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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 (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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Not excessively though. As I said, most of it doesn't make any sense to me.
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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.)
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Oh?
Well, perhaps I was misinformed, though I did research rather rigorously, plus it made sense. Bleeuurgh.
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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.")
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"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. >>
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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.
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I find some of it annoying, use simple words for my simple mind D:
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As pretty and fancy as that is, that's disgusting lol
It's just like adapting yourself to talk like any of the Trolls in Homestuck.
AnNoYiNg To ReAd AnD pOsSiBlY ImPoSsIbLe To ToLlErAtE wHeN uSeD ExCeSsIvElY.
MiRiClEs MaN.
But anyway.
As Shuske had said, using out-of-the-ordinary words like "Orbs" for eyes is trying to make your character sound like the most beautiful thing on the planet, or trying to impress.
Much like a Mary-Sue.
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Most of wolfspeak actually lacks plot. It's just all about your character in the sun/moonlight with the wind flowing through their fur and flowers popping up wherever they walk.
I don't believe it counts as a bridge for mary-sue/gary-stus however, though it may seem like it. Those types of characters can be found everywhere.
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I used to use it a lot. Like using orbs, tassel and so forth :I
The only real things I use anymore is fae, alphess and brute for a larger creature. xD
Everyonce in awhile I'll catch myself slip up and say orbs audits and spazz out :I
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I've seen this before, personally I think it's just "what on earth are you trying to say" and "you sound ridiculous please stop."
If I were ever in a rp with it, I don't think I could take it seriously because of how silly the terms get.
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Ah, I wondered about this. Didn't realize there was a name for it. XD I first noticed it when I started running a literate RP and noticed that all the samples I was getting sounded like something Shakespeare would write after a few pints. And that everyone was using the same weird synonyms.
It kind of bugs me, and I avoid using it myself... but to me it's better than the alternative of chatspeak, so I'm willing to deal with it.
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I've been roleplaying for years and never once used wolfspeak/horsespeak. I find it distasteful and avoid using it at all costs. However I will not discriminate against those who wish to use it. :P
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So that's what it's called! Good lord, it's like trying to read ye olde Shakespeare, except that Shakespeare had a sense of poetry and a clever way with words. This is just ridiculous, like a really dumb person trying to sound "deep" or "smart."
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I think it's OK, just if your RP is using it lots make sure you all agree on it so no one gets annoyed. On wolf Quest, I have never heard anyone talk like this, apart from alas for female and led for male. So I guess it moved to Feral Heart and out of Wolf Quest.
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The thing with wolfquest was years ago, before this new silly lexicon.
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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.
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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)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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I, aswell, refuse to Rp with people who use those types of words.
It irritates me so much, because most of the time, you don't understand anything the player is standing. It's like trying to read a different language. I do use a few more complicated words, but I keep it to a minimal. It's just that, some people are TO literate, that it makes me annoyed at there style of RPing.
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It would almost be nice if we just divided 'literate' and 'wolfspeak' into two categories and advertised accordingly, same as we do with literate/non-literate. Since some people like to use it, and it tends to read like an entirely different dialect of English, it seems like a logical solution.
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There's a fine line between having beautiful, descriptive RP's, and trying to make a new language. I feel like we're back during Shakespeare's time... darn telephone booths!
Sometimes I'll use a fancy word here or there in a description, but not overly-obsessively like wolfspeak... sheesh.
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When I'm in a literate roleplay, I often find myself getting a little flowery with my language(gotta love them adjectives!), but wolfspeak has never entered into my vocabulary. It confuses me to no end! Only yesterday, I got into a spontaneous RP with two wolves in a cave, and when one of them described my character as a "brute", the first thing I thought was that they were implying my character was violent and stupid. I had no idea that they simply meant "male wolf".
It would almost be nice if we just divided 'literate' and 'wolfspeak' into two categories and advertised accordingly, same as we do with literate/non-literate. Since some people like to use it, and it tends to read like an entirely different dialect of English, it seems like a logical solution.
I like this suggestion actually, because then everyone could easily enter into/avoid whichever dialect they want.
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When I'm in a literate roleplay, I often find myself getting a little flowery with my language(gotta love them adjectives!), but wolfspeak has never entered into my vocabulary. It confuses me to no end! Only yesterday, I got into a spontaneous RP with two wolves in a cave, and when one of them described my character as a "brute", the first thing I thought was that they were implying my character was violent and stupid. I had no idea that they simply meant "male wolf".
I agree. I tend to use larger words when posting on the forums and the in-game RP, but I never use wolfspeak. I always end up feeling like I'm in the Medieval times or something. The RPers also make me feel stupid when they describe the word I didn't understand by explaining it so "logically" and like everyone these days should know what it means.
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Personally, I hate Wolfspeak/Horsespeak. I (usually) can't understand a word of it and it generally just annoys me. (I am fine with people saying 'Fae' or 'Brute'. I see it rather often, and I just kind of got used to it.) The only time I ever use Wolfspeak myself is when I'm rping as my Night Crawler character Dark, and even then it's only the word 'orbs' instead of 'eyes'. I do that for descriptive purposes; Dark's eyes are literally neon-green, glowing orbs. It makes sense and I like it.
