This scene has a glossary of cowboy words and expressions, and some notes on the slang used. Bear in mind that this game is not, and does not pretend to be, a grammar school.
The glossary might be useful in order to understand some terms the NPC might use, and also for those who wish to use with their characters some distinctive cowboy-slang. The use of cowboy terms and expressions even gives you extra BPs!
Also this section is the place to post any questions related to expression or phrases that are confusing or not clear or not understood.
(EDITED, duplicate post with the glossary)
In addition to specific words (see further down), some basic grammar and word changes (used in dialogues, not when describing actions).
EXPRESSION | MEANING |
ain´t | are not/am not |
´cause | because |
´em | them |
feller | fellow |
folk | people |
get´em | get them |
gimme | give me |
git | go / get |
gonna | going to |
gotten | got |
hisself | himself |
I didn´t know nothing | I didn´t know anything |
-in (eg. movin) | -ing (eg. moving) |
it don´t matter | it doesn´t matter |
jes´ | just |
knowed | knew |
outta | out of |
sorta | sort of |
till | until |
ya | you |
yep | yes |
yer | you are |
yerself | yourself |
You got papers sworn out? | Do you have papers sworn out? |
You the marshal? | Are you the marshal? |
This is very short list made of expressions found in one movie script, and is neither exhaustive nor necessarily representative of the cowboy slang as a whole, but these expressions do seem to repeat themselves in other places as well.
I'll leave here something I found some time ago. It's just a bigger "dictionary".
And the table in the form of a table:
Term | Synonym | Meaning |
Ace in the Hole | A secret, something that will save your bacon when you use it. | |
Adobe | sun-hardened brick made out of clay, straw and water | |
Aim | intend to do something | |
Amble | walking a casual slow walk | |
Amigo | Compadre, Feller, Hombre, Pardner, Pard | a friend, a pal. |
Ante | to hand something over, or to pay. In gambling, it means to make a bet | |
Artillery | Equalizer, Hogleg, Shooting Iron, Persuader, six-shooter | words for weapon, any sort of firearm. Hogleg is actually a long-barreled revolver |
Badland | land that´s no good for ranching, with lots of big rock formations like buttes and mesas | |
Bandito | a Mexican bandit | |
Baron | Hidalgo | generally, a man that owns a lot of cattle ("cattle baron") or land ("land baron"), the Mexican word is Hidalgo |
Bean Eater | Mex, Mexicano, Mohado | slang for a Mexican |
Blue Belly | anybody from the North, especially if they fought in the War | |
Bone Orchard | Boot Hill | Both mean cemetary. Boot Hill is mostly for cowboys or other boot-wearing folks |
Bosh | nonsense, as in "He´s talking a lot of bosh" | |
Bronco | Bronc | wild hombre or unbroken horse |
Bug Juice | Firewater, Red Eye | alcohol |
Bunk House | where the ranch hands sleep, no females allowed | |
Bushed | tired | |
Cantina | saloon (Mexican) | |
Chuck Wagon | cook´s wagon | |
Claim Jumper | someone that claims something that is not his/her | |
Cowpoke | someone taking their boss´s cows to sell | |
Cyprian | Ladies of the Line | whore |
Dealing from the Bottom | to get Gypped cheating (cards) | to get gypped is to get cheated (comes from drinking gypsum contaminated water) |
Dinero | money | |
Dodger | printed piece of paper telling about outlaws that are wanted | |
Fandango | Hoedown, Shindig, Boot-scoot, to polish beltbuckles (dance) | big party |
Filly | young female (horse or human) | |
Fixings | Grub or Chuck (food), tack (working gear) | personal possessions, or food |
Flea Trap | sleeping bag, bedroll | |
Foreman | Line Boss, Ramrod | the person in charge of something (of an outfit), usually a bunch of ranchhands; Line Boss is in charge when away from the ranch |
Gallery | front porch of a house | |
Gee | general command to turn right. Left is "haw" | |
Git | go or get | |
Greenhorn | Greener, Tenderfoot | someone new to the West |
Gringo | Mexican for a white man or a foreigner | |
Grubstake | loan | |
Hacienda | big ranch building | |
Handle | name or nickname | |
Haw | general command to turn left. Right is "gee" | |
Heeler | dog trained to herd cattle | |
Hemp Fever | Necktie Party, Strung Up | hung |
