Feral Heart

Game & Forum Discussion => Game Discussion => Topic started by: avarigriffin on February 11, 2013, 06:41:08 am

Title: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: avarigriffin on February 11, 2013, 06:41:08 am
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: Thexy on February 11, 2013, 08:17:39 am: I used to use the wolf terms on wet-paint, I believe it originated there. I stay away from them now, and use the basic words. Very well written, and I totally agree with you. Most "literate" roleplays now are just gibberish to me.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: RavenShai on February 11, 2013, 10:50:11 am: Well thought out "rant", I have to say, and very well put. No need to worry on this, many within the FH community usually loathe the ones who use this "language", as you put it, for the very same reasons as you do.

Actually, referring it as The Secret Language of FeralHeart isn't 100% accurate. What you're talking about is more commonly known as Wolfspeak, which generated from WolfQuest mostly. It was there most wolf RPs took place and when FH came out, a lot of the packs and members there migrated here and along with them the language they had invented. I believe the reason why these words were used in the first place was because the chat filter in WQ was, basically, horrid. You couldn't even say "she" or "he". So, everyone had to use different words to form a proper sentence and understand one another. By then, though, it became popular and many more have started using Wolfspeak and making pack sites through Wetpaint and continuing it from there, before eventually coming here. So though a good many in FH use it, a lot of us dislike it as well.

Though I suppose it isn't necessarily Wolfspeak anymore since it's not only wolf characters using them nowadays haha.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: Nemena on February 11, 2013, 02:47:56 pm: Lovely and well-written rant; I do agree with every word! This topic (http://www.feral-heart.com/index.php?option=com_jfusion&Itemid=2&jfile=index.php&topic=32034.0) might interest you, too!

At least, if it's any consolation, the people who use such language are generally ignored outside their circle of friends and groups; it's rare to see one instigating roleplay with a stranger- especially since the chances of them being understood is marginal. The chances of them being published writers is even smaller; every publishing company I've encountered would flat-out decline them, no questions asked. I've never seen any works of fiction that use such complex language; they'd lack an audience entirely, especially since no one would understand their writing.

The only thing that irritates me most is that they use extensive words incorrectly. I've a broad vocabulary myself and a degree- and even I struggle to work out what they've written! Luckily, it's easily avoided, and the 'Wolfspeakers' generally leave (often with an insult- they react terribly to criticism) when you state you're incapable of understanding their roleplay. I genuinely hope one of their teachers sets them straight! Imagine if they wrote an essay... Even so, they're usually teenagers with thesaurus.com open on another window. One of my braver friends (a published poet!) tends to quiz them on the words they use; they often state the wrong definition entirely in response. :D

There are brilliant roleplays in FeralHeart, though! Some of the groups I've joined ban such language. Luckily, this game has a marvellous block feature- once someone's on it, you never have to deal with that particular person again. Mine's filled with many-a-Wolfspeaker, for my own sanity! Ficho Tunnel's now a tolerable roleplaying area; the worst offenders I've seen when passing by are all safely blocked and hidden from view. :P

(Disclaimer: I'm completely fine with the fact that everyone has their own roleplaying style. As long as they do what they enjoy, I'm happy for them- even if it's something I personally dislike. :D)

(http://i.imgur.com/sgFgOzv.png)

TL;DR: Woflspeakers are 'illiterate', even in the world of FH. At least, to me.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: Silvertide on February 12, 2013, 01:10:26 am: Nemena, I could barely understand what that picture is talking about. I haven't encountered someone like that yet. :'D
Anyways, I completely agree with your rant. I was actually laughing at the irony in various points of the rant while I was reading it. When I was in this wetpaint pack, I had been RPing for months and months, and then I said something about me being literate and the entire group was like. "Uhh, you're not literate." And I was like. "D:" I was so freaking confused. I thought I had been literate all that time. So they gave me this link to this page on a site, FULL of 'wolfspeak' and their definitions. They made me study it and use the words more regularly. So it turns out I was more or so the literate one and they were the messed up ones using awkward vocabularly. >.>
I can't stand 'wolfspeak.'
I see people on FH use it all the time, and it makes them seem more literate but I can barely understand what they are trying to say. XP I prefer more story-like RPing if you understand what I mean.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: catsanddogsandbirds on February 12, 2013, 01:55:48 am: This is wonderfully written! Wow.
Anyway, I completely agree with you. Wolfspeak has migrated from wolves to lions, saying things like "The sun-colored lioness opened and closed her optic orbs at the shining crimson substance that seeped out of her muscly appendages." So...they mean that a lion blinked at blood on her leg? But migrating from lions, wolfspeak eventually reached all the far corners of FeralHeart. Dragons, gryphons, birds, faes (is that wolfspeak?), and other creatures created on FeralHeart began using it to describe their eyes, horns, feet, legs, wings, feathers, skin, scales, teeth, and mostly their color. Things like "crimson" really irritate me, since I never even knew what the color meant until I saw someone refer to it as "crimson blood" I had always thought that crimson was blue. :P Silly me.

