate: A common term for eating out. “Let’s go get a plate somewhere nice.”

 

Raping the Ravager: For all their intelligence as predators, Ravagers never seem to get over the fact that cars have enough mass to flatten them like pancakes. Though they can tear a tire to shreds if one isn't careful, simply correcting ones course to introduce a Ravager to ones bumper is usually an acceptable way to deal with a Ravager.

 

Robot: A machine that may or may not resemble a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command. An outmoded term outside of factory machinery, which is derogatory when directed at a Wafan, as it implies they are subhuman, or property.

 

Shrub: A person of limited stature, or purely ornamental purposes. Derogatory.

 

Sinkhole: A term used to describe the sort of restaurant that would only have its cleanliness worsened by being swallowed by the earth.

 

Sinkhole Inverse Quality Formula: The worse a Sinkhole restaurant looks, the better its prices and food are. This is not a rumor, but an established scientific fact which holds true for ninety percent of these establishments.

 

Stag: A male medean. A probable explanation for the origin of the use of the phrase is the popularity of horns in early Medean males.

 

Stalker Bait: Men and women who have sought adventure in the wilderness and never returned. Also used melodramatically for anyone planning to camp in the wilderness in general, as the mortality rate is considered unacceptable by less daring city dwellers.

 

Sweepers: Slang for Police in Xanadu, recalls the old phrase 'street sweeper' used as a generic term for automatic weapons.

 

Tinfolk: Slang for Policemen in the Walk of Man. References their tin plated badges.

 

Walkers: Young men and women from The Walk of Man traveling and seeking their fortune, as often used negatively as positively. Not all would be adventurers leave places better than they found them.

 

We've all passed a lot of water since then: A phrase, seldom considered vulgar despite the implications, used to indicate that all accounts on a subject are moot do to age. Earth origin.

 

Water of Life: The water from a wafans luminous core, the rough analog of a human brain or heart. If it's ever seen to be leaking, it's usually a very solid sign a Wafan is not long for this world.

 

The White Oracle: A figure often claimed as the cause of miracles. “To walk away from a crash like that? The White Oracle must have been watching you.”

 

Zombies: Humans or Wafans afflicted by any number of diseases, fungus or other forms of parasites which take away their normal volition. Typically for purposes of reproduction.