Developing Otherworld drug slang.

AnyaKimlin

AnyaKimlin

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I want drug taking to form part of my story and need to develop something that is comparable to Cannabis and something that is comparable to LSD - decide the effects etc. I already have Belle Note but that is used as a poison.

The alcohol in my world tends to run on elemental lines things like Port Red (made by the fire elementals and makes one very warm and randy), Salt Brandy (Earth people, smoother than Port Red but can affect the limbs and make them feel heavier), SeaFyred (naturally the sea folk, it is smoother, saltier and made from seaweed. Tends to affect the bladder and make people cry), Gusto (wind people - it can make people windy).

I don't know whether or not to do something similar with the drug. He bought it off a seafolk kid but it came from the Earth lands so I am thinking something along the lines of:
MossMarrow
Seaerb
Enchoke
Oaklock
WyrdYew
Aldermane
Elakish

Any suggestions welcome - it is holding up the writing so frustrating me.
 
I like oaklock and aldermane. Mossmarrow, too, though I may like Marrow Moss a little better.
 
I agree that Mossmarrow sounds pretty good. It actually sounds rather slang-like, while many other options there sound quite like actual words.
I wouldn't go for Seaerb though, personally. It sounds a bit hard to roll off the tongue, which would be an irritating enough task without being hepped up on it. :p
 
could put the h back in it lol Seaherb - I thought seaweed wouldn't work.

Hmm OK MossMarrow. Just Moss for short would work. Have it look like a green clod of earth.
 
Moss reminds me of David Weber's On Basilisk Station. Natives get hopped up on moss and go rampaging, slaughtering everything in sight. It was originally a peyote-like stuff, but offworlders taught them to distill it into the deadly concoction.
 
Well, I'm sure the story line is in no way similar to yours -- just that the name might remind people of it. And while it's an important part of the plot, it's not the main idea of the book, either.

I went back to look at your list above, and I like Oaklock too, but actually MossMarrow made me giggle because it sounds like marshmallow. :D
 
Call it 'marrow' for short instead. Or 'marries' To be wasted on 'marrow' might be to 'get married' or to 'get hitched'

eg.
'I was hitched out of my tree on mossmarrow last night.'

Just thinking out loud!
 
Beef: you think that's something? I got totally rooted on 'lock. The comedown left me mangled, I can tell you.


ETA: mangled from mangelwurzel, in case anyone was wondering.
 
prairie bundle flower lacey flower smoked - 20 minute surge; fleur terra
earth-flower
lace- laced, laced up
morning glory seeds ground into black powder and made into tea / attar/ elixor/
long term psychodelic- six to eight hours
blackdust- dusty, dusted (or black rock?)... fleurastra - star flower

could have being laced is not a big thing-authorities would look the other way, but being dusted is de trop and can get you into big trouble
but a kid would not know the difference between the types of "fleur"
" they call it fleur {floor- slang pronunciation} because that's what you hit kid- just stay out of the d*** garden!"
 
anyways here are the web-links if you want them for ideas for your manuscript. these sites describe native american and middle american plants used ritually
DO NOT PLAY WITH THIS STUFF!!!!!
unless handled in a specific manner and only specific parts are used THESE ARE EXTREMELY POISONOUS
remember that alot of things that we can ingest processed are poisonous in natural form, ( i.e. tapioca ) this is for realism only. ( and All of it rots your brain)
Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, is a hallucinogenic substance that induces a short "trip" of 20 to 30 minutes. It is commonly referred to as a "businessman's trip" or "Fantasia" and is found in common plants growing throughout North America including Bulbous canarygrass (Phalaris aquatica), an invasive weed-like grass which grows anywhere from lawns to cracks in the sidewalk.a large number of plants from around the world that contain DMT and other similar alkaloids. Some of these are several Psychotria spp., Phalaris spp., Acacia spp., Arundo donax, Desmanthus illinoiensis, etc. The plant we will be dealing with in this text is called Phalaris aruninacea. This plant is easy to obtain, looks almost identical to common lawn grass, has some of the highest concentrations of DMT, and is beyond easy to grow. DMT content varies between strains of canarygrass. Other plant-based sources of DMT native to the U.S. include Prairie Bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis), an erect plant with clusters of white flowers which grows in many areas including Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas and North Dakota.
both of these substances when processed are called ayahuasca
Read more: Hallucinogenic Plants Native to the United States | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8059409_hallucinogenic-plants-native-united-states.html#ixzz2MdYSpnAZ
Morning glory flowering vines are a lovely accent to any yard or garden, with flowers ranging from light blue to purple. The most common reason people purchase morning glory seeds is to plant them. But others obtain the seeds to consume--in extremely large quantities--to achieve a "legal high" or a "trip" similar to that of psychedelic drugs such as LSD or "magic" psilocybin mushrooms.

Read more: The Effects of Eating Morning Glory Seeds | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5033208_effects-eating-morning-glory-seeds.html#ixzz2MdYpllfs
 
Hmm clear winner lol Thanks Beef you have given me ideas. Instead of the hitched symbolism think I will use earth/soil words but it works well.

What about:
MossMarrow, OddWeed and WiseSeaRoot (WSR)?
 
I think if you start putting capital letters into the middle of words you are getting into corporate branding territory, which might not be what you're looking for.

Also you might want to consider what the plant actually looks like, name the plant itself and then go to slang terms from there. You could use greek naming conventions, if that's your thing:

http://www.ukgardening.co.uk/basics_naming.asp

If the plant is hanging, for example, it would have the greek suffix 'pendula'. Then when it gets to street level it would be called 'pendy', or whatever.

It depends on what level plant-science is at in your world. If it's traditional fantasy and there is some pocket of really enthusiastic botanists somewhere, it might be that a lot of plants have certain scientific naming conventions placed after them.

If this is the case, a recently-discovered drug might have a more scientific name.

More stuff to read:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moss


Another good test would be to say out loud 'HEY BUDDY, YOU GOT ANY <your drug name here>'.

Good luck!
 
To be fair, for sea based stuff, you can still use weed.. what with seaweed and all :)
 
That was my thought with Oddweed, Nubins :) I'm thinking Row, Weed and Root/S'root for the nicknames.

World is roughly 2013 in terms of progression but there are a lot of differences because there are areas were the magic has held back the science. For example the race that are the best engineers can turn into different animals including birds so between that and a crystal casing that causes instrument issues flight has taken a backstep which has also meant each country is still slightly more isolated than they would be on Earth. More early 1900s than as we would be now. The start of the internet has increased communication but science tends to have different areas of strength/expertise in each country. Some have North Korean style regimes keeping everything to themselves. Democracy only exists in one country so far.

The marrow from the earth people but I am not a hundred percent sure about their country yet. I do know it does not have the energy streams than the rest of the world has. Part of the country has the space programme (the desire to get into space is bringing about advances in flight) and the other part is a mystery to the outside world but has a sort of Steampunk technology which they have developed. I guess I have to decide which part it comes from.
 
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