How do you make a swear look like a deity name?

[Marscaleb]

Of course the denizens of a fantasy world wouldn't swear by the name of a religious figure from our world, and so most fantasy stories have characters exclaiming the name of some fictional god when something goes pear-shaped. Classic worldbuilding.

But when I'm trying to write my story, it always seems out of place. If someone just says some made-up and unfamiliar name of a deity, (eg "Jachoir! What was even the point of this?") I worry that it might confuse the reader, since they've never heard of this "character" before. And you could get around this with a drawn-out expression, (eg "By Ash's right hand!") but this often feels forced and unnatural; that doesn't sound like how people swear in real life.

What's a good way to have natural-sounding expressions while still making it obvious to the reader what this previously unheard-of name is about? Because it's not always obvious in the context.

 

[pmmg]

By having those gods have a role and some meaning in the story.

 

[ThinkerX]

Deity's name followed by an obscene body part mention.

 

[Mad Swede]

If you're going to do this in a way that doesn't feel forced then you need to think through the culture in your setting in som detail. The question you're trying to answer is "how do people swear?", and the answer depends on how that culture sees things.

To take some real life examples, many English swear words are about sex, body parts or body functions. Only a few are about religion. Swedish swear words are mostly about religion and only rarely about body functions, and they're never about sex. This tells you quite a bit about society and culture in those countries.

Personally I don't use swear words in my stories, instead I have my characters "swear under their breath" or "mutter an obscene oath". It makes writing and also translation quite a lot easier.

 

[AlexS]

Deity's name followed by an obscene body part mention.

Thor's Nuts!

 

[ThinkerX]

Thor's Nuts!

Pretty much

 

[Prince of Spires]

Thor's Nuts!

It sounds stronger if it alliterates.

So Thor's Toes or Thor's Tyroid...

(eg "Jachoir! What was even the point of this?")

I think this works fine, as long as it's not a one-off and if the deity appears elsewhere in the story as well.

It's a personal preference and part of your writer's voice. Mad Swede has a great solution, which is to let the reader fill it in himself. The other approach is to look at real life cultures and mirror that.

The interesting thing about swearing, which I notice a lot writing in a language that is not my mothertongue, is that swears carry a feeling that stretches beyond the actual meaning of the word. You can learn all the words in a dictionary, but that still won't give you the feeling for a swear word and how it feels in a certain language. I know which english swear words are bad from interacting with English natives, but I'd have no problem using those swears while they might shock a native speaker. Also, what's bad for someone from the US is perfectly fine for someone from the UK.

All that to say that it very much depends. And some real in-culture swears would feel silly to a reader just because they have a different cultural bagage.

 

[RoccO]

I heard of a tactic to make swear words from my father, he called it dung bridge. There is a time in history, and in the writing of it, when there is an odious or foul term made about a historical date or place, and it gets called a dung heap, a positive termite mound. There are sayings that arise in such circumstances, things like cockney or hogwash. It doesn’t help that diaspora sometimes grows primarily out of these circumstances.

I do not know about you, but I have never seen much change in the way people communicate, in my time or his, but it does stand reasonably as a terminology thing. What I notice about how his writing works, is the logical order of proceeding events. He takes a circumstance and turns it into venture, but I see things at a different angle.

The way I would do it, is instead of swear words coming from historical figures, maybe make the historical figures make up swear words, that way they are educational rather than guilt. Have them take a look at the surroundings and choose for themselves. It is probably logical that this is the way things are but it could conceivably go the other way.

It could be that it is a magic thing. Why would there be a term and not a sensible response. Is this what swear words are, or is it whom we swear by. I have been thinking about removing oaths from my works entirely, like most people do as they reach my age and maturity. But there is the point to be made, perhaps they are responsible for holding their tongue.

There are other examples, to discipline or punish. They could swear oaths in court, a marriage is tied in an inextricable link, prophets make covenants, wizards cast spells, witches hex. There are probably a few reasonable metrics you could take it as, like the anatomy of the body, or even the animal kingdom, but the style, that is where you would have to glean.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

From some gaming Experience for a few different games: (as examples)

Xenoblade 2 has the phrase 'titans foot' as a swear-esque word interchangeable for almost all of them. Short version is Titans are basically the continents they live on. I can't imagine being stepped on or around one of these creatures feet would be very pleasant. Given that they're living land masses.

Final Fantasy 14: Famously has Thall's Balls as a swear.
The story's writers did some great consideration (Culturally and swear wise) to come up with a phrase. They eventually landed on Thalls Balls because Thall was a Male deity and what is more sacred to any male which sometimes you want to kick?

These are pretty good examples of what Pmming is talking about. Look at the culture, look at how they revere or despise the deity. Then come up with your phrase.

 

[Marscaleb]

I think the problem I am facing is that in the first real incident where I have a character that needs to swear, it is a rather tense and dramatic moment. It's a scene where the story's plot and tone both make a huge shift and the first time anyone dies in the story.
In that scenario, saying something like "Thalls balls" is just going to sound too silly and soil the tension the scene is building.
This is also quite early in the story and there hasn't been any reasonable opportunity to explain who their deities are. This isn't the kind of story where Athena is going to show up and send the heroes on a quest.

And on the subject of generalized fantasy swearing, the truth is that none of the examples I've seen shared here (and honestly few in published stories I've read) really match well with how people swear in real life. In the real world, people just say the name "Jesus Christ" (ironically demonstrating that they don't actually believe in Christ) or an arguably-generic "God." No one says things like "By Jesus's pierced hands!" or "Christ's crown of thorns!" But yet that's just what so many fantasy stories do. I suppose it works well for their stories but it just doesn't feel right for the world I'm crafting.
I had another story where the characters would say "Shyne Almighty!" and I think that worked really well, both signifying it was a curse but also sounding reasonably close to how people curse. But I would like to try something else for this story.

 

[RoccO]

Maybe you should set aside a plot where the character prays at a temple, asking for a hidden power or some insight. Then you should have the character remark about that in a cathartic way. There is the overtone in fantasy where you need an anachronism to really make an impact in the story theme. Archaic overtones can sometimes make a character feel more solid or believable, but there is a trend in genres, where the story will flow in the same direction, so it is a balance between modern thoughts and current trends.

Also, a character committing a crime, is like a swear, and having the character swear at a god at that time might be like a swear anyway, and count down to something truly bad happening like luck. Or recoil the plot so to speak, where it is no longer relevant or moving in the right direction. The good and bad thing comes into play as well. Is the character squeaky clean, or are they in a rock bed?