Anywho, nice explaining!
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: WhiteLightHeart on February 12, 2013, 02:07:06 am: Indeed... Having been roleplaying for years, I've seen my share of wolfspeakers, but never to the extreme that Nemena had seen.
I mean, that's just...
It's not being a writer, it just makes you look like a prententious fluff who likes to seem high and mighty by using words native english speakers have to break out a dictionary for, to even begin to comprehend. I don't mean to be bitter, or anything, but...
Yanno. If you want to be poetic about your roleplay posts, make an art out of it, and make it descriptive, but not so ridiculously blooming that nobody gets what you're trying to convey.

That stoof. xD Floofs be crazy, I guess. While I'm not totally against using a metaphor or two in my writing, that might be classified as 'wolfspeak' (perhaps describing a character's eyes as 'shining, silver orbs that glistened like dewdrops' [or something xD]), moderation and tastefulness is key in my book.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: SummerGlade on February 12, 2013, 02:15:04 am: Finally someone with sense. <3
I'm trying to knock anyone who uses Wolfspeak; it's actually a very clever way to avoid the filters on games like Wolf Quest. But, this isn't Wolf Quest, so they should learn to roleplay like actual literate people, not "Wolfspeak literate" people. I hate it when a group says they're literate but then they go around using malapropisms. It's a little scary sometimes.
A few that really get under my skin are cranium and terra. Cranium is not your head, like you stated, and terra is land, not just dirt or soil.
But, I do love it, in a way. I just like how it's... different. I love watching people roleplay like that. It just proves that everyone's not as smart as they like to think they are.
I liked the points you made and I hope this comes to the attention of these Wolfspeakers and they get some knowledge shoved through their thick, proud skulls. ;3
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: catsanddogsandbirds on February 12, 2013, 02:31:01 am: Quote from: SummmerGlade on February 12, 2013, 02:15:04 am
Finally someone with sense. <3
I'm trying to knock anyone who uses Wolfspeak; it's actually a very clever way to avoid the filters on games like Wolf Quest. But, this isn't Wolf Quest, so they should learn to roleplay like actual literate people, not "Wolfspeak literate" people. I hate it when a group says they're literate but then they go around using malapropisms. It's a little scary sometimes.
A few that really get under my skin are cranium and terra. Cranium is not your head, like you stated, and terra is land, not just dirt or soil.
But, I do love it, in a way. I just like how it's... different. I love watching people roleplay like that. It just proves that everyone's not as smart as they like to think they are.
I liked the points you made and I hope this comes to the attention of these Wolfspeakers and they get some knowledge shoved through their thick, proud skulls. ;3

You mean thick, proud craniums. :3
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: SummerGlade on February 12, 2013, 06:29:18 pm: Quote from: Twizzlerr on February 12, 2013, 02:31:01 am
Quote from: SummmerGlade on February 12, 2013, 02:15:04 am
Finally someone with sense. <3
I'm trying to knock anyone who uses Wolfspeak; it's actually a very clever way to avoid the filters on games like Wolf Quest. But, this isn't Wolf Quest, so they should learn to roleplay like actual literate people, not "Wolfspeak literate" people. I hate it when a group says they're literate but then they go around using malapropisms. It's a little scary sometimes.
A few that really get under my skin are cranium and terra. Cranium is not your head, like you stated, and terra is land, not just dirt or soil.
But, I do love it, in a way. I just like how it's... different. I love watching people roleplay like that. It just proves that everyone's not as smart as they like to think they are.
I liked the points you made and I hope this comes to the attention of these Wolfspeakers and they get some knowledge shoved through their thick, proud skulls. ;3

You mean thick, proud craniums. :3

Yes, that's exactly what I meant. x3
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: Emotcionz on February 12, 2013, 09:33:10 pm: I honestly can't handle "wolfspeak"

They sound quite stupid and strange when they say and try to act fancy.

