Lore-Appropriate (Non)Profanity

[Tarot]

Do your characters swear? Mine usually do. Since I am new to the FF universe, I am looking for help with creative, lore-appropriate ways to exclaim surprise, disgust, anger, pain, etc. in character without actually swearing. I have seen "By the Twelve!" but that is a little tame for me.

 

So, let's have it! IC cussin' up a blue streak (without the, you know, actual cussin'.)

[FreelanceWizard]

I've seen NPCs drop "Thal's bloody balls!" (shortened to "Thal's balls!") and "Sweet Nophica's tits!" -- which is rather appropriate if you've seen the concept art for Nophica (on the concept art card for the Twin Adders).

 

I suspect you could use the same construction to come up with all kinds of profanities on the Twelve, from the tame ("Thaliak's beard!") to the most foul ("Nymeia's !").

[Quuyn]

...Go hump a Cactuar. :cactuar:

[ShoggMommy]

I've seen "Godsdamn" quite a bit and "Mother's teat!" from the npcs

[Desmond Aryll]

Does your character have any particular accents? Might help to give the dialogue (and cursing) some color.

 

How about older curse words that are outdated? Such as arse instead of- you know.

 

Worse comes to worse, make em up. I say Frak all the time now.

[Dravus]

I saw quite a bit of interesting profanity during the open beta, which I found to be very refreshing as all of it fit! It'll be interesting to see what people come up with in this thread, since I intend to have my own character let loose the odd bit of profanity here and there if someone really ticks him off.

[Asyria]

My Roe will probly be swearing. I'll be lookin for these Eorzea-flavored expressions from the NPC's for sure and I will probably make up some of my own as well.

 

Same goes for insults. I can imagine my character from Limsa calling someone a "dodo brain" considering they're native to La Noscea and are pretty derpy.

[Jomoru]

I ran my first 15 levels in LL so I saw a decent amount of real world profanity behind the accents(Guess what word Shite is supposed to be!)

[Aduu Avagnar]

Shite and are are both still valid and current... go watch father ted.

 

Feck also joins the list

[F'ibril Nuhn]

:moogle: Kupoff!

[Macey]

An authentic rule of cursing is that we tend to curse with the names of things that we find oppressive or offensive to us. Perhaps try and identify some of those things lore wise and see if they translate.

[Jomoru]

Shite and are are both still valid and current... go watch father ted.

 

Feck also joins the list

 

I am saying Shite and Arse are clearly just accented versions of words and not theriown word

[K'nahli]

Ooh, nice thread. I was wondering about this quite recently.

[Jove]

I love what some of the NPCs have come out with, I mean of course you have your "shite" and "arse" but I still can't get over "colder than a dead whore's crotch", I mean in a game as lovely as XIV, you don't expect to hear such things. Or maybe it's only if you start out in Limsa Lominsa? They definitely got the cussing like a sailor part for atmosphere. I think in this instance the NPCs could be more foul mouthed than us.

 

So personally I think you can easily make lore friendly versions of well known light cussing, for example, changing God to Gods (BSG did this quite well), so you have your "oh my Gods", "Gods almighty" and "Godsdamnit". I also think "feck" would fit perfectly well considering "arse" and "shite" are already spoken by a lot of NPCs, also "bastard" and "piss" too if I recall correctly?

 

So of course now I just imagine Limsa Lominsa in an Irish accent.

 

By the way does anyone know what the Hydaelyn version of hell is in Eorzea? For the "go to ...!", "what in ... was that!?" and "what the ...!?", although for the "what in ... was that!?" you could easily do "what in the Twelve was that!?" or "what on Hydaelyn was that!?".

 

You could certainly take a lot of inspiration from other games, books, films and tv shows set in ye olde times and just add a bit of XIV flavour to it. Or maybe even research into real old world profanity that's either a bit obscure or silly by today's standards, although a lot of our current swear words are actually quite old.

 

I don't think these would be out of place.

• Blimey
  
• Bloody
  
• Bugger
  
• Blast
  
• Scallywag
  
• Strumpet
  
• Guttersnipe
  
• Coxcomb
  
• Sugar
  

I now feel incredibly English.

 

But swearing can be really fun, especailly if it doesn't really make much sense when you think about it. "You'd have more chance of extracting aetheryte outta a Chocobo's arse".

[Aduu Avagnar]

I love what some of the NPCs have come out with, I mean of course you have your "shite" and "arse" but I still can't get over "colder than a dead whore's crotch", I mean in a game as lovely as XIV, you don't expect to hear such things. Or maybe it's only if you start out in Limsa Lominsa? They definitely got the cussing like a sailor part for atmosphere. I think in this instance the NPCs could be more foul mouthed than us.

 

So personally I think you can easily make lore friendly versions of well known light cussing, for example, changing God to Gods (BSG did this quite well), so you have your "oh my Gods", "Gods almighty" and "Godsdamnit". I also think "feck" would fit perfectly well considering "arse" and "shite" are already spoken by a lot of NPCs, also "bastard" and "piss" too if I recall correctly?

 

So of course now I just imagine Limsa Lominsa in an Irish accent.

 

By the way does anyone know what the Hydaelyn version of hell is in Eorzea? For the "go to ...!", "what in ... was that!?" and "what the ...!?", although for the "what in ... was that!?" you could easily do "what in the Twelve was that!?" or "what on Hydaelyn was that!?".

 

You could certainly take a lot of inspiration from other games, books, films and tv shows set in ye olde times and just add a bit of XIV flavour to it. Or maybe even research into real old world profanity that's either a bit obscure or silly by today's standards, although a lot of our current swear words are actually quite old.

 

I don't think these would be out of place.

