Thoughts On Wolfspeak?

[triskadancer]

I hate wolfspeak, half the "terms" they use are incorrect and make it blatantly obvious they're just grabbing words at random from a thesaurus. Example, I once saw someone use "dial" as a synonym for their wolf's face. However, "dial" only = "face" if you're referring to the face of a CLOCK, not a wolf... Anyone who uses wolfspeak is generally just doing it to look smarter than they are or to fit in, and when half the words they use are wrong, it's stupid.

I never will understand why people would try to make their posts LESS easy to understand. You should make your roleplay interesting with interesting characters, not "interesting" language.

[Vallez]

I used to role play with wolf-speak a lot. I mean A LOT. But now a days, I just stick with eyes, ears, nose, and tail. I'm fine with people who use wolf-speak, because I think it is completely unfair to not role play with someone because of the terms they use. At least they aren't power playing. (No offense intended)

[Raz.]

Yeah, it IS unfair to not rp with someone because of terms. But on the other hand, it's impossible to rp with someone if you don't know what on earth they're reffering to.

[Vallez]

Yeah, it IS unfair to not rp with someone because of terms. But on the other hand, it's impossible to rp with someone if you don't know what on earth they're reffering to.

Very true as well. I understand where some of you are coming from.

[Okami-Shiranui]

Wolfspeak sounds like gibberish to me. e.e

One of my friends started talking like that, and I couldn't stand it.

I understood nothing she said.

[Bass]

I'm certainly familiar with wolfspeak, considering I came from Wetpaint (similar to webs.com, except better in my opinion if the roleplay is chat-based) before this. Wetpaint wolf roleplay was very hostile. The border between OOC and IC was very thin to nonexistent, making insults towards your character a direct insult towards the roleplayer. Each pack had its own website. The larger roleplays (which people simply referred to as "packs") even had a joining site, where the joiner would have to enter a chat and fight someone from the pack they are willing to join, or give a RP sample. If you failed the test you would either die on the spot (happened in my case, RP samples are now a dread for me) or your joining request would be denied. If one pack raided another, it was stress. 25 people in a tiny chat ready to murder each other and perhaps throw in some insults directed towards the roleplayer in an attempt to make them quit roleplay forever.

The terms used in wolfspeak usually have a faulty definition (e.g. eyes become 'lanterns', legs become 'pillars') to make them look fancy, no offense to any of its users out there. It's one of the few things I despise in roleplay.

[Milk and Cookiez]

Ah, Wolfspeak. Thanks for making this topic, didn't really know what it was. Let me tell you a story. Not a very good story, but whatever.

   So, anyway I was bored so I just made a wolf and joined the first group that advertesed a rp in Flourite. It was literate, realistic, blah blah blah. Anyway, we started rping after a bit, and the leader's paragraphs amazed me. Fancy little words here and there, 'Orbs, pillars, pearls.' Everyone was praising her, saying she must have been the best roleplayer ever. Unfortunatley, I was too, for I didn't know that those weren't even real words. I kind of feel embarrased for pushing people that do that on, praising them for not using real words. Thanks again for this topic, for if it didn't exist, I myself might have started doing it too...

[mistcat]

Aw man, I ran into this the other day! I was playing with a member of my pack who referred to her character as "Fae." Having never seen wolfspeak before, and because this was a fantasy roleplay, I assumed she meant her character was a fairy.
Oops.

[littlepinksprite]

I have not heard of Wolfspeak, or if I have not by that name. But after reading everything you posted my initial reaction was less happy. Then I realized, even though the written definitions do not make sense, they still convey the intended definition. They aren't official words, I believe they would be more categorized as a cultural lingo, or slang. Using this explanation, it sounds perfectly fine to me. It may not be very understandable by those who don't understand the riddled vocabulary, yes. Even a lot of our words have been adapted and created by misuse of grammar, spelling, and adjectives.

[Okami-Shiranui]

I used to roleplay on a site known as "Wolf-Haven". Our pack used wolfspeak often, and threatened to kick me if I didn't use it. I admit I failed at trying, and left by choice.