Well done.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: Genesis9 on February 12, 2013, 09:54:11 pm: Well said!
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: BouncyLion101 on February 14, 2013, 06:28:22 am: This is my favorite rant in my history of reading rants. :D

Wolfspeak is just so confusing and awkward, every time I see a person roleplaying like that I just want to show them the true definitions of the words and how their sentence makes no sense.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: SilverTW on February 14, 2013, 12:30:08 pm: I agree with ya' all.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: GhostlyJasper on February 15, 2013, 09:21:11 pm: yeah, ive played WQ,got bored,hated it because of Wolfspeak,and got rid of it. my friend started ranting at me for it;so i hate her now,but i seriously just thought FH was, well, WAYYYY better.oh, and i like how descriptive this is! way more decsriptive than my report on a country........
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: .Revolution. on February 15, 2013, 09:54:25 pm: Lots of people call this "wolfspeak" or something of the sort. I hate it. Why can't they use "tail", "teeth", "ears", "paws". That doesn't decrease literacy. It's just actually KNOWN by lots of the other RP'ers in FeralHeart. I completely understand and agree with your rant. Just people trying to be creative, I guess.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: SoulRevenge on February 15, 2013, 10:31:16 pm: Oh yeah~ someone else hates this almost as much as I do~

However, not ALL of FeralHeart uses this "Secret Language"- also known as wolfspeak, which orginated from WolfQuest, which seemed content on filtering literally EVERYTHING related to gender, sexuality, etc. . . which I find ironic, considering the fact that in the single-player game, you basicly just looked for a mate- which is another word that was fiiltered.

I suppose that because several members from WolfQuest began to use these incorrect terms (Some in which were unnesarily created- such as the whole "cranium" for head, and pillars for "legs or paws"), they have managed to wriggle their way into FeralHeart aswell- a common term for this would be the infamous "wolfspeak". As stated before me, they should know that FeralHeart isn't filtered AT ALL, so these terms do NOT have to be used.

I've always found the whole code-words for "male", "female" or "mate" (I believe the code-word for that in WQ was "meat"- which, believe or not, was ALSO filtered,) to be entirely okay, when used in WolfQuest. . . however, this isn't WolfQuest; you don't have to use these.

People need to know that NORMAL TERMS such as the usual "she", "he" "head", etc. . . actually make them appear a bit more intelligient than when they use these stupid terms that do not even MEAN what they are reffering to- and often times it simply confuses people, seeing that the word's defintions aren't entirely clear, especially in the manner in which they describe them- I highly doubt that you would ever picture a wolf waving his "banner" in the air without thinking- "Wait, what?!" first.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: catsanddogsandbirds on February 16, 2013, 01:11:50 pm: Okay, so just in Sky Rim, I saw some black, dragon-eared wolf saying this:

"He laid his receptors back and his orbs glowed with hate."

XP I said "Oh hey a wolfspeaker :I"
He was just like "Whateva >:O" I think he was thinking "Yea, jealous?"
"Uhno." xD
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: shootmedown on February 16, 2013, 02:00:22 pm: Completely agreeable! The wolfspeak makes no apparent sense. I was once in a Warrior Cats RP, mapless and supposedly "literate." But I caught one cat, instead of saying things like, "Eats the meat," (which isn't literate at all, but it would've done, I suppose) said, "ooh nom nom nom" like a complete idiot, then started using wolfspeak. Another cat, also, was using wolfspeak, saying, "She moved her cranium up to the blue, and bared her ivories at the blaze star." It was so awkward, I had to correct her. She just said, "ur jealous of my skillz, arent u?" It was SO HORRIBLE. I left quickly after that, facepalm-ing all over the house.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: SoulRevenge on February 16, 2013, 02:04:04 pm: Quote from: Twizzlerr on February 16, 2013, 01:11:50 pm
Okay, so just in Sky Rim, I saw some black, dragon-eared wolf saying this:

"He laid his receptors back and his orbs glowed with hate."