• Blimey
  
• Bloody
  
• Bugger
  
• Blast
  
• Scallywag
  
• Strumpet
  
• Guttersnipe
  
• Coxcomb
  
• Sugar
  

I now feel incredibly English.

 

But swearing can be really fun, especailly if it doesn't really make much sense when you think about it. "You'd have more chance of extracting aetheryte outta a Chocobo's arse".

hmmm I may have to come out with these the next time I'm on mumble... though we do still use bugger and bloody, maybe sugar rarely.

[sanguineFenrir]

"The seventh hell" seems to be the hell analogue for Eorzea.

 

Kevaraan does swear, albeit relatively rarely, which makes it quite effective when he does. He does use "bloody" though.

[Asyria]

Fun fact: In Quebec, we silly people swear through religion.

 

Swear word -Actual word in French- in English- what it is

Tabarnak - Tabernacle - Tabernacle - box containing the consecrated wine and host

Calice - Calice - Chalice - "wine" cup

Criss - Christ - Christ - Jeezus

 

Yeah.. so French and English is pretty much the same, just pronounced a bit different.

 

Anyways, I wonder some Elezen subculture might use swear words related to the worship of the Twelve or something...

[Levi Druthers]

For some reason I just got a mental image of Balthier saying all those cuss words in his own way.

 

Yeesh.

 

I was quite suprised by the cussing in game and I loved it!  It's not over the top and sure isn't offensive .. course I started in Limsa Lominsa heh.

 

:cactuar:

[lady2beetle]

Personally, when Adriel is in awe, she tends to say "Sweet Twelve!" Which is kinda the same level as "Holy sh**!"

[Dravus]

I was pleasantly surprised by the presence of profanity as well, it doesn't feel out of place either since it compliments the style of NPC dialogue quite well. I grinned like a fool when I stumbled across an NPC telling someone to 'bugger off' in a tavern in Gridania. It certainly added quite a bit of atmosphere and depicted the typical mercenary/tavern patron rather nicely. Incidentally, a lot of the NPC dialogue reminds me of FFXII's and Vagrant Story's style, which is brilliant since they're two of my favourite RPG's in existence.

[Zyrusticae]

Personally, when Adriel is in awe, she tends to say "Sweet Twelve!" Which is kinda the same level as "Holy sh**!"

"Bloody hells!" works too, or alternatively "Bloody bells!" if you want to be funny.

 

I don't expect to be all that sweary with my characters, but if I do, this thread will be useful for sure.

 

"Damn you to the seventh hell!"

"By Althyk's good grace!"

"Feck that gobshite!"

"By the Navigator!"

"May the Fury take you, you godsdamned swindler!"

 

I can do this all day!

[Fystrael Abylstyrwyn]

I love what some of the NPCs have come out with, I mean of course you have your "shite" and "arse" but I still can't get over "colder than a dead whore's crotch", I mean in a game as lovely as XIV, you don't expect to hear such things. Or maybe it's only if you start out in Limsa Lominsa? They definitely got the cussing like a sailor part for atmosphere. I think in this instance the NPCs could be more foul mouthed than us.

 

So personally I think you can easily make lore friendly versions of well known light cussing, for example, changing God to Gods (BSG did this quite well), so you have your "oh my Gods", "Gods almighty" and "Godsdamnit". I also think "feck" would fit perfectly well considering "arse" and "shite" are already spoken by a lot of NPCs, also "bastard" and "piss" too if I recall correctly?

 

So of course now I just imagine Limsa Lominsa in an Irish accent.

 

By the way does anyone know what the Hydaelyn version of hell is in Eorzea? For the "go to ...!", "what in ... was that!?" and "what the ...!?", although for the "what in ... was that!?" you could easily do "what in the Twelve was that!?" or "what on Hydaelyn was that!?".

 

You could certainly take a lot of inspiration from other games, books, films and tv shows set in ye olde times and just add a bit of XIV flavour to it. Or maybe even research into real old world profanity that's either a bit obscure or silly by today's standards, although a lot of our current swear words are actually quite old.

 

I don't think these would be out of place.

• Blimey
  
• Bloody
  
• Bugger
  
• Blast
  
• Scallywag
  
• Strumpet
  
• Guttersnipe
  
• Coxcomb
  
• Sugar
  

I now feel incredibly English.

 

But swearing can be really fun, especailly if it doesn't really make much sense when you think about it. "You'd have more chance of extracting aetheryte outta a Chocobo's arse".

 

Strumpet. :love: Haven't heard that one since my grans passed. 

 

I'd think plenty cursing will involve primals and their body parts too.

 

"By Ifrit's fiery arsehole, get that dodo-brained guttersnipe out me tavern 'fore I loose me foot in both o' yer shite-ends."

 

 

Ah, Limsa Lominsa.  Where more than the air is salty...

[Noble_Einherjar]

I love what some of the NPCs have come out with, I mean of course you have your "shite" and "arse" but I still can't get over "colder than a dead whore's crotch", I mean in a game as lovely as XIV, you don't expect to hear such things...

 

That gave me quite a start, too. But it was a pleasant surprise, and I was glad to see the writers unafraid to go to such shocking places/imagery. Overall I like that pirates in FF XIV aren't quite so romanticized as they are in other media.

[Yuria]

I've seen NPCs drop "Thal's bloody balls!" (shortened to "Thal's balls!") and "Sweet Nophica's tits!" -- which is rather appropriate if you've seen the concept art for Nophica (on the concept art card for the Twin Adders).

 

I suspect you could use the same construction to come up with all kinds of profanities on the Twelve, from the tame ("Thaliak's beard!") to the most foul ("Nymeia's !").

"Sweet Nophica's tits!" Indeed *cheers*

[Tarot]

Awesome ideas, thank you!

 

I am going to start a list of NPC swearing/insults. Yeah, I'm easily amused.