Hen Fruit | eggs | |
Hitching Post | where you tie your horses | |
Hole Up | to hide from something or somebody | |
Hooraw On the Peck (looking for trouble), High Lonesome | to cause Hooraw is shooting up the town or making noise, to be on the High Lonesome is to go out and get yourself drunk | |
Hoosegow | jail | |
Horn apple | pommel the round bit that stick up in the front of your saddle | |
Horning in | being somewhere uninvited | |
Java | coffee | |
Jigger | tire out (a horse) | |
Kit and Caboodle | everything | |
Leather | saddle, pistol holster. "Slappin leather" is drawing a gun | |
Lariat | maguey, rope, lasso, twine | 60´rope of hand-braided leather thongs |
Line Camp | a place to keep a few ranch hands to make sure that their cattle don´t wander away | |
Line Riders | ranch hands of the line camp | |
Lucifer | match | |
Maverick | unbranded cows, can be stolen | |
Mite | little | |
Owlhoot | drunk or outlaw riding at night | |
Palaver | discussion | |
Played Out | worthless, none left | |
Poke | sex (to have a poke), also means a small bag that holds a feller´s gold dust | |
Prairie Strawberries | Frijoles | beans |
Range Boss | he makes sure the chores out on the range get done | |
Ride for the Brand | being loyal to your outfit | |
Reach for the Sky | hands up in the air | |
Reckon | Study | think |
Riding Herd | herding cattle or guarding something | |
Shoot or Give Up the Gun | talking a lot but not doing it | |
Sin Buster | Bible Puncher | preacher, or a person who´s always quoting the Bible |
Skinned | alert, as in "Keep your eyes skinned" | |
Sodbuster | farmer | |
Squawman | a white man who´s married an Indian | |
Sumbitch | sombitch | son of a bitch |
Trail Boss | in charge of getting a herd from one place to another | |
Whoop | to have a good time |
Thanks for the link Mayer, and Jack for fixing the table :)
Another link with some cowboy terms and slang (specifically from Texas), not very long:
http://jimfish.freeservers.com/lingo/index.htm
Again, sorry if I make any language-related mistake (which I would really apreciate if pointed).
OK, this scene is for language-related stuff. Overall I think your English is more than adequate for this purpose, and you use the phrasal verbs and slang very nicely. Maybe you should not overdo the slang as much as you did in your last post, as it can make it difficult to understand what you are saying hehe, it´s more to give some "flavor" to a certain expression. But that´s just my opinion. Also the use of "Notes" is handy if the expression is very obscure, especially if there are other players in the scene.
In the last post you used Base burner (drink of whiskey, easy to understand without checking the glossary), benzinery (very funny), boss, mudsills, bat my eyes (watch and not play)... All OK but it´s not mandatory to use all.
Muck out => muck ´em out (this is a very good construction and use of the term)
California Prayer Book => unless you put a Note, this one is difficult to understand for a layman. Or you can even explain it in the actual post.
Tiger´s Tail twisting => I know the glossary listed this as a term for Faro AND Poker, but I could not find any other reference to Tiger Tail twisting, bucking the tiger and other similar terms referring to Poker. The "tiger" is for Faro (because the set had a picture of a tiger originally).
OK, so that´s enough of the slang, you use it well, keep it up and just don´t overuse it. You actually asked if there were any English-related errors. Not many, but careful with these:
-What about some Tiger's Tail twisting, fellers?
You should change "What about..." with "How about..."
On another post, you wrote: "I didn´t want to attract attention". This is acceptable, but sounds a bit weird. To draw attention is more used in this case.
the Curtains rise => very good metaphor... But as it was the end of scene, should it not be "the curtains fall"? :)
Taking a look at his shiny surface
It´s a watch, so no "his" but "its".
the Clothes that make the man
A very good old-fashioned saying... It sort of sounded OK but something was missing or not just right. Actually, what you wanted to say was: "IT´S the clothes THAT make the man". The expression as you had written it makes sense, but it does not mean exactly the same thing.