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I actually like the terms 'brute' and 'fae'. It gives an animal rp an exotic touch and a feeling of culture, like Richard Adams did iwith his bunny societies in Watership Down.
But I still stand by what I said in my earlier post. I do NOT like Wolfspeak.
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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.
Kill it with fire.
If I feel like being fancy, I raid a thesaurus and still cross-check definitions, but RARELY. I used to use wolfspeak and sometimes still use pelt and a few others, bu nothing as bad as daggers, boa, tassel optics, etc. because that's when it crosses the line into stupid.
It just helps to know proper english when roleplaying. Hell, Femme; "Noun:
A lesbian or a male homosexual who takes a traditionally feminine sexual role."
Femme Fatale: Noun:
An attractive and seductive woman, esp. one who will ultimately bring disaster to a man who becomes involved with her.
Femme Fatale can be used, it's not wolfspeak, just... don't misuse it.
Brute: brute/bro?ot/
Noun:
A savagely violent person or animal: "he was a cold-blooded brute".
Adjective:
Unreasoning and animallike.
Brute is reasonable to use within limits.
Everything else is just incorrect; I may get fancy with my posts and take my time writing them, but rarely ever do I do... that anymore.
I do like showing up my boyfriend with my posts, though. I hope it eventually rubs off on him. (He's a newbie at roleplaying. me personally? 13 years since Oct. 11th. I just get lazy.)
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So this is what wolfspeak is.
Personally, I don't like it. I am on WolfQuest, but I never knew they used wolfspeak.
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This, unless you're a godly roleplayer or some type of prodigy and complicated, floofy posts come naturally and quickly to you. And most of the time that doesn't happen. ESPECIALLY in a fast-paced chat.
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When it comes to using descriptive adjectives, I think there's a fine line when too much is too much. And even then it begins to sound ridiculous.
Personally I think when people start using incredibly "flowery" adjectives, it's offputting because they sound eliteist and showoffy. No offense.
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It's improper use, a metaphor is a metaphor, and those are acceptable when allowed, but in roleplay you don't want to use metaphors too much, or you look like an idiot and/or a showoff, and I find that being able to write with plain english is just perfectly fine, especially when I have experience roleplaying a variety of genres. You learn from roleplaying variety, and also, read some books; look how sentences are constructed to paint a mental image of a scene and learn to do that as well, because a lot of people don't seen to do that.
Hence why I said it isn't that bad if they're not doing it too much x3
I personally, if I wanted to compare my character's tail and teeth like a banner and dagger, would put it in this way:
The scent had carried to her the presence of two, two that were not strangers but allies. Raising her tail like a banner, she smiled softly and quickened her pace. When they came into view her smile had widened, teeth gleaming like daggers in the sunlight.
Typing it the other way was more painful...
Anyway, that's the point I was getting across that some forms of "wolfspeak" I don't mind, and though I have a lot of dislikes about it I've also seen where people go berserk when they see someone else using it, and they're just insulting and criticizing instead of trying to help those people improve especially if they're still new.
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I will never know why people use "wolfspeak" in wolf roleplays. I would like to know if it was inspired from a novel, or a book, or.... who know's what?
I also wonder why they can't use words like "she-wolf" "eyes" etc.
My answer is, I'm not a fan of it. I NEVER use it whenever I do any wolf roleplays.
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Ever since I discovered what 'Wolfspeak' was, I stopped using it. I found out when I joined one of CloudFish's role-plays, and I was thankful to find out what the words actually meant.
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I only encountered wolfspeak when I came back from a very long hiatus, and saw 'fae'. I assumed it meant fairy. 8v. Because that's what people in our age call a fairy. Female wolf is fine to me, and I never used wolfspeak. Saw someone use it once and actually said 'so, you like shoving nonsensical words into your typing? How do you do in English? F-?' It makes zero sense to me as to why someone would over complicate an already confusing language (to someone who has never even tried saying hello in English, it can be difficult to understand. And don't get me started on 'to, too, two much'.
edit; I have seen maw and ivories, and those are perfectly fine, because, as a grammar nazi, I know what those meant from the getgo. Those aren't 'wolfspeak', those are just descriptive words. 'He opened his maw wide, his ivories glinting in the ethereal sunlight that shone from the rancid sky'. Too hard to understand? 8v
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It sort of is, I don't think "maw" is, but "ivories" is getting close, though it isn't as silly as some other terms that could be used.
I'd more associate the word "ivories" with pianos more than wolf teeth |D XD
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To be honest, I find this so-called "Wolfspeak", to be rather silly. What sense does it make, anyway? Like "lanterns" instead of eyes. Who the hell would know what you're even talking about, anyway?
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To be honest, I find this so-called "Wolfspeak", to be rather silly. What sense does it make, anyway? Like "lanterns" instead of eyes. Who the hell would know what you're even talking about, anyway?
Some things require a bit of ingenuity, others are just plain foolish.
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I barely understood that paragraph you wrote with Wolfspeak.
