MEME: Linguistics

[citycouncil]

Prompted by a conversation on Twitter, let's take a look at the linguistic choices behind the way our characters speak! NERDS. Here are a few prompts, but feel free to talk about anything you feel like with regards to language and your characters.

Where and when are they from originally?
What is their accent?
Do they curse? Under what circumstances?
What influences the way they speak?
Has their speech changed since arriving in Darrow? In what ways does it differ from canon?
Have they picked up any specific language/slang/vocal tics while in Darrow?
What slang do they use, if any?
Do you have anything specific you keep in mind when writing their dialogue?
What else should we know about how they speak?

Let's talk about talking.

Comments

[herownway]

Where and when are they from originally? Queens, New York, 2014
What is their accent? so, she is a clone but would have the same accent as Peter and where he is from. Which is also Queens. But no Spider-Man actor, voice or live action, has ever done the big Queens accent! It's a big accent! It should theoretically be there! Tom Holland kind of I guess? So my cheat has always been to say 'generic New Yorker, traces of Queens', it's probably around what Petey sounds like in Homecoming.
Do they curse? Under what circumstances? Jessica actually curses a fair bit in the comics, but because of them rules it's always in grawlixes. So when she curses in game, I bust out those same #$%^ing grawlixes, for a couple of reasons. It makes it look like her dialogue to me, since that's how it appears on page. Also I find it weirdly amusing. It's kind of like how the mockumentary style of sitcom allowed them to bleep swear words through the framing device, and then other comedies picked that up even though they don't have the framing device to justify it, we just accept it. The fact we don't hear/see it is almost part of the joke.

I will occasionally bust out an actual un-redacted curse in high emotion moments, when I want the impact. I get both the impact of 'non-swearer swears' and the verisimilitude of 'modern teen swears a reasonable amount', I am both having and eating the cake
What slang do they use, if any? I don't know what to call it. Pre-millenial? Slang, but of the pre-bae variety, and sometimes she'll rewind even further, there's an old timey patter to it sometimes. Also, as I put it on twitter, a smattering of nebulously sourced Yiddish.
Do you have anything specific you keep in mind when writing their dialogue? Bendis has a particular style, and since basically two people have written Ultimate Jess in her whole comics existence and one of them sucked, I tend to go for that pattern. Sort of a naturalistic, repeating style. Some odd, winding phrasings.

Also, only Old Pop Culture references, for the most part, classics over fully contemporary references. There's a line I've always liked where a cop is yelling at Peter for disturbing a crime scene and asks how he's never seen a single CSI, and Peter just says 'I have webs?' Out and about too much to be fully up on the teevee!