THE PACK Message Boards

Vuldari wrote:

Kavik wrote:

ChaosWolf wrote:

Kavik wrote:Perhaps one werewolf might greet another on the day he or she first became a werewolf with the phrase, "Happy Talbot Day!"

I dun get it. What's a Talbot?

Seriously?

Larry Talbot was the name of the most well known cinematic werewolf, in the 1941 film The Wolf Man. While true werewolves would likely regard the movie as grossly inaccurate and entirely fictional, he's as much a pop culture icon of lycanthropy as Dracula is of vampirism.

Nope...still does not ring any bells. The only name I ever hear related to the classic "wolf man" is Lon Cheney Jr.

Cheney jr. was the one who played Talbot.

Kavik wrote:Larry Talbot was the name of the most well known cinematic werewolf, in the 1941 film The Wolf Man. While true werewolves would likely regard the movie as grossly inaccurate and entirely fictional, he's as much a pop culture icon of lycanthropy as Dracula is of vampirism.

Ah. Well, in that case, it might not be the best of slang terms. For one thing, most people remember the Wolf Man, not Larry Talbot, so it wouldn't be a popular term since people that use it would often have to explain it.

That and non-werewolves might overhear it and ask about it as well. That's why I was originally thinking of actual holidays -- their easily recognized by bystanders and just as easily dismissed.

Hmm. . . "Happy Salmon Run?"

Vuldari wrote:

Kavik wrote:

ChaosWolf wrote:

Kavik wrote:Perhaps one werewolf might greet another on the day he or she first became a werewolf with the phrase, "Happy Talbot Day!"

I dun get it. What's a Talbot?

Seriously?

Larry Talbot was the name of the most well known cinematic werewolf, in the 1941 film The Wolf Man. While true werewolves would likely regard the movie as grossly inaccurate and entirely fictional, he's as much a pop culture icon of lycanthropy as Dracula is of vampirism.

Nope...still does not ring any bells. The only name I ever hear related to the classic "wolf man" is Lon Cheney Jr.

Lon Chaney Jr was the actor that portayed Larry Talbot on screen.

Terastas wrote:Ah. Well, in that case, it might not be the best of slang terms. For one thing, most people remember the Wolf Man, not Larry Talbot, so it wouldn't be a popular term since people that use it would often have to explain it.

That and non-werewolves might overhear it and ask about it as well. That's why I was originally thinking of actual holidays -- their easily recognized by bystanders and just as easily dismissed.

Hmm. . . "Happy Salmon Run?"

Perhaps werewolves would recognize St Christopher's Feast Day (July 25) since he is the patron saint of werewolves. The man, according to some traditions, began as a cynocephalus (dog-headed) cannibal named Reprobus who was converted to Catholicism and changed into a human.

St. Christopher. . . Isn't that the one the Catholic Church got rid of?

Eh. . . I dunno. . . There's one part of me that's thinking "yes, if any werewolf didn't know about St. Christopher, a pack mate would tell him soon enough. . ."

And there's another part of me that thinks the only person just as likely to know the significance of St. Christopher just as well as a werewolf would be a werewolf hunter.

*shrugs* I guess the easiest way to get around that would be to just make "happy (blank)" the code. Presumably, any werewolves working in the same office place would be familiar with each other. Then, even if werewolves did exist in great enough numbers for there to be unfamiliarity between packs, he could always just play it safe and take everything he's given with a holiday greeting back home -- the important thing is just that nobody sees him handling Pack-related projects.

Terastas wrote:St. Christopher. . . Isn't that the one the Catholic Church got rid of?

Actually he's one of several Saints that went under review when the Vatican decided to get rid of all the imaginary saints, since most were based on pagan heroes or gods. But when all was said and done, the church still acknowledged St. Christopher, though they don't go for the stories that claimed he was a giant or that he was cynocephali. Which doesn't mean that he wasn't a werewolf, esp. in a world where werewolves are more than psychotic episodes.

And since he is still a real saint, there'd be no reason for anyone to get suspicious about honoring St Christopher's day. I'd think a hunter who's constantly looking for signs would be more likely to react to "Happy Salmon Run" or whatever.

Kavik wrote:And since he is still a real saint, there'd be no reason for anyone to get suspicious about honoring St Christopher's day. I'd think a hunter who's constantly looking for signs would be more likely to react to "Happy Salmon Run" or whatever.

*nods* That's true about the Salmon Run. The only problem is that there are hundreds of saints, so it would unusual for someone that acknowledges St. Christopher's day to celebrate it.

