Common Sayings by Culture in My Homebrew Setting

An aspect of everyday life that we often don't think about is the details of how we speak. We take for granted when we speak that people will understand the references we make, from adages and sayings to cultural touchstones. That's one thing that can be a challenge to recreate in a TRPG: how do you present the image of a living, breathing world that can sound real too? By developing common expressions for the different cultures in your world, you can add to the image you're creating of your world. Below, I've created a list of the greetings, goodbyes, swears, and other saying sayings of each race in my D&D homebrew world. (You can view other details of that world in the form of setting, dragon lore, gods lore, temple descriptions, architectural descriptions, and my custom magic system.)

Daltoners

Greeting: May the Sun smile upon you. [Daltoner sayings are heavily influenced by their worship of a dark version of Pelor.]

Greeting: The lit path guides you. 

Goodbye: Go before the dark, pilgrim. 

Goodbye: Go wary on your way. 

Swear: Boar's foot!
Swear: The darkened Star!

Compliment: You wear His grace as well as any. 

Insult: You are more lost than you could know. 

Value: No one profits from asking permission. 

Faninites

Greeting: It is my joy to see you.

Greeting: You are well-met. 

Goodbye: Take my blessings. 

Goodbye: Happy travels. 

Swear: Broken sky! [A Faninite fable tells of the world ending by the sky falling down.]
Swear: Heaven falling down!

Compliment: You suit yourself. 

Insult: May the others know you for this.

Value: The family bond looms over the rest. 

Dwarves

Greeting: Gods guide you. 

Greeting: Hail, and stand proud. 

Goodbye: Go in peace to what lies next. 

Goodbye: Bear your weight with my help. 

Swear: Gods' might be damned!
Swear: Mother's milk!

Compliment: You shine like a ruby. [The ruby is the most prized gem in dwarven culture.]

Insult: You couldn't find your way out of a tunnel. 

Value: If you know your task, you know your way. 

Elves 

Greeting: Step you softly. 

Greeting: Let me know you. 

Goodbye: Take care above all. 

Goodbye: Disturb no leaf. 

Swear: Fool, fool!
Swear: Wretched ugliness!

Compliment: The flowers turn to face you. [This is a reference to the fact that flowers turn to face sources of light.]

Insult: You act a whelp. 

Value: Your conscience knows you better than anyone. 

Half-Elves

Greeting: Open yourself, that we can breathe together. [While the rest of these sayings are spoken in the native language, half-elves split their presentation of sayings into both common and elven.]

Greeting: Let me share my joy at your appearance. 

Goodbye: Let your path be shared by friends and guardians. 

Goodbye: I will hide my loneliness until we meet again. 

Swear: Discordance!
Swear: Poisonous spittle! 

Compliment: You radiate the light of the stars.

Insult: You are clumsier than a three-legged spider. 

Value: The tool with only one use knows only one purpose. 

Halflings

Greeting: Your journey comes to me. 

Greeting: Let me hear your troubles. 

Goodbye: Walk on in strength.

Goodbye: Let no one stray you. 

Swear: Soggy noodle!
Swear: Itchy britches! [Halflings take joy in inventing curses, and these two are only samples.]

Compliment: You truly make the rules yourself. 

Insult: Your mother still feeds you. 

Value: No one gets ahead without their feet on the ground. 

Gnomes

Greeting: May you have devised a splendid day. 

Greeting: May your neighbors bless you as you pass. [Gnomish society is highly driven by a sense of community.]

Goodbye: May your bounty increase in your sleep. 

Goodbye: May you find abundance in your endeavors. 

Swear: Fortune be cursed!
Swear: Broken cogs!

Compliment: You see as though from a bird's eye. 

Insult: You take longer to think than mountains take to become sand. 

Value: They who think the thoughts of others produce the same results. 

Orcs 

Greeting: As your legs carry you. 

Greeting: As His eye sees you. [Though orcish sayings reference Gruumsh, they are devoid of religious sentiment.]

Goodbye: Walk like your parents before you. 

Goodbye: Under His eye may you emerge victorious. 

Swear: Rusty blade!
Swear: Larethian! 

Compliment: You carry your destiny with you like a child. 

Insult: You are happier asleep than awake.

Value: You must only lose once to lose. 

There you have it: 72 expressions in a variety of languages and cultures. I think you'll find that if you're familiar with my homebrew setting, these sayings all evoke the cultural values of the races described here. That's the goal here--I want a world that has details which reflect the complexity of a real world and that all reinforce each other. Plus, now I have formal expressions to pass between folks. The player in my mystery campaign who plays Beor regularly uses traditional dwarven language when speaking to dwarves, which is actually what inspired this list. Now I have things to actually say instead of "traditional dwarven language." I call that a victory. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: how to develop a historical event for your homebrew setting, a list of ideas for BBEGS, and a custom one-shot for Alice in Wonderland. Until next time, happy gaming!

Back to the homepage (where you can find everything!)