Anyways, I'm not a Wolfspeaker myself. I didn't even know that thats what's all these strange words were about until I read this thread. Anyways, I don't exactly like it, but I can handle it if there's not too much.
I ran into some Wolfspeakers earlier today and I was like, what? What is your banner? and what do you mean by pillars? Well, I'm quite glad that I don't play WolfQuest anymore, I might've ended up as a Wolfspeaker. No offence or anything.
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I just joined a rather good rp. Literate, a good dash of brutality(just like my dear iDegeneks, but with less torture XD)
But this one guy. He's ruining it. All of his posts are in fluent wolfspeak.
He just said "acoustics" to mean ears. NO. NO.
It's seriously affecting my ability to enjoy this rp. I think someone suggested earlier that in adverts, group leaders should specify whether or not wolfspeak is allowed. This is a FANTASTIC idea. This guy....ugh, I can't. I can't even.
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I just joined a rather good rp. Literate, a good dash of brutality(just like my dear iDegeneks, but with less torture XD)
But this one guy. He's ruining it. All of his posts are in fluent wolfspeak.
He just said "acoustics" to mean ears. NO. NO.
It's seriously affecting my ability to enjoy this rp. I think someone suggested earlier that in adverts, group leaders should specify whether or not wolfspeak is allowed. This is a FANTASTIC idea. This guy....ugh, I can't. I can't even.
I am unable to can.
... But seriously. I understand how you feel. :/ I hate when people do that. Dictionary/thesaurus abuse in mass amounts shouldn't be okay. :I
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I barely understood that paragraph you wrote with Wolfspeak.
Anyways, I'm not a Wolfspeaker myself. I didn't even know that thats what's all these strange words were about until I read this thread. Anyways, I don't exactly like it, but I can handle it if there's not too much.
I ran into some Wolfspeakers earlier today and I was like, what? What is your banner? and what do you mean by pillars? Well, I'm quite glad that I don't play WolfQuest anymore, I might've ended up as a Wolfspeaker. No offence or anything.
That wasn't wolfspeak, that was the most common uses of just plain rp chat I have seen, and ivories /is/ correct. If you have ever read 'The Sight', it uses a lot of 'wolfspeak' terms that are easy to understand. Same with 'Fell'.
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I remember being in a really good pack once. Then some wolfspeaker started the trend... that ruined it for me.
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Sometimes people talk like they've swallowed a thesaurus and use words that are rather fancy and don't come in up conversation often, and I don't have a problem with people using advanced vocabulary. What does annoy is when people use more 'creative' words, and make their sentence grammatically incorrect because the definition of the word is totally out of context with what they are writing! Sometimes I feel like shoving a dictionary down their throat!!
Ok, rant over. XD
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I just joined a rather good rp. Literate, a good dash of brutality(just like my dear iDegeneks, but with less torture XD)
But this one guy. He's ruining it. All of his posts are in fluent wolfspeak.
He just said "acoustics" to mean ears. NO. NO.
It's seriously affecting my ability to enjoy this rp. I think someone suggested earlier that in adverts, group leaders should specify whether or not wolfspeak is allowed. This is a FANTASTIC idea. This guy....ugh, I can't. I can't even.
A few months back, I led a roleplay where I specifically stated in my advertisements wolfspeak was not allowed, yet I still had to sift through purple prose and wolfspeak in roleplay samples because some people are using it and don't even know what it's called. Ugh, what a traumatizing experience. ;_;
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I remember being in a pack that used words like Orbs for eyes, sattilites for ears, and pillars/columns for legs. I couldn't take it. I'm alright with words like "fae", "banner", and "maw" because you can at least figure out what the floof they're saying.
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Luckily for me, I think there's only one person in the RP I'm in that uses 'wolf-speak' so I can tolerate it. I just hope no one else gets into the habit or I might start having a rage at them xD
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I hate it, half the words they use don't mean what they think they do, why would pillars mean legs? and how is it a wolfie word? I don't mind 'optics' for eyes, I hate fae and banner. For me the words has to at least have something to do with what they're referring too.
I had someone in my RP that was that bad we just could not understand a word he was saying.
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I do not encourage wolfspeak in my RPs. Actually, it's been banned in my pack because of an experience that was quite ammusing, but annoying at the same time. Someone was trying to explain there was an intruder, but he used obsessive wolfspeak and we never did figure out where the intruder was or who it was because of that. I thought it would make my members more understandable.
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Very rarely I will use orbs for eyes, and only then it's because I want to put emphasis on my char's eyes. If that makes any sense. xD
"Loss stared down the intruder. Her strange eyes appeared to be nothing more than amethyst orbs in the moonlight."
I shamelessly use the word alphess, because I think it is a term everyone understands (and I think it sounds cooler than female alpha). xD
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'Alphess' though I hate the word I think is acceptable, I'd not use it myself, but the 'ess' part makes it understandable since 'ess' is on most female related words like lioness, princess.. Mistress.
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Of all the wolfspeak words I've come across, "alphess" is by far the least offensive. I even used it myself before I even knew what wolfspeak was XD it makes sense, unlike much of the vocabulary.
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I actually thought 'alphess' was a proper term because people used it so often. xD