Also, keep in mind that the overall consensus is that werewolf hunters are hostile, paranoid and easily agitated. Thick of something like Mr. Crocker from Fairly Odd Parents ("Running water? This could only be the work of. . . FAIRYGODPARENTS!!!"), only make werewolves his compulsion and give him a gun.

Well. . . Obviously not all hunters would be like that, but I imagine that's the image most werewolves would have of them. That said, they might celebrate St. Christopher's day, but I doubt they'd say so anywhere they could be overheard.

Personally, if I were a werewolf, I'd be scared to even say "Happy Solstice" out in the open.

Terastas wrote:

Kavik wrote:And since he is still a real saint, there'd be no reason for anyone to get suspicious about honoring St Christopher's day. I'd think a hunter who's constantly looking for signs would be more likely to react to "Happy Salmon Run" or whatever.

*nods* That's true about the Salmon Run. The only problem is that there are hundreds of saints, so it would unusual for someone that acknowledges St. Christopher's day to celebrate it.

Also, keep in mind that the overall consensus is that werewolf hunters are hostile, paranoid and easily agitated. Thick of something like Mr. Crocker from Fairly Odd Parents ("Running water? This could only be the work of. . . FAIRYGODPARENTS!!!"), only make werewolves his compulsion and give him a gun.

Well. . . Obviously not all hunters would be like that, but I imagine that's the image most werewolves would have of them. That said, they might celebrate St. Christopher's day, but I doubt they'd say so anywhere they could be overheard.

Personally, if I were a werewolf, I'd be scared to even say "Happy Solstice" out in the open.

My first response is to refute this reaction, based on the fact that such paranoid werewolf hunters probably wouldn't be able to hold down office jobs...

However, many of the Wiccans I know are extremely paranoid about the ephemereal popularity their cause has amassed, and feel certain that a Witch Hunt / Inquisition is just around the corner. Therefor, whether the paranoia is justified or not, most werewolves probably wouldn't acknoledge ANY out of the ordinary day to each other in public.

But maybe they could start an organization called the Knights of Christopher, based on the Knights of Columbus, and rent out a meeting hall once a month or whatever.

That snippet has a good point Scott. Would there even be any special names or slang they'd use in the first place?

I'd suggest the word lunatic, but that probably has more a negative connotation than I assume most would care to deal with. It's funny way to slip werewolves into conversation though.

Werewolf: That guy Fred. is a complete lunatic. I mean he's gone completely loony these past few days.
Non-werewolf: WTF are you talking about?
Werewolf: Er...Fred's been wearing a fur coat in the summer. Talk about crazy.

Maybe "loopy"? Might be a humorous but mildly derogatory slang term used by normals to describe their werewolf friends. "You got bit? You're going loopy, too?"

That does raise a good point -- slang terms happen naturally, not by a Pack vote, and more often than not, ensuring that werewolves have a verbal identity should not be among a werewolf's priorities.

This is, of course, what would separate slang from code. Slang terms would have just come out of the blue out of a necessity for time conservation (it's easier, for example, to say "duckie" or "red zone" than "werewolf preservationist" or "period of time between when a werewolf shifts and when they can shift back"). Code, on the other hand, would be derrived from a necessity for anonymity, so it'd be important for all of the pack to know it, therefore they could not just be trusted to happen naturally.

Maybe someone born with it is "born Canadian," whereas someone bitten is a "naturalized Canadian"? (Or, pick your favorite country. If you're in Canada, maybe the word is "Yankee," or "from Wisconsin.")

(starts singing) Blame Canada! Blame Canada!

well, i had an idea. since the front page of the site has some gaelic on it, maybe we could look up some gaelic words, modify them for english pronunciation and our purposes, and use a few of those?

INVADE CANADA!

Yes, we Texans should secede from the US and annex Canada!

PariahPoet wrote:INVADE CANADA!

Yes, we Texans should secede from the US and annex Canada!

Really? Even with Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota in between Texas and Canada?

Heh. Silly Tejans.

Terastas wrote:

PariahPoet wrote:INVADE CANADA!

Yes, we Texans should secede from the US and annex Canada!

Really? Even with Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota in between Texas and Canada?

Heh. Silly Tejans.

Sure. They'll just grab those up on the way there.

I like Silver's use of slang, but there is a bit of trouble and danger to using slang around non-werewolves. it might be overlooked for the most part, but overuse could draw unwanted attention. a werewolf hunter might pick up on it after observing folks for a while and use it as a tracking method

so use of any slang would be usually expressed with other members of the pack or werewolves, and sometimes there could be a slip of the tongue. when trying to meet other werewolves and unsure of who is and who isn't a ww, a small bit a slang and code probably be used.

