For my Troll Wife story, I dug through old and lesser known Grimm's tales for some  hints of expressions that faeish might use. In my world building, I've  already established that many fairy tales are faeish in origin, and  usually have references to the war between humans and faeish. This made  it a natural to go back to those old tales for Oubliette's expressions. I  have some requirements:
1. It must be understandable, even if you  don't know where the expression comes from. I don't want to have to  explain them to someone, so that the reader will know what they mean.  That kind of exposition bugs the heck out of me.
2. I may create a lot of them, but I  can't use too many in the book, or it will come off badly.
3.  Oubliette is a very angry monster. She probably won't be using funny and  lighthearted expressions, only the depressing ones.
So, here's  the list I've gotten so far (will be expanded):
1. "When the dry twig  sprouts green", as in "You can have that when the dry twig sprouts  green" It means "never" or "highly unlikely".
2. "The mercy of a mill  stone", as in "Oubliette has the mercy of a mill stone". It means  "none". Mill stones were a human invention, and are seen as a metaphor  for the way humans grind everything beneath them.
3. "The rabbit that  cries for the moon", as in "No, you can't have that. Don't be the  rabbit that cries for the moon." "Rabbit" is a term that faeish use for  their children, and the expression means someone wanting something they  can't have, either a child, or someone that is acting like a child.
4.  "A hedgehog bride", as in "That couple is well matched, she is a  hedgehog bride". It means not to love/marry someone that is much  prettier or uglier, dumber/smarter, etc., than you are. "Box your  weight" is a human expression for the same kind of thing. (This one may  be too obscure. I may not use it.)
5. "His name is carved in stone",  as in "I will not rest until his name is carved in stone". It means  dead, of course, and refers to the custom of carving names in a  gravestone. It sounds like something I might read in a Western, so I think this one needs work.
Now I need to think of more situations that call for these. Like I said, even if I don't use them in the book, they're awfully fun to create :)
05-04-15 
 
 
 
These are really good. I like them a lot.
ReplyDeletei'm not great at creating idioms or slang, and yet it seems like i always need them.
ReplyDeletesigh