The Beginner's Guide to Haddyn Future-Slang

[makeitquick]

Forward: Unlike say Buffy, who has invented her own language of Buffy-isms for no apparent reason, Melaka's language is very indicative of her home and her time. Haddyn (and most of the future - she's from 2232) seems to operate on a modified form of English. Given hoe Harth talks, it is very likely that "proper" English is similar to how our modern English is, but improper English has been hacked and chopped up largely to make words shorter and have concepts be expressed in fewer words, serving as the basis of much of what you'll see in this guide. In Luceti, Melaka will never give up speaking like this even if she learns "proper" words because it is symbolic of home to her (a matter of pride).

• Aquahog = I'm not positive but an "Aquahog's Crack" basically means "shit" as in "give a shit"


• Aud* = hear ("I aud that")


• Awake to = aware of (as in "I am awake to that you idiot")


• Bent = Crooked or criminal (also unethical)


• Blaster = an advanced type of gun which fires a nonlethal arc of energy which causes temporary paralysis and also burns a bit too


• Bonds = friends (used as a noun; "my best bonds are here with me")


• Broil = trouble (as in when one is in trouble: "I'm in a broil")


• Car = whenever Melaka refers to cars she is referring to flying cars


• Carrier Pigeon = a small robotic drone that is used to give covert messages in the warrens - it flies, hence the name


• Cell = jail, used to refer to the whole building not just one room, can also be used as a verb to indicate eminent arrest ("going to get celled")


• Cen = century


• Coi = a low form of currency; Melaka's grab at the beginning of Fray earned her seventy of it - which is less than half a sil


• Conti* = continent


• Connex = connection


• Creds = Credits, the Uppers uses digital currency whereas the lower parts of Haddyn use hard-currency


• Day of Thanks* = as modern Thanksgiving, but in Haddyn it's the "big deal" celebration of the year instead of the Christmas time celebration. Gifts distributed then


• District = Also called "D's," Haddyn is one of them, so it's referring to something more like a city than anything


• Famil = familiar


• Fig = figure, reckon


• Frock = Mel calls Buffy's sundress a frock - if this is smack talk or slang is unclear


• Glam = pretty girl, glamorous (blonde hair and other recessive traits included)


• Govvers = government officials


• Grab = a job, usually a thieving or retrieval one (can also be used as a verb)


• Grid = Referred to as The Grid, it's the future-form of the Internet. Used almost exclusively by the Uppers because it is heavily monitored by the authorities, who are biased against Lowers people so they don't trust it.


• Groundcar* = ...A car which is on the ground. Ergo, something closer to modern cars


• Haddyn = The distract Melaka is from. It's a super-structure of a city descended from Manhattan. (NOTE: because of that is is pronounced Had-in, as if you replaced the t's in "Manhattan" with d's and chopped off the "man")


• Half-coi = half of a coi; a derogatory term


• Hokum = hookie, dubious


• Icebag = some sort of portable refrigeration unit, I'm not clear what (cooler?)


• Jackhead = somehow who is stupid, possibly referring to muscle-brained people


• Jake = "acceptable" (I have no idea why; as in "My job isn't Jake for a Slayer?")


• Jellies = Popsicles (NOTE: Haddyn seems to have weird flavors like bean or ginger)


• Jesu = the equivalent of saying "God" or "Christ" as an oath


• Law = a police officer, it's used as a noun; one would say they are a "Law" (note that because Melaka is a warrens gal, she tends to say it like it's a dirty word)


• Lowers = the lower city and mid-layer of the city (tends to refer to mid or lower class) - generic name for the whole area, unlike warrens


• Lurk = vampire (it is worth noting that in the future almost everyone is aware of lurks, that they hide out in the sewers, drink blood, and are mutant freaks. Also worth noting that almost no lurks know how to put on their "human face" in the future)


• Make = sex ("Jimmy tried make it with Jill")


• Mids* = comparatively uncommon term as compared to Uppers or Lowers, but refers to people or businesses which exist on the mid-floors of Haddyn's superstructures


• Mt. Walmore = apparently what Mt. Rushmore is now called


• NatScan = some sort of governmental defense grid (was able to pick up the demon Harth summoned)


• Needs = retard, mentally challenged


• NEET* = technically a current real world term meaning "Not in Education, Employment, or Training" - in Haddyn the acronym part is lost and it's just a word that basically implies one is jobless, homeless, and/or chronically unemployed (it also has a connotation of this being willful) - it's pronounced as in "neat"


• Nessa = necessary


• Noram = it's unclear what this is, but given Haddyn's a "district," from context it's possible "Noram" is the greater entity it's part of - EDIT: Most likely refers to the Atlantic Northeast


• Nuke* = destroy


• Ock = seen ("now she's ocked it," "I can't ock it")


• Offer Submission = what Laws say instead of something like "hands in the air"


• Old 'Merican = Modern English (It's not clear, but it's highly possible the writing system in the future is different or basically that looking at modern works of writing are like us looking at Shakespeare)


• Pige* = referring to a carrier pigeon, or to give someone a message at a later time


• Poss = possible


• Pump = a steroid user, a genetically modified person, basically an artificial superhuman


• Rad* = another word for mutation, or referring to a result of it (pronounced "raid" as in radiation)


• Radie = someone mutated by the sun's overly strong radiation (pronounced raid-ee as in radiation)


• Rocketmouth = someone who talks fast, or a lot


• Rocketship = really cool


• Rutting = mid-mild to severe profanity (equivalent of saying "goddamn" or "fucking" - used as an adjective)


• Sack = a popular or cheap (most likely cheap) drink served in Versi, probably alcoholic (note: while Melaka does drink this canonically, it is my headcanon that the components of it are not the same as in modern drinks, and thus it would be less potent)


• Scopes = refers either to TV or movies (it's unclear which, some video entertainment) - gerne can be added to clarify (EX: horrorscopes, actionscopes, etc) what sort of movie


• Shifter = a liar or deceitful person


• Sil = another form of currency - silver arm bands; three is enough for a month of Melaka's wage


• Skitzing = freaking out (spazzing)


• Skew = wrong, screwy


• Slack = idiot


• Slam = used as "the Slam" - equivalent of saying someone is "the best" or "the shit"


• Spin = a lie


• Spled = good, excellent


• Sotham* = as Noram, it refers to the Southern part of America


• Tales* = "stories," much more common word in future than now


• Tav = tavern or bar


• Toy = bad


• Versi = the warren where Melaka grew up, "home" (a future version of Riverside, so it's pronounced as if you dropped the "ri" and "de" from Riverside - so almost like "Versailles")


• U-E'd* = unemployed


• Uppers = the upper city (high/presumably middle class people live up there in Haddyn), also used to refer to people from there sometimes


• Westam = as Noram, it refers to to either the west coast or the American midwest


• Warren = a low-reach slum on the ground floor of Haddyn. Generally considered to be dangerous and lawless, filled with criminals and drifters. Melaka, however, will tend to refer to them affectionately because she calls one home and shows a lot of pride in them (thus, they tend to be lower than just saying "Lowers")

A * means that I invented this term myself and thus it is not strictly canonical.