The Universal Character Research Thread

[TheEarl]

Just had a good idea. Whenever we invent a character, we need to put something real into them, something which'll resonate with the reader. The trouble is often finding it - I can't count the number of times that I've had to check myself from using an Englishism in an American character and quite often my knowledge of American, Australian, Canadian, etc slang isn't good enough to make my characters sing.

So I thought - there's someone from every corner of most countries on the board. Why don't we chip in with the slang and phrases from our areas of the globe and then anyone who's looking for a Southern English phrase can come look here.

Good idea, bad idea?

The Earl

 

[OhMissScarlett]

What a great idea! I was just thinking during my last story that I might have to consult some English folks on early 20th century English slang. I muddled through with Google, but I may need someone in the future.

I was just telling Carson that I have no idea what cool people in their early twenties are wearing, cause I still dress about the same as I always did and dont watch much tv. So, Earl, if you have any advice there, let me know.

 

[carsonshepherd]

I was just telling Carson that I have no idea what cool people in their early twenties are wearing...

Speak for yourself. We're wearing jeans, a Foster's t-shirt, and socks. No underwear. Our feet are cold so we might on some shoes.

 

[Guest]

So, Earl, if you have any advice there, let me know.

Um, you did say "cool" people, didn't you Scarlett? P.

 

[Marsipanne]

If anybody wants stuff on oriental culture I'll be willing to help. Can also do youth culture here, but not as good on that.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Fromthe U.S. South:

Y'all: this is used inplace of the plural you, never the singular.

Awight: it's a shortened form of all right, the fisrt part is stressed, like awwwww, and the ight is clipped.

ya'hear?: Usually tacked on to the end of an order, command or rehetorical question for emphasis as in "You stay right there and don't move til I get back, yahear?

Supper time: Supper is the main evening meal, used in place of dinner most of the time.

a mess: A mess is a number of something, usually used in food like a mess of peas or a mess of greens. Also in fishing, a mess of Brim.

fixin' Used in place of about to. as in I am fixin to go cut thelawn.

I'll think of others later I am sure

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Um, you did say "cool" people, didn't you Scarlett? P.

Yeah, but what I really meant was "anti-cool" I think, lol.

Hey, he's gotta be cooler than me; I'm wearing a cut up 80's style New Kids On The Block t-shirt, jeans, and blue fuzzy slippers.

Now, I'm fixin' to cook me up a mess a green beans if y'all excuse me.

 

[Guest]

Missy S, blue fuzzy slippers are always cool (if you're under 30). P.

 

[Belegon]

I don't think it's a bad idea. Course, anyone who needed a SoCal check on a character could always contact me directly too.

Come to think of it, that might be Southern California, or at least California period, slang. SoCal = Southern California, NoCal = Northern California.

and to those of us who grew up in San Diego, NoCal starts at Magic Mountain and goes north from there... though most of us hate being included with LA in anything.

sprinkle a little spanglish in, even for an anglo character and the use of "dude" is one of those stereotypes that is true more often than not. Stereotypes that are untrue: I've never surfed and am not a big beach goer. Corona is the mexican equivalent of Milwaukee's Best and is not considered a good beer by many, let alone a premium brew. Many of us are NOT blonde. Few San Diegan's wear cowboy hats, bad tv shows from the 80's notwithstanding.

Many of us do eat more Mexican food than any other fast food, our music scene is very diverse, (San Diego resident's in music range from Jewel to Brooks & Dunn to Eddie Vedder to 80's metalheads Ratt to Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats). Offroad racing and motocross is HUGE in the East County. Jimmie Johnson of NASCAR is from El Cajon.

Surfing IS a big pasttime, just not a given. We have many athletes go from San Diego to professional football and baseball, not so many basketball or hockey (although some). Lots of "extreme" athletes like Tony Hawk.

I would be more than happy to help someone with a SoCal character reference.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Missy S, blue fuzzy slippers are always cool (if you're under 30). P.

Oh, I'm under thirty, it fell right smack on top of me earlier this year.

