D&D General Languages suck in D&D.

[Steampunkette]

The Coke one doesn't even make practical sense to me, since virtually every fast food chain except McDonald's is contracted with Pepsi, no matter what part of the country you're in.

McD's, Burger King, Wendy's, Chick-fil-A, Subway, Denny's, Perkins, Arby's, In-N-Out, Culver's, Five Guys, Cheesecake Factory, Sonic, Rally's, TGI Fridays, Jimmy John's, Dairy Queen, Hardee's... the list is a lot longer than I'm willing to spend more than 5 minutes looking for.

The reason it seems like most use Pepsi is simple: Half the rest of the industry is three brands in a trenchcoat called 'Yum Brands'. Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC are owned by a Pepsi Spin-Off sub-corporation. Same thing with Wingstreet.

Of course I say "Half" like it means anything... Fact is, McD's owns the most fast food restaurants in the world with 41,800+ locations. With half of them in the US!

Anyway. I explained the cultural and historical origin of the tendency. No one has to like it, but that's why it's a thing.

 

[Azzy]

Right, but I if I want a cola drink specifically, then how it is expressed? I'd like a cola coke? Or coke coke?

By its proper name "ie., Coca Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, etc.), just like elsewhere.

Because you cannot just say "coke," as they wouldn't know what kind! It seems like terribly ineffective word choice to me!

It's the same as if you just said "cola/pop/soda" etc. in the same circumstance to someone—they wouldn't know what kind and you'd have to be more specific.

 

[Hussar]

Especially when one language borrows words from one or more other languages over a given period of time. In D&D, Common is the Trade Tongue spoken by most of the inhabitants of a given world. Like English in RL, it probably has words from quite a number of races in it. Human, Elvish, Dwarvish, etc.

Fun fact, did you know there are 7 dialects of English?

1. North American English
2. British English
3. Scottish English
4. Irish English
5. Australian English
6. New Zealand English
7. Singlish- Singaporean English

Heh. There are arguably several dialects of English just in London, never minding the rest of the country.

Of course what counts as a dialect vs accent vs language is vague anyway. Generally it’s used to differentiate the level of difficulty speaking between two people.

I find a strong New Zealand accent nearly incomprehensible. Never minding someone from the north in England. But that’s because I speak Mid Western English. There are dialects of Japanese that even other Japanese people can barely understand. And don’t get me started on Newfy.

But all that aside, @Celebrim’s point is well made. Making language more difficult makes it more difficult to talk to npcs. To me, that’s a bad thing. It’s hard enough to get players to talk to npcs without making it constantly harder.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Right, but I if I want a cola drink specifically, then how it is expressed? I'd like a cola coke? Or coke coke? Because you cannot just say "coke," as they wouldn't know what kind! It seems like terribly ineffective word choice to me!

"What do you want to drink, hon?"

"Ah, I'll have a coke."

"You, dear?"

"What kind of coke do you got?"

"Coke, Diet Coke, Cherry and Vanilla Coke, no Cherry-Vanilla Coke though, but you can just mix those. Sprite, Fanta Orange and Cherry, and... Vernors. What'cha want?"

 

[Bacon Bits]

As a world-building and thematic exercise, I find languages great. They're interesting and flavorful, and add a lot of depth and mystery in the game world. I can hardly imagine a fantasy book that isn't enhanced by the inclusion of cultural factors like multiple languages.

As a game element of a multiplayer cooperative game, languages suck. They're like self-adhesive sandpaper. Always get stuck when you didn't expect them to, they don't stay in place when you finally get a chance to put them to good use, and even when you manage to use them right all they do is cause a lot of friction.

 

[pemerton]

I find a strong New Zealand accent nearly incomprehensible.

Weird!