Oolite Bulletins

Can someone direct me to the page on the wiki with all the slang terms on.
I remember reading it but now it eludes me.

!m!

maaarcooose wrote:

Can someone direct me to the page on the wiki with all the slang terms on.
I remember reading it but now it eludes me.

!m!

I don't think there is one ... I've never seen one, at least. There are some widely used slang terms, like "Jameson" and "iron ass", which are pretty much universal, but for anything else it's probably better to invent your own. Slang tends to be pretty mutable and flexible anyway.

Using slang and jargon in fiction is tricky: on the plus side, it can add to the immersive effect, and can help the reader feel that they're inhabiting another world. On the minus side, it can be exclusionary, making the material difficult to read or understand for anyone but the already initiated. It can also get quite tedious if over-used.

The trick, I think, is to use it sparingly, and in a form and/or context where the meaning is clear to the reader, even though the word might be unfamiliar.

As a last resort, you can use a glossary or footnotes – but this is really, really difficult to do well. For some vast universe-building project like Dune you might get away with a glossary; footnotes tend to be a real mood-breaker in fiction unless you can incorporate them into the mood and style of the story yourself, as per Jack Vance in (for example) Night Lamp, which I'm quoting here because I think his stuff is a) brilliant and b) hugely under-appreciated:

Toward the far edge of the Cornu Sector of Ophiuchus, Robert Palmer’s Star shone brilliant white, its corona flaring with films of blue, red and green color. A dozen planets danced attendance, like children careening around a maypole, but only the world Camberwell knew that narrow range of conditions tolerant to human life. The region was remote; the early explorers were pirates, fugitives and fringers,* followed by miscellaneous settlers, to the effect that Camberwell had been inhabited for many thousands of years.

*From “fringe,” such as the “fringes of society.” “Fringer”: a human sub-class impossible to define exactly. “Misanthropic vagabonds” has been proposed as an acceptable approximation.

There was a lengthy thread with possible Oolite slang terms, where people were encouraged to post their terms. It's probably way down the list in whatever forum it was in.

I posted a list myself, when I was thinking of things that could go into the Rough Guide. It never went anywhere but the list is still there. I should point out though that this list was intended to be part of a largely erroneous, outsider's guide to "A Day in the Life of a Commander", compiled by a wide-eyed journalist who believed pretty much anything anyone said to him ...

The very next post gives a hint to the thread I meant, with the information that it was possible started by Drew.

And the whole thing seems to have happened in 2008.

I vaguely recall something along those lines. I think it evolved from some slang words I used in Status Quo back in 2006.

Frak/Frakkin'
Frag/Fraggin'
Pish/Pished
'Goid
'Stard

etc... (These were mostly done to avoid 'actual' swearing in the story to be honest!)

Here it is.... Ancient thread ressurection.

Cheers,

Drew.

I'd forgotten about that thread - nice to catch-up! (the thread started just as I began my 18 months leave-of-absence when my 2nd daughter was born - complete with hole in heart)

Thanks for that guys.

I think you're right Disembodied about using it sparingly or even inventing your own. It makes more sense.

The only thing that always occurs to me though, is that there are some things that you will always use the slang for that seem weird not to.
For example these days you don't "Search for something on the internet" you "Google it." Although given that most browsers have search boxes on it's becoming less obvious.
Just an example.


After reading the thread, would anyone else consider using the term 'albatross' common oolite speak?
As in:
"Gonna take ages to get to the station. We're being albatrossed."

I might be overthinking the whole thing. Probably the same for any writers but sometimes I just get obsessed with one particular detail and then get stuck there thinking I have to solve it before I can write more.

!m!

I've currently got a piece of fic on hold where I do use the term Albatross.

Jez dropped back into the cockpit of Mad Hatter via a maintenance hatch in the overhead bulkhead and made Tani jump.

"I heard you cursing all the way back down in the engine bay," Jez said after he'd stopped laughing at his sister's vexed expression. "What's up?"

Tani tapped the edge of the scanner, highlighting the small white blob right on the outer ring of the screen. "Albatross," she said quietly.

"How long?" Jez asked, no longer smiling.

Tani glanced at the ship's chronometer. "Six minutes 12 seconds."

"Have you tried slowing down a bit? Changing approach vector?"

She glared at him with a face that said what-do-you-think?

"Injectors?"

"Not enough to get us to the Aegis," she replied sullenly. She didn't have to add the fact that Jez had declined to buy a fuel tank on their last stopover.

"OK. SOP. Slow us down to ninety percent max and start an off-axis drift of decimal two-five degrees. Let's hope it goes away."

He patted the console lovingly. He'd only just got the old girl into the best shape she'd ever been...

Albatross.

maaarcooose wrote:

After reading the thread, would anyone else consider using the term 'albatross' common oolite speak?
As in:
"Gonna take ages to get to the station. We're being albatrossed."

I think that experienced players would have a chance of understanding it, particularly if they're familiar with the mythology/literary references about albatrosses. But if it's an important plot point, I think you'd need to show what it means to the reader, otherwise you run the risk of losing people. Without some kind of illustration as to what the problem is, people might think it's a make of ship, rather than a type of behaviour. In DH's example it looks like he's doing a slow reveal, dropping in various clues as to what is going on, building up the reader's curiosity but keeping them on board.

Thinking about this, the best use of really quite technical jargon in fiction I can think of is probably in C S Forester's Hornblower books. They're full of dashed-off remarks about halliards and mainstays and t'gallants and the like: but the storytelling keeps it all going without ever having to provide a series of diagrams and a short course on managing a Napoleonic-era sailing ship. You do get brief bursts of technical explanation, here and there: for example from reading Lieutenant Hornblower I know what it means if a cannon becomes unbushed, and how it might be fixed – but it's done within the story.

Disembodied wrote:

Thinking about this, the best use of really quite technical jargon in fiction I can think of is probably in C S Forester's Hornblower books. They're full of dashed-off remarks about halliards and mainstays and t'gallants and the like: but the storytelling keeps it all going without ever having to provide a series of diagrams and a short course on managing a Napoleonic-era sailing ship. You do get brief bursts of technical explanation, here and there: for example from reading Lieutenant Hornblower I know what it means if a cannon becomes unbushed, and how it might be fixed – but it's done within the story.

IIRC, things like:

Hornblower paced the deck, frustrated at the slow progress. He looked up, scanning the yards for any hint of slackness.

"Mr Groggins!" he cried. "Why can I see no fore-top-gallant-studding-sail? When I said make all speed, Sir, I meant all speed! Have a sheet stretched up there at once or you'll meet the cat, Sir, damn your eyes!"

I had to do a site search for the definition of "Albatross" to see what it meant; I would have needed a clue, despite being familiar with such vessels (usually a Python or a hospital ship, I find)

I think I've probably put enough explanation before hand. I've got a bit of lead in, so I think I'll leave it.
Once I post Part 2 of Mostly Deadly you can all decide for me if it works.

The thing is, the more I think about it, the more I want to just cut it out.

Damn my brain.

!m!