Thoughts On Wolfspeak?

[EvilSock]

I'm seeing this more, and more, and more lately. Not just on FeralHeart, but everywhere.

To those who are unfamiliar with the term: Wolfspeak/horsespeak is like a style of writing where people replace words with more "creative" and "fancy" words. For example: Orbs instead of eyes. Fae instead of female. Brute instead of male. Dial instead of head. Facade instead of "front". Vixen instead of female. Alphess/alphaess instead of female alpha. Banner instead of tail. Pillars instead of legs. Auds instead of ears. The list goes on.

Here's an abrupt sample of 'Wolfspeak'. I used to roleplay like this, once upon a dream:
The muscled femmora poses 'pon slender pedates, her silken peltry colorless of tint. Midnight luminaries reflecting with amore, and auditors pricked atop her fragile bodice. Gelid sunkissed oculars coruscate with luster 'neath cilia of sapphire. The fae rotates 'pon suant pillars, harks alert and options a-gleam. Dusky canvas of ashen dye flickers o'er her sleek formation.
Yeah. It's very pretty, flowy and poetry-ish, but still an abomination to the English language. Not to mention all that butchered Latin.

Wolfspeak orginated from WolfQuest, namely where players were limited to a certain vocabulary and so had to make up their own words. They then migrated to Wetpaint where they continued to use the same words, but amplifying it and torturing the thesaurus to the absolute limit. Other roleplayers picked up on this, thinking it was cool and a good way to stop repetition in their posts, not to mention the peer pressure.

I know this because I was guilty of being one of the many 'wolfspeakers', at the time I was naive and just wanted to fit in. I wanted to be cool, like the cool kids with their cool writing that made absolutely no sense. But who cares. I WAS COOL.
... No I wasn't.

I'm a complete English fanatic, and once I realised the words I was using were grammatically incorrect, a part of me died inside. Although I should've known that anyways. Here is a list of words I digged up, along with their actual definitions. The following resorce is from my own website: http://www.sanguisdesert.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=8

I do not find it "elite writing" nor do I find it "creative and new". I find it rather silly and just... It really tweaks my stitches, especially is the user claims they're mad about grammar, in which case they're officially a hypocite. I really don't think that popping open the thesaurus makes your writing more creative, different and unique. Half the time it makes one sound silly, illiterate, and it's just wrong. I would also like to point out that half of the words used in wolfspeak/horsespeak are not words. Auds is not a word. Alphess/alphaess is not a word. For those of you who do like and use wolfspeak, why do you use it? I really am curious. Not intending to bash anyone, I'm just genuinely intrigued.

[Stormfrontier]

So that's what it's called. I've roleplayed with people who've used it before, and it never made any sense to me. I do use 'fea' and 'brute' though.

[CloudFish]

You still do use some of it. Can't knock that? Harhar.

It makes me cringe. And I wasn't even aware the words others were using weren't even words. I just thought them extremely weird or pro-nerdy-fins.

[EvilSock]

I used to, not anymore though. I just use long words to annoy you, dear Fish.

And mhhm, recently people are literally combining terms to make new jibberish. E.g. 'Femora' and 'Fatale' to make 'Femtale' and such. Yaay.

[Stormfrontier]

Not excessively though. As I said, most of it doesn't make any sense to me.

[NuclearParadox]

I refuse to roleplay with people who use wolfspeak.  It just irritates me too much, not to mention that it's confusing.

(Also, I don't think it originated on WolfQuest, seeing as I've been seeing people use wolfspeak since my earliest rping days, before the game was even out.)

[EvilSock]

Oh?
Well, perhaps I was misinformed, though I did research rather rigorously, plus it made sense. Bleeuurgh.

[shusuke]

I can tolerate things to an extent, but I have a really short fuse when people get fancy with certain terms, "orbs" being #1 on that list.

Though the major turn-off for me is that it reminds me of those fancy, long-winded romance fiction on FFN. Too many fancy words can really set off a Mary Sue-ish sort of air. --Actually if I remember correctly fancy details on an appearance really does have chances of turning your character into a Sue, I guess.

Why some people have to use so many adjectives for the color "beige" and "blue" I'll never understand. I'd just say "beige" or "light brown", "blue" or "light/dark blue", and put in a comparison for the shade ("His fur was disheveled and light coffee-brown, helping him blend in with the surroundings as he lay on the sand." "Her eyes were a cold gray-blue lifeless and devoid of any emotion.")

[Marilyn]

"Wolfspeak" irritates me to no end. I refuse to roleplay with people who use it. At all. With the exception of brute and fae. It may be immature of me, but who's the one making up nonsense terms? Though when I first saw it used, I saw occuli instead of eyes. I lost it on that person. >>

[Haruki]

I adapt some words to fit shifted meanings, almost like slang. For instance, I may use "prowess" to mean a stealthy leopard when it truly means business savvy. I've yet to see the word-butchering to that extent, though, with "turning 'pon limbs". I'm not really partial to that unless it is in directly quoted dialogue. It serves for more dialect instead of poetry to me.