 

[carsonshepherd]

I don't think it's a bad idea. Course, anyone who needed a SoCal check on a character could always contact me directly too.

Come to think of it, that might be Southern California, or at least California period, slang. SoCal = Southern California, NoCal = Northern California.

and to those of us who grew up in San Diego, NoCal starts at Magic Mountain and goes north from there... though most of us hate being included with LA in anything.

sprinkle a little spanglish in, even for an anglo character and the use of "dude" is one of those stereotypes that is true more often than not. Stereotypes that are untrue: I've never surfed and am not a big beach goer. Corona is the mexican equivalent of Milwaukee's Best and is not considered a good beer by many, let alone a premium brew. Many of us are NOT blonde. Few San Diegan's wear cowboy hats, bad tv shows from the 80's notwithstanding.

Many of us do eat more Mexican food than any other fast food, our music scene is very diverse, (San Diego resident's in music range from Jewel to Brooks & Dunn to Eddie Vedder to 80's metalheads Ratt to Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats). Offroad racing and motocross is HUGE in the East County. Jimmie Johnson of NASCAR is from El Cajon.

Surfing IS a big pasttime, just not a given. We have many athletes go from San Diego to professional football and baseball, not so many basketball or hockey (although some). Lots of "extreme" athletes like Tony Hawk.

I would be more than happy to help someone with a SoCal character reference.

Wish I'd known you around July.

 

[Guest]

Hey Bel, NoCal is San Francisco, then it dissipates all round. P.

 

[TheEarl]

S-E England at a glance:

You nonce: Literally translates to 'you child-molester,' but surprisingly enough is quite a friendly insult where I come from. Not to be used in London - will get you punched.

Cheeky mare! - What I just called Pear for her comment about my coolness. Used for calling a good friend a cow without being insulting.

All right? - A traditional bloke greeting. Not actually a question on health or mood, just the equivalent of hello. The standard reply is 'Alright' with a half nod.

Mate - A universal thing to be added as a gesture of camaraderie to sentences. Thus 'Excuse me' when squeezing past a stranger becomes 'Excuse me mate.'

Doss - To do nothing, avoid work or to just laze about.

Chav, Gary-boy, Kev - The English equivalent of trailer-trash. cf www.chavscum.com for more info, but classless, burberry-wearing tits sums it up quite well.

Essex-girls - The archetypical loose women joke. The stereotype is that every Essex-girl is a slut (not in a good way), but really the only ones who are are the chav girls. Probably fair to say that all female chavs are sluts (not in a good way).


Young fashion in England - Jeans are ubiquitous, usually normal blue or dk blue denim. Cargo trousers (fairly loose beige or black trousers with pockets at the knees) used to be very popular, but they're kinda phasing out now. Denim jackets are kinda cool and there was a very brief moment where mullets were popular again. Thank god that's going too. Most students are very much jeans and a t-shirt set with the trendier ones going for designer t-shirts. Dark trainers are definitely in over white ones, mainly so that we're dissociated from the garys.

A lot of teenagers are going for a dossing look with hoodies. Garyboys and chavs go for burberry, tracksuits and shiny white trainers. Again cf chavscum.com

The Earl

 

[TheEarl]

Forgot to say:

Things that we like (not necessarily me) - Football (soccer to you), Wayne Rooney (football player), Sport in general, laughing at French misfortune, laughing at German misfortune, laughing at Spanish misfortune. It's a pity schadenfreude is a German word really.

Things we don't like - USA, George Dubya, anything that smacks of Americanism, the EU, the Euro, Tony Blair, the Conservative party, immigrants (as a rule), the failures of the NHS, the railways, police force, schools and any other public service you care to name. We're quite keen on moaning about these things and being bitterly sarcastic about them though.

The Earl

 

[Belegon]

Hey Bel, NoCal is San Francisco, then it dissipates all round. P.

I think many of us regard San Francisco as an entirely seperate place, almost it's own country, and to many of us it is our second choice of where to live.

