Author’s Note: Bad, Bad Word

As a side note, that cautionary dictionary entry, if anything, understates just how spectacularly insulting uljíra is, adjective-wise. But then, it was written by a non-native speaker of Eldraeic, even if a native speaker of the Trade dialect.

Its literal meaning is “choiceless1” – and not so due to external forces. Jír, recall, is the root of jírileth, with its important literal meaning.

That’s right up there with “Defaulter” in terms of Things To Say To An Imperial That Will Result In The Coroner Declaring Your Ensuing Death A Suicide.

1. And you can consider that in the context of that certain old saying daráv xíjirár; jaqef vigínár: a sophont chooses, a servile complies.

7 thoughts on “Author’s Note: Bad, Bad Word

  1. I’m pretty sure that there is never a time when it is inappropriate to quote / reference Bioshock*.

    *: this may or may not be due to the typer’s recent obsession with the franchise.

  2. The Question remaining is simple: “What’s then the local cultural equivalent to phrase ‘Would you kindly'”?

    (Read: The Brainwashing trigger phrase that’s so holovid-cliché that nobody sane would actually use it in real life…)

  3. On a related note: Do the eldrae have any sort of understanding of the idea of “bad faith” as used in the existential philosophical sense? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_faith_(existentialism))

    (For example, to use yet another pithy science fiction quote: “There is always choice. We say there is no choice only to comfort ourselves with the decision we have already made.”)

    • Well, not in the existential sense, inasmuch as existentialism in their context is down there competing with nihilism for the title of Least Reputable Philosophy Ever.

      They certainly have the concept of inescapable freedom of choice, but its roots and implications are quite distinct.

      • Interesting that this should be the case, given that existentialist thought espouses many of the same sort of values that the eldrae themselves do — elevating and valuing the individual for themself, a commitment to freedom of thought and action for every thinking being, a belief that we must forge our own purpose and impose it on a universe that intrinsically has none, etc.

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