Speaking Abyssal inherently evil?

[was]

Know thine enemy. It's not inherently evil.

 

[JohnClark]

I agree with the people who have said that in general society it would likely be frowned upon (or worse), but that all depends on how much your commoners know about things like demons and how viscerally they react to them. In terms of the simple act of speaking it being evil, I would say no unless it causes something bad to happen (ie, I say this word in abyssal and everyone within 10 feet bursts into flame).

 

[Tonguez]

Actually I could see mangled forms of Abyssal words being used as the major vulgarities of Common (sort of like the F word in english) - it is shocking and not acceptable in most parts of society.

Speaking Abyssal would be unacceptable in all but the most limited of circumstances (like Gandalfs use, or a Paladin learning it) and even commoners with no understanding of the language would feel uneasy about hearing it.
The idea of a Sanity check being required to truely understand the language makes sense too

but thats disturbing not evil

 

[Invictikore]

there is no way speaking a language could be considered evil, Now WHAT you say is a different thing completely

 

[Voadam]

Unless the language involves the slaughter of innocent souls... no

But most demons speak telepathically, and if a demon doesn't want to speak, theres no point speaking to it... so I wouldn't bother with the language personally

Casting the spell protection from good does not involve the slaughter of innocent souls, but it has the Evil descriptor.

Even if most demons normally speak to mortals telepathically, wouldn't their own written documents be in abyssal?

 

[Sejs]

Yeah, but all their accounting records should be in Infernal.

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

There'd probably be a hundred different words for tentacle rape in Abyssal.

Mmmmmm...tentacles

The idea about certain Abyssal/Infernal words being the strongest curse word in some societies is great, IMO.

 

[Vaxalon]

Infernal and Abyssal aren't evil to speak, but the Dark Speech (from BOVD) is.

 

[Verbatim]

In the Shackled City game I am currently playing in, my LN Hexblade speaks Abyssal when he uses his curse ability. Both my DM and I agree that it adds to the premise of the curse, as it is a dark language and a curse should be a dark thing.

However, when he speaks to his companions in general conversation, he only uses the "accepted" languages, as he sees his cursing tongue to be to dangerous to use for mundane talk.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

No, not any more than learning Hebrew makes you turn to Judaism.

Another question might be 'how similar are Abyssal and Celestial?' Is the former a corruption of the latter, or perhaps a pdgin? Or simply a dialect? Or did the Abyssals craft their own language, turning away from what once they were?

The Auld Grump