Personally, it is my second favorite city. Only home sweet home tops it. My best friend from high school has lived there for many years and I visit every other summer. Last time brought my seven year old (then five) along and had as much fun with a kid along as I did without, although the venues for the good times were slightly different .

 

[cantdog]

Cool people in the twenties wore very big pants. They fit at the waist but flared out markedly. Plus-fours were ones with the pantlegs four sizes bigger, and for a while, there were even plus-eights!

It was an era when a man didn't go out without a suit of clothes. People wore hats. Check with any theater wardrobe person or designer. They'll have oodles and oodles of period hairstyle books and period clothing books. Dover Press makes a large and detailed series of these. You can find them on the shelves at Border's and B&N, and sit down and look them over.

Gandhi came to negotiations for independence in his homespun diaper and shawl. Practically naked! The press asked pointed questions and treated him as though he were ignorant, but in the twenties in South Africa, he too had worn English tailored suits. He was a barrister.

He told the press, "Some shall go in plus-fours; I shall go in minus-fours!"

cantdog

 

[Xelebes]

Western Canada here

Winnipeg is synonamous with Hell frozen over. Anything that be viewed as bad weather is retorted "Well, at least this is not Winnipeg!"

Red Deer & Calgary are viewed as redneck territory, there is a general scorn for the province of Alberta from the other western provinces.

A bunnyhug is the Saskatchewan term for a hooded sweater (a hoodie).

In Alberta, cold is usually reserved for temperatures below -20 C. Anything above that is simply refered to as "chilly", unless it is windy - then it gets the appropriate adjective - "windy".

Hmmm... what other ones are there. I'm sure there is more...

 

[Sabledrake]

No, no, no! I went to college at Humboldt State in Arcata, CA ... and to this day it bugs the hell out of me when I see something on the news like, "An earthquake rattles Northern California" and then it's the bay area. That's _central_! Look at the map! Cennnnnntral!

The hubby grew up there and you should hear _him_ bitch about it!

Sabledrake

 

[china-doll]

New England (Just outside Providence)

Ok, local sayings from the Boston & Providence areas. I think most of these are local, but they ma not me so if I'm wrong please correct me.

'Side by each': this is the same as 'side by side' for the rest of you.

'Not for nothing': Used when you're about to say disagree with, or tell someone that there idea is stupid. As is: "Look Tony, not for nothin' but that's the dumbest idea I eva heard."

'Down Cella': This would be down in the basement for anyone else.

'Packie': Package store or Liquor Store

'Jimmies': These are the sprinkles that you put on a cake or icecream.

'Cabinet': This is a milk shake. I think this one is exclusive to Rhode Island.

'Tonic': Soda, but not just soda water, any kind of soda. This one is mostly Boston.

Another local phenomenon is Coffee flavored milk which I havent seen too much outside of New England.

 

[cloudy]

Fromthe U.S. South:

Y'all: this is used inplace of the plural you, never the singular.

Awight: it's a shortened form of all right, the fisrt part is stressed, like awwwww, and the ight is clipped.

ya'hear?: Usually tacked on to the end of an order, command or rehetorical question for emphasis as in "You stay right there and don't move til I get back, yahear?

Supper time: Supper is the main evening meal, used in place of dinner most of the time.

a mess: A mess is a number of something, usually used in food like a mess of peas or a mess of greens. Also in fishing, a mess of Brim.

fixin' Used in place of about to. as in I am fixin to go cut thelawn.

I'll think of others later I am sure

There's so many southern-isms that I'm not actually concious of them anymore. To greatly add to the confusion, they differ from state to state, sometimes. People that live in the smokies speak very, very differently than those that live down in the delta.

Here's a few more:

dinner time: noon. This comes from the custom of farmers eating their big meal in the middle of the day. Supper is what you eat at night.

ill as an old wet hen, or as a hornet: in a bad mood, not sick, just pissy

like white on rice: fast, quick. See also like a duck on a june bug. Usually used to mean getting on to someone....I use it with my kids: "you do that, and I'll be on you like a duck on a junebug."

tote: either means to actually carry something in your hand, or the actual sack itself. "I toted my lunch today."

carry: to drive someone somewhere...."I carried my mama to the doctor today."