Were: "Yeah tomarrow night I'm going out to get some tail"
Bob: " well good luck man, I know tomarrow night is Full moon Maddess at Margaritas ( http://www.margs.com/ ) gonna be lots of college girls there"
Were: "Really? sounds like alot of fun, hope i'll be the only rooster in the henhouse"
Bob: -grins and chuckles- "you might be a rooster, but i'm more like a fox"

Well, I think that slang would probably pop up no matter what, but I don't think it would run as rampant as many authors of horror think;) I mean, look at the general american culture. 'Slang' usually does not show up in 'sub-cultures' but in culture as a whole, and once it shows up, it either dies out quickly due to dissuse, or it spreads and soon everyone is using it.
Now CODE, on the other hand, is something that shows up in just about every minority group, every group of people that want to keep a secret, and 'double-talk' is the most common.
So I don't think you'd see much real 'slang', although each pack, depending on area/country/etc, might have a word or two, but it would probably differ from group to group.
However, code words would probably show up almost immediatly, carry over easily, and be almost impossible to catch by outsiders. Look at codes taht were used in war or the like, the ones that were never truely figured out are the ones that use pre-existing words/sentences in the way they're 'usually' used, thus they only have 'extra' meaning to someone that already knows.

So... yeah, I'm rambling... and rambling one handed on top of it ;)
Slang=no, I don't think we'd really see that occuring for WWs on the whole
Code=I'm 100% certain that this would show up and likely carry over from individual to indivudual and pack to pack.

Also, to bazterdize a quote from Heinlien's Citizen of the galaxy. 'Every culture has a word for 'my people' and a word that means 'someone else'. And there's usually a 'polite ersion' of everybody else, and a 'scumbag' version'
Yes, I wince at how badly I ripped that up... But in my defence it's been four years since I last read 'Citizen' (puppies ate it )

So odds are WWs would have a, generally, standerized code. they would also have words for 'my people/WWs' and 'everybody else' and they probably would have two versions of the 'everybody else'. One nice, one nasty. It's just the way language and the human (or whatever;) mindset works.

-Alteron

Alteron wrote:Well, I think that slang would probably pop up no matter what, but I don't think it would run as rampant as many authors of horror think;) I mean, look at the general american culture. 'Slang' usually does not show up in 'sub-cultures' but in culture as a whole, and once it shows up, it either dies out quickly due to dissuse, or it spreads and soon everyone is using it.
Now CODE, on the other hand, is something that shows up in just about every minority group, every group of people that want to keep a secret, and 'double-talk' is the most common.
So I don't think you'd see much real 'slang', although each pack, depending on area/country/etc, might have a word or two, but it would probably differ from group to group.
However, code words would probably show up almost immediatly, carry over easily, and be almost impossible to catch by outsiders. Look at codes taht were used in war or the like, the ones that were never truely figured out are the ones that use pre-existing words/sentences in the way they're 'usually' used, thus they only have 'extra' meaning to someone that already knows.

So... yeah, I'm rambling... and rambling one handed on top of it ;)
Slang=no, I don't think we'd really see that occuring for WWs on the whole
Code=I'm 100% certain that this would show up and likely carry over from individual to indivudual and pack to pack.

Also, to bazterdize a quote from Heinlien's Citizen of the galaxy. 'Every culture has a word for 'my people' and a word that means 'someone else'. And there's usually a 'polite ersion' of everybody else, and a 'scumbag' version'
Yes, I wince at how badly I ripped that up... But in my defence it's been four years since I last read 'Citizen' (puppies ate it )

So odds are WWs would have a, generally, standerized code. they would also have words for 'my people/WWs' and 'everybody else' and they probably would have two versions of the 'everybody else'. One nice, one nasty. It's just the way language and the human (or whatever;) mindset works.

-Alteron

I agree with nearly everything here. Slang is hard to create, it just kind of happens, and my suspension of disbelief is often strained in works of fiction where absolutely everyone has a well-polished lexicon of werewolf slang.

But code, that would not only happen easier, there would be some situations where you might need it to save your life.

I know in the book "the Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Stuab

the werewolf character Wolf said that when the change was near that he was "going with the moon" I like that kinda term

Resurrecting a dead topic...

I've found myself mentally using the phrase "land sushi" to describe what werewolves might jokingly refer to their human friends in their company. (Inevitably, purists will point out that that's only valid if people are served over rice, otherwise they're "land sashimi.")

The more insulting, behind-the-back term that werewolves might use for plain humans might be "pig-monkey." Pig, because humans smell and taste a lot like pork. (Don't ask how I know this. Just take my word for it.) And, monkey for the primate part. Radicals might use this term insultingly towards all people, but more often, it would probably get used towards people with poor hygene, since one with an enhanced sense of smell would be particularly eager to avoid such people.