As some of our well-disposed readers (not the disposable ones) may remember, both authors of these tales hail from a certain alpine country where cheese and chocolate rule. The natives of said country tend to speak dialects sounding like elaborate gibberish to outsiders but making perfect sense to themselves — mostly. We will spare you the salacious details.*
The major advantage of having uncountable dialectic variants of the same language is a near-inexhaustible hoard of colorful swear words.
@jinnis, in an attempt to translate the word "bastard" into her dialect, used the perhaps slightly old-fashioned and probably inaccurate translation "schnudderi"**. This sent @RainerSalt into a laughing fit. In defense, @jinnis suggested different alternatives straight out of a song of one of her hometown's finest singer/songwriters.
https://youtu.be/Dk7ijRSp1WM
Okay, this is a cover version by another local band. Mani Matter, the songwriter, died way back in the seventies. But you get the gist—or not.
The song describes four characters getting into a fight about calling each other names. It's called "e löu, e blöde siech, e glünggi u ne sürmu oder schimpfwörter si glücksach."***
At this point, inspiration hit. @RainerSalt thought the names would befit the characters of a fantasy tale, and he kicked off our first attempt at that genre. Ready to take the concept of weirdness to a fantastical §level? Here we go!
The story is about King Löu, Lord Glünggi, and a wizard called Sürmu. Blödu Siech, a lowly peasant's son, is the one to set out on a quest to stop their dark plans.
_____
* As unspectacular as they might be. But sometimes, an author has to pull this trick to catch the reader's attention.
** "Schnudderi" might be loosely translated as "snotter".
*** The title of this song lists four commonly used insults and is nearly impossible to translate. The following is but a rough approximation: "A nitwit, a daft infirm, a puddle dweller, a nagger—or insults are a matter of luck."
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Tales Between the Lines
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