Re: Obscenities

On Tue, Aug 29, 2000 at 07:10:51AM -0400, Matt McLauchlin wrote:
> What obscenities does your language include?
[snip]

My conlang is still far from being usable, tho I've recently, finally,
I've gotten round to setting down verb inflection rules (so I can actually
write sentences now! :-P) -- but so far, I have one word with bad
connotations that can be used as an obscenity:
        vyy'i
The word itself means "turmoil" or "whirlpool", and refers to a physical
phenomenon in my con-universe. (Think of it as a distant cousin of
black-holes in the "real world".) The reason the word has a negative
connotation is because the Ebisedi (the speakers of my conlang)  uses
3vyy'i (plural of vyy'i) as a means of waste disposal. Hence, the word
came to have connotations like "garbage", "waste", "useless", "worthless".
The Ebisedi often use it as a metaphor for "garbage" or "worthless",
especially as a vulgar, derogatory term of contempt.  ("Worthless" may not
sound that bad in English, but calling somebody "vyy'i" in that conculture
is extremely contemptious and carries a feeling of hatred and spite with
it.)

[Phonetic note: v = voiced bilabial fricative; y = rounded, close front
vowel, yy = long version of y; i = unrounded, half-close/half-open front
vowel. The apostrophe ' indicates high pitch on the preceding syllable.]

[snip]
> Murder isn't taboo, but it's also not discussed lightly.
vyy'i by itself often just refers to the physical phenomenon; it's just
when you apply it as an adjective referring to the quality of
something/someone that it becomes insultive. Strangely (or not), vyy'i can
also be used to describe one's sickly feelings when one has a headache,
etc., with no insulting value at all.


T