XP I said "Oh hey a wolfspeaker :I"
He was just like "Whateva >:O" I think he was thinking "Yea, jealous?"
"Uhno." xD

Receptors? Really? I think those are like legs. . but I'd have to look it up on google.
-Flees-
-Returns-

Alright, I'm just. . dying whilst laughing at the definition and how this user used it.

Possible Definitions of 'Receptor'--

Cellular

   Sensory receptor, in physiology, any structure which, on receiving environmental stimuli, produces an informative nerve impulse

Molecular

   Receptor (biochemistry), in biochemistry, a protein molecule that receives and responds to a neurotransmitter, or other substance

Telecommunication

   Receiver (radio), a device for the reception of electromagnetic signals
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: catsanddogsandbirds on February 16, 2013, 02:14:38 pm: xDD I think the wolf meant it as his ears, so he was 1/3 correct. Since it does pick up "environmental stimuli" I guess and then "produces an informative nerve impulse" to the brain so it interprets it as "sound". Sooo....he could've just said:

"He laid his organs that pick up environmental stimuli and then produce an informative nerve impulse to the brain so it interprets it as sound back and his other organs that pick up environmental stimuli and then produce an informative nerve impulse to the brain so it interprets it as sight glowed with hate."

xD
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: shusuke on February 16, 2013, 02:47:28 pm: The thing about WolfQuest is that they didn't entirely think through the multi-player function for their game, so when people started using those every day terms for non-age-appropriate-things [almost all every-day words were used in some nasty way on there, I've seen it back when the words won't so evil, it was gross].

A large amount of words were removed just from people saying "This should be removed!" in their lexicon thread. They never set regulations for it, like "how many times do our users run into this? Is it common? Does it happen often? Or is it ever few games or so?" They would just take the word that someone's blacklisted and remove it from the lexicon, and in the end this wound up making people look for a vocabulary.

If you look at the birthdays on the bottom of the forum's index page occasionally you'd get what I mean. Some people are way over the intended age range.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: catsanddogsandbirds on February 16, 2013, 03:09:07 pm: Quote from: Shusuke on February 16, 2013, 02:47:28 pm
If you look at the birthdays on the bottom of the forum's index page occasionally you'd get what I mean. Some people are way over the intended age range.
They could be lying about their age. ^^ But then again, some probably aren't...lol
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: VintageBakeryXD on March 15, 2014, 01:21:02 am: I love this rant. Wolf-speakers are the worst!
Today, when I was roleplaying in one of my favorite clans, a new member said, "He lays, and his cigarette shifts to the other side of his maw. His orbs gleams, and his auds twitch. His tassel rests beside his frame, and he watches her with shining optics."
So I said, "In this roleplay the leader does not accept wolf-speak. Sorry."
They replied, "It isn't wolf-speak. It's grammar. I will not dumb down my posts."
I got so angry... It is NOT grammar. Aud is actually an abbreviation for the Australian dollar. Optics, as explained, does not mean eyes. Tassel is not a tail. Plus cats do not smoke cigarettes.
Next time I see him, I shall confront him. I'll ask him not to wolf-speak, and when he says it is grammar I'll tell him to search up the wolf-speak words and tell me the definitions. Then I'll search them myself.
Point one for the literate people.
Score-
0 wolf speakers
1 literates
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: WolfQueen on March 15, 2014, 04:05:07 am: /inb4 "BAWWWWW U DUNT LIEK WOOFSPEK? U STUPED BSTRD EVRY PRSUN HAZ HIZ/HUR OWNE RP STYL!!1!11!"

Quote from: BreadnButter on March 15, 2014, 01:21:02 am
They replied, "It isn't wolf-speak. It's grammar. I will not dumb down my posts."
Hey kids! This is why I hate wolfspeakers so much! ;D

Most of the time, they are rude little whiny babies that think they are so high and mighty using gibberish and old English words in the wrong tense. If they didn't whine like they always do I wouldn't hate them this much. But, they act like the "grown-ups" and throw insults when they are criticized, which isn't all mature at all.

I'm getting tired of people lashing out at me when I talk about this topic, saying "BAWWWW EVRY1 HAZ THER OWNE RP STYL STUPED!!11!". I know that, but wolf-speak is just wrong. Bunch of big words used in a free indie game like this isn't worth it. And plus they are often used incorrectly.
Title: Re: The Secret Language of FeralHeart
Post by: LordSuragaha on March 15, 2014, 07:09:20 am: Please do not necro old threads guys. Locking ~