We all want to believe we're really Battle School students, neh? So learn to talk the talk using our handy guide to Battle School slang, compiled by us commanders to help out any overwhelmed launchies. (Yes, we know...we're too nice.)
(Note: It is theoretically possible to hold an entire conversation in Battle School slang.)
A neatly alphabetized vocabulary list of all the slang words used in the books, plus some that will be found in the movie script. As per the multinational nature of the Battle School, all these words really do exist in another language. Orson Scott Card must be an accomplished polyglot or a thorough researcher�or both. Each word is listed with its meaning, its original language, and a sentence from the actual text of the books to show how it is used. Words that are found only in the movie script will be listed as such, once the movie is released. We have not compiled most of the words below ourselves; rather this information was taken from the Philotic Web, who in turn received it from Orson Scott Card himself. In short, this is copyrighted material (note the proper citation at the bottom of the list) so don�t take it without permission from the author.
doll back n:
a screw-up, can't do anything right (Russian: dolbak)
dow n:
weapon (Vietnamese: dao, "knife")
dull Bob n:
idiot (Russian: dolbaeb)
eemo n:
hick, person who's "out of it" (Japanese: imo, "potato," derisive term for a country hick)
emossin' adj:
half-baked, lousy, fifth-rate (Japanese slang: imasen, literally "a thousand things are missing")
goffno n:
excrement (Russian: govno)
greeyaz n:
worthless trash, said of people or things (Russian)
jeesh n:
troops, army (Arabic: jaish)
kintama n:
testicle (Japanese)
koncho n:
traitor (Japanese: kancho, "enema")
kuso n:
excrement (Japanese)
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marubo n:
a violent, dangerous punk (Japanese slang, it means literally "B label," which may have meant "a second-rater" or (more likely) the B stood for boryoku, or "violence," the idea being that as a kid in school, this guy was stamped "B for boryoku")
nuzhnik n:
toilet (Russian)
oomay n:
a jerk or worse (Swahili: uume, "male generative organ")
piff vb:
screw up (Portuguese: pifar, "to fall apart")
shtuka n:
thing (Russian)
soak a noky vb:
get out of the way (Japanese: soko noke)
toguro n:
a thing that's really cool. (lit. a huge coiled turd)
vang n:
electronic money, virtual money (Vietnamese for "gold")
yelda n:
male generative organ (Russian)
zhopa n:
buttocks (Russian)
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submitted by Orson Scott Card to The Philotic Web
copyright � 1999-2000 by Orson Scott Card, used with permission
Unlike the dictionary, most of the grammar book comes from our own observations about the syntax of Battle School slang. We�ve applied our best skills of linguistic analysis, running from years of studying various foreign languages, but this still remains woefully incomplete, due to the lack of examples. Every �rule� is accompanied by examples and exceptions with further examples from the actual text of the books. We would like to inform any would-be speakers that slang by nature is extremely loose in its grammar structure. The more you deviate from standard English grammar, the better. (Ender: I�d just like to add that contrary to Peter�s claims, Battle School slang is NOT ghetto talk. And I certainly should know better than him.)
Rule 1: Use Multiple Languages
Battle School slang has been described as a polyglot language. It is therefore not incorrect to incorporate foreign words, and occasionally foreign phrases, into predominantly English sentences, regardless of whether the words or phrases appear in the dictionary above.
Rule 2: Be Insulting
Battle School slang is also predominantly an aggressive language. General insults and vulgar phrases, especially those referring to human excrement and the anatomical posterior, are in keeping with the natural flow of the language.
Rule 3: Say "Ho"
Upon starting a conversation, the usual form of greeting is, "Ho," followed by the other person's name.
Rule 4: End With "neh?"
The word, "neh," followed by a question mark, is used at the end of a declarative statement to ask for affirmative support. The expected reply is, "Eh." "Neh" is similar to the French "n'est-ce pas" or the Spanish-Portuguese "n�," which, in the context of the sentence, are usually translated as, "aren't/don't/didn't/wasn't I," "aren't/don't/didn't/weren't you," "isn't/doesn't/didn't/wasn't he/she/it," "aren't/don't/didn't/weren't we," and "aren't/don't/didn't they," in English.
Rule 5: "Eh" is "Yes"
"Eh" is more generally used as an informal form of an affirmative response to a question.
Rule 6: Do Not Conjugate "to be"
When the verb, "to be," is used as a linking verb with an adjective, "be" often replaces the present forms such as "am," "is," or "are," especially in aggressive language.