Mama and Daddy: your parents....I don't care how old you are, they are still your mama and daddy.

young'uns: self explanatory. When speaking to a small child, whether it's yours or not, they are addressed a lot as "baby"

 

[china-doll]

New England (Just outside Providence)

Ok, local sayings from the Boston & Providence areas. I think most of these are local, but they ma not me so if I'm wrong please correct me.

'Side by each': this is the same as 'side by side' for the rest of you.

'Not for nothing': Used when you're about to say disagree with, or tell someone that there idea is stupid. As is: "Look Tony, not for nothin' but that's the dumbest idea I eva heard."

'Down Cella': This would be down in the basement for anyone else.

'Packie': Package store or Liquor Store

'Jimmies': These are the sprinkles that you put on a cake or icecream.

'Cabinet': This is a milk shake. I think this one is exclusive to Rhode Island.

'Tonic': Soda, but not just soda water, any kind of soda. This one is mostly Boston.

Another local phenomenon is Coffee flavored milk which I havent seen too much outside of New England.

Oh I forgot:

Wiked: meaning extremly or very. "The concert was wiked noisy."

Pisser or Pissa: means very good. "Jimmy and I got these subs yesterday for lunch, oh man, they were pissa."

So if something is really extrordinary good it is "Wiked pissa"

 

[Colleen Thomas]

More southernisms.

Big ole: Everything is big ole or little ole when giving directions. Turn off by the big ole oak tree and stay non the black tom till you come to a lil ole country store.

All to hell and back: Bad or severe. He got in an accidnet and his truck is beat all to hell and back.

Teched: touched. As in mentally slow. Don't mind Bubba, he's teched.

Like a bull's butt sewed up in barbed wire: Ugly. After the fight his face looke dlike a bull's butt sewed up in barbed wire.

Like he didn't have good sense: Dumb. then he went a pissed on the lectric fence, just like he didn't have good sense.

-Colly

 

[Evil Alpaca]

More southernisms.

Big ole: Everything is big ole or little ole when giving directions. Turn off by the big ole oak tree and stay non the black tom till you come to a lil ole country store.

All to hell and back: Bad or severe. He got in an accidnet and his truck is beat all to hell and back.

Teched: touched. As in mentally slow. Don't mind Bubba, he's teched.

Like a bull's butt sewed up in barbed wire: Ugly. After the fight his face looke dlike a bull's butt sewed up in barbed wire.

Like he didn't have good sense: Dumb. then he went a pissed on the lectric fence, just like he didn't have good sense.

-Colly

I need to write these all down. I will soon be moving to the South, and I'd like to be able to fit in.

But when I went out to visit, I did get to use the phrase "War of Northern Aggression" and have someone understand what I was talking about.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I need to write these all down. I will soon be moving to the South, and I'd like to be able to fit in.

But when I went out to visit, I did get to use the phrase "War of Northern Aggression" and have someone understand what I was talking about.

you will hear this one alot if you have a northern accent.

Hell, I was 13 before I learned Damn yankee was two words

 

[cloudy]

More southernisms.

Big ole: Everything is big ole or little ole when giving directions. Turn off by the big ole oak tree and stay non the black tom till you come to a lil ole country store.

All to hell and back: Bad or severe. He got in an accidnet and his truck is beat all to hell and back.

Teched: touched. As in mentally slow. Don't mind Bubba, he's teched.

Like a bull's butt sewed up in barbed wire: Ugly. After the fight his face looke dlike a bull's butt sewed up in barbed wire.

Like he didn't have good sense: Dumb. then he went a pissed on the lectric fence, just like he didn't have good sense.

-Colly

I'd forgotten some of those. They're so ingrained in my speech now that I don't even realize that I'm using them....especially "he ain't got good sense." I say that alot.