No, said Aziraphale, it's ineffable.

chaumas-deactivated20230115

I think conlangs are cool as a concept but I also feel that an author has to earn the right to inflict them upon me. Subjecting me to your fake language is an intimate act and I expect to be wooed first by quality writing and immersive worldbuilding.

elodieunderglass

Oh, the “silflay hraka u embleer hrair” payoff

werewolf4vampire

elodieunderglass

I misquoted, it’s “u embleer rah” and it’s from Watership Down. The author went to a lot of trouble for the payoff so I won’t spoil it

theequeerstrian

Can someone spoil it please I don't have the time or energy to read much for leisure anymore and I hate getting left out of jokes

elodieunderglass

it isn’t so much of a joke but I get this!

- watership down is a book about rabbits. Their fictional language is called Lapine.

- in the book the language is revealed one word at a time with context and footnotes. It is reinforced much as one would teach a language, and the reader picks it up naturally. Different contexts and nuance are noted, like how rabbits can only found to four due to having four toes, so five-plus numbers are bundled into a word that can mean”five” or “a thousand”

- this sentence is the only one in the book entirely in Lapine and has no translation. At the point of reading it, the reader understands it.

- silflay = graze/grazing time , hraka = inedible droppings, embleer= fox musk, rah = leader.

- at a climactic scene, there is a scene where the terribly vulnerable protagonist rabbits are hiding in a burrow under siege by a horrifying fascist rabbit army. Their last, badly wounded fighter rabbit has wedged himself into the only entrance, and is defending it with surprising effectiveness. The vulnerable rabbits are variously disabled, mentally ill, injured and generally preparing for an inevitable ghastly death. The army is going into the narrow tunnel one by one to attack the fighter, but it’s a weirdly creepy situation, and they realise that when they do kill him, his corpse will prevent them from getting to the burrow anyway. A strange dread is coming over them. The terrifying fascist leader suggests that the fighter just come out and be torn to pieces quickly rather than slowly. The fighter rabbit replies, “silflay hraka U embleer rah,” the only Lapine sentence in the book, with no translation provided. The reader simultaneously understands it at once, knows that in this context it means “eat shit and die you bastard” - this feels quite daring for children, and their parents will never know because it’s in a secret language! - and it has one of those tolkienesque hope/horror feelings that wouldn’t have come through the same way in the reader’s own language.

- the rabbit in question is a very irritating himbo and this is a legendary moment where his deeply annoying character traits and development transcend him as a person. The defiance, the wilfulness of “tear me to pieces slowly; I hope you choke. My dead body will only be an inconvenience to you on your way to murder my friends; but I hope it’s deeply annoying” is quite resonant. He’s been a jerk to the protagonists for the whole book, and then he goes and DOES THIS for them. Adams set it up well! Tragic defiance from a jock!

- although this all sounds like one of those warrior cat books, it’s considered a classic piece of literature and widely read outside of the usual children’s genre, because the greater themes of tyranny/justice, state violence, refugees/home-building are considered to be well-handled. And there are some situations where built-up, epic, pointless tragic defiance hit well.

goadventuremaps

For this map we have a giant snake blocking the path of your characters. She is awake and hungry so a sandwich would not be a bad thing for her.The tail of the snake is free to move and give an occasional whip to any brave that approaches, but the most lethal is its venom, since it is capable of dissolving its prey in minutes.Will you be able to defeat this snake? Or, will you cowardly flee elsewhere?

There is much more on my Patreon , if you liked the map do not forget to take a look at my other maps:
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