That's right, it's not Battlefleet Gothic. I really do mean The BFG, by Roald Dahl. The Happy Whisk reminded me I'd started re-reading it a few weeks back and still haven't finished. Go check out the blog and forget about eternal war for just a moment.
Now The BFG might seem completely unrelated to wargaming and roleplaying, but it's not. There's violence, giants and mysterious far-off lands in this book too. In fact, it's a tour de force both of and in imagination. The sense of hidden space is a highlight and even the stuff dreams are made of is finally revealed. If you have a copy, dig it out. In fact, if you have any Dahl, you're likely to enjoy the return journey, chiddler or not. It's Old School, and easily has what it takes to set off another great Renaissance.
Anyway, for now I thought it would be fun to test your memories of Dahl's neologisms and feeling for onomatopoeia. What do these words mean then? There actually might not be a definitive answer so forget absolute success.
- crodscollop
- schnozzle
- scuddle
- uckyslush
- whizzpopper
Exunckly. And you was thinking you knew the langwitch...
6 comments:
Aw. I thought this was going to be a post about toasters!
Let's not forget "human beans."
And snozzcumbers. Thanks for the shout out. And to b.smoove, I love the human bean. So great. Here's a quote from the BFG himself.
"Every human bean is diddly and different. Some is scrumpdiddlyumptious and some is uckyslush."
Thanks for the fun post. Have a most wonderful day.
BFG I thought it stood for Big F**king Gun as seen in the movie Doom.Apologies.
Dahl's stuff was always darker than immediately apparent. We need some 40k fiction in his style. :)
@ ArmChairGeneral - I didn't get the Battlestar Galactica reference - I don't think in all these years I've ever even spotted the similarity! Not so quick on the uptake me. Maybe the GW designers went to school with Glen Larson? Call me naive...
@ b.smoove - That's the big one I think. But forget them - how on Earth could we? There's a great bit of moral relativism in the book when the BFG talks about the relationship between human beans and the little piggy-wig... Ouch! There's just so much creativity in there, and great wordplay on every page.
@ The Happy Whisk - No worries, and thanks for the clue - we've had no suggestions at all yet so the help seems needed! Now everyone knows as much about the meaning of 'uckyslush' as I do, which is why definitive answers are really out of the question.
@ The Angry Lurker - I'd forgotten about Doom. Good point. How many BFGs are there? Anyway, you score high in straight talking..!I'm guessing it's 'Freaking', 'Fricking' or 'Fracking'...
@ Dave@RollWithIt - Maybe Black Library could get a few outsiders in to write up something a little mould-breaking? I'm thinking this:
http://exonauts.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-if-dr-seuss-did-star-wars.html
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