I put those thoughts away from my head
These are very difficult to explain, the phrasal verbs. But the more you see them and use them, the more fluent and original your writing becomes. In this case, the correct expression is not "to put away" but "to push away". It´s because you cannot "put away from" ... So you could say for instance:
"I pushed those thoughts away from my head/mind"
Yes, I know I had a slang overdose in my last post, that's why added the note below. It felt too odd and maybe confusing without any explanation xD
Aaaand wow. Thanks for all the points. You know, I never really studied english (I mean after high school, where it's mandatory), I learned almost everything on my own, using dictionaries and translators to translate the songs of my favorite bands and dialogues of videogames (the oral and listening came from watching tv shows and films in their original version), so that's why sometimes I get confused with the grammar. Yeah, I know I could get better with just a little study, but I'm just too lazy xD
Maybe I just needed another spirit* to calm my mind and my soul...
*I mean liquor. Not sure if it's correct, though...
Hmm, not an easy one to explain. "Spirits" is more used in the UK than US when referred to alcoholic beverages, and "liquor" is the equivalent word in the US. In theory, "spirits" are any sort of alcohol, not only the ones that are suitable for drinking (Chemistry stuff...).
So they look like synonyms. But one thing that did not sound right was "another spirit". The noun "spirit" is countable, but it is mostly used in plural. So "spiritS" would be OK, but not "one spirit" or "another spirit". Liquor is countable (and uncountable sometimes) and it can be used to refer to a strong alcoholic drink.
like if it were some kind of sinister kid.
This is a fairly common mistake, "to kid" is the same as to joke. So "just kidding" etc is OK. But you cannot said "a kid" as in "a joke". A kid is a child, but not a joke.
That's what I meant, a child. Like, you know, when you meet a kid and you 'scratch' his head, I don't know how to explain it. Revolverle el pelo or something like that in spanish...
OK I get it. Hmm, it´s missing the "a", as in
like if it were some kind of a sinister kid.
Then it makes sense!
Two more resources for cowboy / Wild West slang, courtesy of Crowe (Kissmelater):
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/slang/redneck-sl...
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-slang-e-f.html#...
The second link (Legends of America) is a great overall information point for the Wild West, which I have already used (and not shared to keep some of my little secrets hehehe).
Thanks again Crowe!
apologies for my possible mistakes with verb tenses.
All the verb tenses were spot on! So no need to worry about that :)
he was disposed to stand tall until the end.
I edited this part just now in your post. I created this scene for any language related stuff, to ask for meanings of words etc. Heck, some players have even used this game to improve their English (weirdos...).
Anyways, your English is more than adequate for this game so nothing to worry about there. In this case, to "dispose" is what they call a "false friend". It looks like the Spanish verb "disponer", but it does not mean the same thing. To "dispose of" something is to throw it away. And dispose something is to incline someone to think in a certain way.
What you are trying to say here is that Choctaw was "ready to stand tall" or "prepared to stand tall" or "willing to stand tall".
Howdy Londoner! I haven´t put anything to this scene for a while, mainly because there are very few things to comment regarding language use. You´ve really improved since we started I have to say. I mean your English was always good IMHO, but you did say that you were studying when we started and it shows. It´s not easy to write fiction and dialogue trying to act as another person, so hopefully this game has given you some useful practice :)
A few things:
at her laying on the bed
I always used to get the lie-lay mixed up, they are pronounced the same. If it helps, the native English speakers more often than not spell these two the other way around (or simply wrong). A friend of mine showed me nice chart once, and I just googled it and found it. Here it is:
So she was actually "lying on the bed". But this is a tough one to get right.
I looked for the tobacco between my clothes to roll
Hmm, in English the prepositions do not match the Spanish ones. You have "within", "in", "between", "among", "in the middle"... which can be used for "entre" depending on the situation. Between brings to mind a fixed object on the left and another one on the right, and something in the middle, between these two. It does not really fit what you are trying to say.
This is a tough one actually. I believe the correct option would be: "I looked through my clothes for the tobacco". It´s a phrasal verb used when you search for something an item at a time. Also "I looked in my clothes" is correct, but it does not imply you grabbed different pieces of clothing trying to find something. "Between" just means you are standing with clothes on your left and clothes on your right but not actually in contact with any of the clothes.
Cheers,
Thanks! Really appreciate it, mate. That chart's gonna save my life, I always had trouble with lay/lie...