Modern Language in Fantasy?

[Reaves]

I didn't particularly like "Lord Ruler" but I thought it worked because it had some similarity to something in our own world. "Oh, Lawd!"

I think Merlin's beard worked well in Harry Potter because...well, it just has that feel of everything being slightly ridiculous in the Wizarding world. Remember that man in book four who wore a bikini to the massive Quidditch tournament? And with names like Dumbledore and Hogwarts.

In the Dresden files...I don't think it works so well. I've gotten up through book three, which is particularly dark, and I don't really think many of the made-up swears he uses fit.

What do you guys think about using modern phrases like "d*mn straight" or something like "you are screwed"? That was more along the lines of what I meant, rather than just what to use for swears in a fantasy setting. There was a topic created a month or two back along those lines already. http://www.timewastersguide.com/forum/index.php?topic=6434.0

[Silk]

I agree; the Merlin's Beard oath worked fine because the whole Wizarding world of Harry Potter was presented as kind of gimmicky.

In terms of modern slang and such... I think Ookla nailed it, really. If you're going to use slang, make sure it's not referencing something that doesn't exist in your imagined setting. More generic stuff ("d*** straight", "you're screwed", etc) I'm personally fine with... at least to a point. Having it show up every now and again shouldn't be much of a problem, at least I don't think so. It's just when you start saturating your stuff with it that people start to notice.

(Let's keep those opinions flying, guys! Raethe has an essay she doesn't want to write tonight.)

[sortitus]

"Screwed" could qualify as an anachronism. Using "screw" like that started some time after screws started to be used in Europe. I'd imagine that the term's slang usage increased as use of actual screws became more common. My super-quick research indicates that using "screw" as slang began in the 16-1700s, but AFAIK it didn't show up often until the late 19th century (soon after screws became readily available to the public). If your society uses screws and has for a while, it's totally cool to use the term as slang.

"D*** straight" is fine to me. I can't see many people using it in fantasy, though Zelazny did use similar phrases in the Amber series. His character was from mid 20th century America . Your setting (if we're talking about Crystalheart here) is gritty enough that I can see people talking like that. I'm guessing that I haven't seen it often because my experience with the genre has been primarily in older high fantasy. The term consists of two pretty common and old words, so I'm not going to even try to find history for it. "Straight" has been used in tons of different ways for ages and people have sworn for just as long, so it seems to me a distinct possibility that even someone from 10th century England used the phrase.

I'm not sure if it's practical to research every slang term, but if you get a comment about it make sure to double-check the term's history. Obviously as writers we don't have the time to double-check the history of every word we use. Well, maybe we do, but I wouldn't like to spend all of my time "checking" (another anachronism) my writing.

An interesting side note: I found that "putting your X on the line" is related to the use of X as a symbol for a kiss, dating back to the Roman Empire. Crazy times.

[Renoard]

It can be a story killer. Nothing is quite as jarring as reading a decent mystical fantasy set in a rustic pre-techno environment only to have the characters saying something that was spouted by Hanna Montana last week. That's part of the theme with the Xanth novels. But if Rigney or Martin did that, it would collapse the whole suspension of disbelief that's critical to the story.

Like all rules there are exceptions... "The Compleat Complete Enchanter" comes to mind. The amber series... Context is King!