Saying Hello
Because if you don’t know how to use those nifty
words of yours, you’re probably going to get a cane cracked against your head
:D. Ow.
In Bienséance Bokokugo is inordinately complicated. Obviously, to great
someone is to open up a potential speech event with them, and Terrans find it
necessary in this, to establish right away just who stands where socially,
relationship wise, time of day wise, and of, mood-wise. Besides honorific
manipulation, it is the main social establishment and distinction which can be
made verbally. None of these gestures are obligatory, however, whoever initiates
them already has a sense of dominance in them, and the person they are speaking
to is expected to follow along in the motions at least.
The body language of greetings…
* Bowing- polite and formal. Non-Herald females tend to cross their ankles when
they bow.
* Hand shakes- chummy, but not exactly informal. Terrans shake wrist-to-wrist.
* Cloak-spreading- a gesture limited to the upper class among other members of
the upper class. The person making the gesture will take the edges of their
cloak in their hands, and open them up with a quick, swishing motion, perhaps
shake them a bit, and drop them. If it’s summer and the person wishing to
perform this greeting is not wearing a cloak, they may go through the motions
without anything in their hands. It is a gesture of great honesty, like saying,
“May I be your confidant this evening? See, I have nothing myself to hide.”
* Kissing- the person BEING kissed is established as being subordinate. When
meeting after brief absences, a Kept Boy always kneels before his master, and
the master then kisses him on the lips, then wipes his mouth- comes from looking
for anyone else’s lipstick. You never know…
* Mages have been known to whack non-Heralds speaking to them without invitation
on the shoulders with a staff or standard pole as a sign of giving them
audience. Thanks are expected for the blow.
* Waving- Terrans, especially in the upper class, NEVER wave to one another.
Good way to break up social allegiance if the wrong person sees you!
Public displays of affection are welcomed on Terra, provided they’re among men.
Women seldom shake hands with, touch, or come into contact with ANYONE on
public, except occasionally other women. Because almost all Terran women have
higher or equal status to Terran men, having a man’s hand on them is considered
beneath them. Conversely, when it comes to female servants (for there are such
things), their employers will often embrace them and kiss them on the cheeks in
public, even hang on them like children, and for the most part, they will
reciprocate enthusiastically. Why? Female servants tend to lead lives of small
intrigues, things for which they are carefully hand-picked to enjoy.
Servants of either sex and most Kept Boys will sit at their employer/master’s
feet in public. Servants may include themselves in public conversation as they
see fit, Kept Boys never speak unless their master says they may, either as
general leave before a speech event, or small allowances given moment by moment
in long conversations.
Vocabulary of Greetings
There are two types of greetings used in Bienséance Bokokugo: those
appropriate for the hours when the sun is up, and those appropriate for when the
sun is not up. The hour is not important to most, and, in fact, expressions
common to certain hours in other languages are universal for the state of day
they appear in regardless of how they were intended to be used in the original
tongue. Any greeting here may be made more polite by adding –san to the end. Do
not use –san as a greeting suffix after the sun sets.
Daylight greetings…
*Bonjour- French idiom for "Good day". VERY formal
*Ohayo Gozaimasu- Japanese Idiom for "Good morning". Used formally.
*Konnichi-wa- Japanese, "Good day". Informal
*Ureshii-thé- "Happy Tea!" used by friends between 2Pm and 5Pm. An
expression which originated prior to the instituting of the adjectives after
nouns rule.
*Hi/Hello/'ello- informal, but implies one does not know the person one
is speaking to very well.
*Oi- Japanese for "hey!" used informally for people one knows well, but
carries the additional meaning of "Hey! [stop that!]" in other situations.
*Poke-haroo/Poke-pika- Actually, Japanese words for pocket-sized cartoon
character mascots that worked as pedometers. At once time, such gadgets were a
rarity on Terra, and so if one managed to catch a person using one, it was all
but required to comment on how lovely it was. Hence, it morphed into a rather
flattering, yet annoyingly cute form of "hello". Use with discretion.
*Pan-pin/Pon-pin- A response to any friendly greeting- it can not be used
to begin a speech event, but can be matches as a reply to almost any daytime
greeting. Derived from the same source as “pin-pon”.
*Forms of “je no cher/cherie” [my dear], “je no shonen (garcon)/shojo
(fille)” [my boy/girl], “Je no tomodachi” [my friend], “je no
aim(e)” [my friend], and “je no copain/copine” [my pal] can also be used as a
form of conversation initiation, however, they are open to interpretation by
whoever is being addressed and have no official social implications besides that
the two have met before, else they would not be using ambiguous forms of
address.
*Whistling- Not considered a gesture, but a form of "hello" in and of
itself. Terran greeting whistles are performed can be performed with to without
the fingers in one's mouth, and invariable follow a "tweeeet-TWEET-tweet"
pattern and are quite compared to whistling as a musical interrupting in english.
During the day, they are neutral as per politeness and affection for the person
being greeted.
Night Greetings… (many of these are derivatives of Japanese new year's
greetings related terms, the idea being that the night is the time when
everything can begin again for a person, and whatever happened during the
serious day can be erased by the frivolous evening. Any greeting here may be
made more polite by adding –sama to the end. Don’t add Sama before the sun goes
down.
*Whistling- During the night, whistling is not advised, as it changes to
having a very distinct nuance of "Hey there! Nice ass". Nighttime whistles,
however, follow a "TWEET-tweeeeeeeeeet-TWEET" pattern, so some margin for error
does exist. Night whistles are still rather soft. Whistling at whores after dark
will invariably lead to being kicked out of the Villa.
*Chouga- what a kept boy says to greet his master should he meet that
master at night. This isn’t used metaphorically one lover fawning on another,
that’s a different word. Actually, it’s…
*Chou-desu ka/Chou-da ka- One lover fawning pathetically on another would
greet them this way
*Gashi- used with those of superior rank one has no vested romantic
interest in
*Gashikoukan- used with those of superior rank one DOES have a vested
romantic interest in
*Enchanté- the only truly French greeting used past sunset. Used when
meeting someone and finding them attractive. May be used between people who know
each other, but who have never officially had a relationship.
*Daienchantté- Same as Enchantté, but the two are assumed to presently be
having an affair
*Pasenchantté- two speakers have had an affair, but broke up, however,
the person using this as a greeting harbors no hard feelings.
*Nuit omedetto- the phrase used to green Villa workers, regardless if
solicitation is about to occur or not.
*Guten Abend- has no politeness or familiarity nuances, but is considered
rather seductive
*Nenshi- used for getting someone’s attention
*Nerai- used for getting someone’s attention if they’re speaking to
another
*Ave Marie-sama- always suffixed, and, what the nobles use to address
lower-ranking in iduals who they have never met before. If they know them,
it’s just “Ave-sama”. Priests (when there were priests on Terra) were always
considered by the common people to be speaking down to them, and the nobles
adopted this as “funny”.
*Ureshii-creche-a-lune- Same as “Ureshii-thé” but used between 2Am and
5Am. Just in case anyone proves to be awake then.
*To address someone one has never met before by night, and someone one has no
idea of their rank, “Mademoiselle” [miss], “Demoiselle” [miss], “Monsieur”
[mister], “Bambin” [lad], “Gamine” [lass] may be used as neutral
approaches.
*de-parlla a boits- [speaking of bottles] ignores all class boundaries
and is rude. All sorts of fascinating words end up substituted for “boits”, many
of them quite sexually explicit.
*Nuit-desu/da- [it’s night] another rude conversation starter, used
typically by the bored and stranded
*Lunes a argent(te)- [silver moons] a surprised greeting
