tips for writing Star Wars fanfic/Star Wars roleplay things
it’s not concrete; it’s duracrete
viewports are the windows on ships
not a plane; ship or speeder
it’s not steel; it’s durasteel
booksare rare; holorecordsordatapads
it’s not a glass pane it’s transparisteel
caf is the equivalent of coffee
it’s not paper it’s a flimsi
medcenter is a hospital
Star Wars can be very similar to things we’re already used to, but getting familiar with some of these terms can make your writing really fit in with the universe
It’s not a phone or cell; it’s a holocom or communicator or just comm (unit). You normally comm someone instead of call them.
Searching our standard terms in Wookieepedia will normally provide you with one or several in-universe alternatives. The other items exist, they’re just either archaic terms or really low-tech versions of what’s commonly used (like concrete is a real thing, but just extremely less durable and strong than the more advanced and common duracrete).
Back in the day weren’t the “glass” windows on x-wings and ships called like invisa-steel or something? That stuck in my head from the Thrawn trilogy I think. I remember sitting there in deep contemplation over how the hell you make the molecule chains in metal transparent and worrying about carbon chains and shit because what’s what you do in 10th grade.
I remember seeing med center used as medbay and sickbay as well, and dishwasher as sonic dishwasher? (correct me if wrong tho, I can’t remember v well). But here’s some more:
bandaids = bacta patches bathroom = refresher watch/clock = chrono first aid kit = medpack, medkit motorcycle = speeder bike, swoop bike camera = holocamera internet = holonet shower = sonic shower(?)
Correct any of these if they’re wrong ;P also they’re all legends I think and I’m not sure if any of them are in new canon.
I love this, because it’s not condescending or pretentious…just fans letting newer fans know ways to improve their fic. I love the films, but I haven’t been able to get access to so many of the books and comics yet (even though they’re waiting in my Amazon cart for pay day), so this is awesome. And I’ve basically been living on Wookieepedia lately, too!
nearly everyone has commlinks but holocomm units are a bit more pricy – think space skype. they’re connected to the holonet. i don’t think there’s a star wars term for emails (maybe just mail) but those also exist.
personal computing devices are datapads, stationary ones are terminals. also, you don’t get a stack of physical paper for paperwork; you get a stack of datapads. (although paper is called flimsi, paperwork is still called paperwork. go figure)
kilometers are klicks
a lot of fighter pilot helmets have tongue switches for their commlinks so pilots don’t have to take their hands off the controls during dogfights. random factoid that might come in handy
some in-universe swearwords: sithspit, sithspawn, fragged, fragging
a hacker is a slicer or codeslicer
I was thinking of making this post just today – glad to see a version is already going around!!
Klick is actually a real-world slang term for kilometer! Everything that I can remember is that the galaxy uses the metric system, or at least the GAR does. And I’ve seen showers just called showers in some Legends novels.
Some things I don’t see above:
Plastic is often called plastoid, and I’ve seen the clone troopers’ armor called either just plastoid or plastoid alloy. Plastoid goes for either your thick stuff or your thin sheets. There is a thing called plastifoil, I’ve seen it used in reference to the material of a thermal blanket.
Bucket is a slang in (at least) the GAR for helmet. I don’t know how common it is among stormtroopers.
Your memory card type things, which go into your datapads, are (natch) datachips.
Similarly, your ID is an identichip.
And as far as video recorders, above says camera as holocamera, but I’ve also seen holorecorder.
Also, as far as I’ve seen, though the city on Coruscant covers the entire planet, the city itself is called Galactic City during the Republic and Imperial City (iirc) during the Empire. Triple Zero (or Trip Zip) is a military slang term for Coruscant because of its coordinates 0-0-0.
More generally, when looking up slang terms and swears, consider where it comes from. I wouldn’t expect a Corellian to say the Mando’a swear shab. Though, the Huttese fierfek seems to be universal. The swear kriffing is also a common one.
Further swear words include karabast, kriff(ing) and kark(ing).
Lightsabers short out in water unless turned to a special mode beforehand!
I’ve also seen “plastoid” referred to as “plastisteel”.
Pens/pencils are generally referred to as a stylus.
There is a difference between a ship and a speeder; ships are like planes or boats in terms of they are for long-distance space travel. Speeders are like cars or motorbikes; for planetary travel.
hayden christensen is living the dream. dude got to be in star wars, wear a custom-made darth vader suit, learn choreographed lightsaber battles, and kiss natalie portman. owns a farm now and never leaves it. that’s literally the dream. what a legend.
Sometimes I can’t stop thinking about how Zuko accidentally spoke against his father and begged for forgiveness, on his knees with tears in his eyes, and got half his face burned off and banished from his home
Then Zuko betrayed his uncle and everything Iroh had ever taught him, begged for forgiveness on his knees with tears in his eyes, and got a hug and complete forgiveness and unconditional love
I think I finally understand why older gens always fondly look back at the movies and music from when they grew up and feel utter and complete dismay at the youngins that don’t get it. Time is an illusion. None of this makes sense. What do you mean 1999 wasn’t 10 years ago? How do you not know this very common thing that was on TV all the time? Why do my knees ache all of a sudden? Being a stone’s throw away from 30 really opened my eyes I tell ya
i can’t believe I had to read this sentence in a buzzfeed thing about BtVS with my own goddamn eyes how is it possible this has slipped from the mind of the collective conscious, people died in this conflict, know your fandom history jeeze
Soooooo I know Hayden Christensen is a Hot Topic now that everyone wants him back as Anakin but like that’s not a good reason to start stalking the man at the Farmer’s Market..????
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