[MR] Speaking Forsoothly ... was: Re: Were "Smalls" Children or "unmentionables"?

[Siegfried]

Actually, I'm surprised at how quickly Speaking Forsoothly has gone out 
of style.  It wasn't THAT many years ago, that classes were being taught 
at Pennsic about how to properly speak forsooth, when to come up with a 
name for something, and when is silly.  I know I was seeing classes 
still taught on the subject at least 5 years ago.

With some standard concepts such as:
car == land dragon || beast of burden || horse || wagon
airplane == dragon
cola == black mead
children == smalls
duct tape == flexible metal || that which gives life
telephone == farspeaker
cell phone == voices in your head

etc.

I sat in on one of those (many more years ago), and as was expressed 
then, many of the terms, yes, were kind of silly (children == smalls), 
but the concept was that by speaking 'differently', it got you into the 
SCA mindset, and that you were a different person, a different persona. 
  Something that many people don't often do.

*shrug*   I certainly understand the silliness of much of it, and the 
lack of period-ness.  But at the same time, I always kinda like the 
'cult language' that the SCA had.

But as I stated, it has rapidly disappeared.  At least on the east coast.

Siegfried




jbrmm266 at aol.com wrote:
>  BITD, when I was a newbie (aye, there WAS such a time!), there was a great deal of importance placed on what we called "speaking forsoothly."
>  
> Much of it consisted of using archaic expressions or made-up names for common items that did not sound "period."  One of the few that made any sense at all was the "farspeaker," a literal rendition of "telephone."
>  
> While I applaud the spirit of avoiding blatant modernisms, I cringe at some of the terms we used back then.
>  
> I really believe that if we simply avoid modern slang, use each others' persona names, and speak in a dignified way, we will capture the spirit of our time much more than we would by trying to "sound Mediaeval." Having studied Chaucer myself, I have some idea just how foreign that would sound to most of us!
>  
> Your servant aye
> Donal