Dwarven Sayings

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Gneiss!": a relatively soft stone used for decorative work. As such, it is used as a minor complement, or if said with vigor, a backhanded complement/minor insult. To say someone is gneiss is to say they look good or put up an attractive façade, but are of little substance.

"Schist!": used same way as gneiss, above, for the same reasons.

Since these words are "false friends"* to words in Common, their use sometimes leads to misunderstandings...





* "False Friends" are words that sound like words in another language or dialect, but have completely different meanings. Example: "rubber" in standard British use means "eraser", but in standard American slang means "condom."

 

[steeldragons]

I've had a dwarven thief playing in my game who has put forth a few...colorful sayings.

His favorite/most common: "Kiss my bearded arse." or (sometimes) "Kiss my bearded dwarven arse."

One I particularly like:
"Well, ain't he the bellows?" Used about someone believed to be full of "hot air"...the dwarven equivalent of saying someone's "full of s***".

Others:
"May your forges burn hot and your ales run cold." a general parting of good will/well wishing. Also, in the same vein, "Hot forges and cold steel to you."

"Orcass!" general curse that gets applied in pretty much all situations. (I very much like the recommendation of "Shale!" as a similar exclamation.)

 

[Aberzanzorax]

"A man tests his own steel before he allows an enemy to test it."
-(Two fairly obvious meanings).



"A bite hurts more when there are a thousand teeth"
-Referring to dwarven togetherness/cooperativeness.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Weak as a goblin's heart"- not macho, lacking in Dwarven courage.

"Cold as a mind-flayer's kiss"- calculating, Machiavellian

"Like a drow's arse in a coal mine"- 1) extremely black/dark or 2) vanishingly rare

"When my great-grandfather's beard was soft as an ermine's pelt"- a long, long time ago

"Don't tell me how to dig a hole!"- stop telling me how to do things I already know how to do far better than you do.

 

[Stormonu]

"It 'twer halfling-made" - dwarven phrase to referring to stolen goods

"A stone face makes a poor door" - about being uncoperative

"A lone column supports nothing" - about teamwork

"The stouter stone shatters the lesser" - stoicism in the face of adversity

"shale and (moon)shine" - worthless

"elf-crafted" - a decorative item with no useful purpose

"grave-stone" - an unsupported or unsafe structure

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"It 'twer halfling-made" - dwarven phrase to referring to stolen goods

Gneiss...errrr...Nice! One of MY faves so far.

 

[Tanstaafl_au]

I like the nonhuman races to be a tad inscrutable. Maybe you could use ideomatic quotes that doesn't translate well into Common?

Somewhere I've seen a Dwarven inn in a human town named: "Rock, Rock, Rock". Like the Inuit and ice; how many words do Dwarves have for rock?

Or maybe a dwarf reacts to a character's statement with: "Aye, he be speaking of rock, when stone will do!"; the second dwarf in the party nodds knowingly while the other party members shrug and look at each other uncomfortably, mumbling "What did he mean?"...

NWG

/threadjack

The large number of words for snow is mostly a myth.

~~~

I like the "its talc to me boy" one

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"Stalagmite" Male Dwarven sexual euphemism (good)

"Stalactite" Male Dwarven sexual euphemism (bad)

"Geode" slang for someone of hidden value or importance.

"Nugget" 1) a young but promising Dwarf or 2) a non-Dwarf who nonetheless is very Dwarf-like.

 

[pawsplay]

"A good blade is differently tempered" (I am willing to be flexible, but keep in mind that I am essentially resolute and stiff-spined; tell me things I want to hear and we may be able to work together)

"Field of grain" (riches that are really nice and admirable, but in a situation that has little appeal otherwise to you, something you otherwise have no use for, such as the farmed goods that grow in open, non-dwarvish country) e.g. "The courage of humans is a field of grain, but still no match for dwarven fury."

"Orciron" or "orcwrought" (something indisputably serviceable for its purpose in a minimal fashion, yet loathsome and artless at some level) e.g. "This alliance with the elves is orciron, yet without them the gnoll invasion could cost us dearly in blood and gold." "Breakfast in a war camp is all orciron after the first three days." "You have little skill and less muscle, but fight like you were made of orciron and you might have a chance; just keep swinging, boy, and don't back down."

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

"You've Gnomed it up"- to take something- a mechanism, a plan, a meal, a relationship, anything- and make it needlessly complex. (It may or may not still be functional.)

"You're just poking the troll" a reference to trollish regenerative capabilities, it means to use a temporary solution to a problem.

"All ale and no ore" someone who talks a lot about his wealth but seemingly never has any, a miser, mooch or con

"All ale and no steel" someone who can talk a good fight- especially in a bar- but is a poor combatant, a blowhard coward