An Assortment of Forgotten Realms Figures of Speech
| Expression | Meaning | Origin | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The air tastes of..." | A phrase that describes the general feel in a room—the "vibe," if you will. | Tabaxi. Often useed by other species with a vomeronasal organ, especially carnivores. See also: "By the taste of the air." | "Very quiet in the salon today, I see. The air tastes of secrets." |
| "All dwarves are men and all elves are women." | A sarcastic expression, typically used to chide someone for having an overly simplistic or naïve worldview. | Dwarves; nowadays the phrase sees use by all common species. It stems from a misconception once spread widely by human explorers, who noticed that the dwarves they encountered all grew beards and the elves they met generally tended to be willowy, long-haired, and beardless. These explorers thus projected their notions of gender onto species to whom they didn’t apply. Dwarves in particular quickly grew to resent this. | "And I suppose you think all dwarves are men and all elves are women, too, right? |
| "Bird-spittle" | A lie; something impossible or preposterous. Synonymous with "bullshit." | Werewolves. The phrase is derived from the story of Týr and Fenrir. The rope used to bind Fenrir is said to have been made from supposedly impossible things, among them “the spittle of a bird,” “the roots of a mountain,” and “the sound of a cat’s footfall.” As animosity between werewolves and other therianthropes has decreased, recent decades have seen the phrase be used more widely. | "That's all bird-spittle. You know that, right? It's just a story." |
| "By the taste of the air" | By the looks of it; as far as one can gather. | Tabaxi. The phrase refers to flehmening, a process by which a creature guides scents into its vomeronasal organ. Thus it is occasionally used by other species with such an organ. | "By the taste of the air, it seems he fancies you." |
| "Chirpy" | Cheerful, chipper, talkative, and/or excitable. | Aarakocra, though it’s widely-applicable enough that it sees use by most species now. | "Well, aren't you chirpy today! |
| "Did you fall into a rosebush?" | Used when someone looks disheveled and/or distressed. Can be used to say "You look like shit" or ask "What happened?", depending on the context and the speaker's tone. | Originates from pixies in the Feywild, though nowadays it more commonly sees use by forest gnomes. | "How'd it go? You fall into a rosebush on the way back?" |
| "Do you take me for a turnspit?" | Used to complain about excessive work and/or unfair treatment, especially to one who expects the speaker to willingly accept it. Refers to the use of dogs to spin wheels that rotate meat on a spit, a practice once common in Faerûn but now under increasing controversy for its cruelty. | Hound archons and their aasimar descendants. | "Eighty hours a week! And for what? The same pittance he gives me now? Does he take me for a turnspit?" |
| "Dragon-high" | Very intoxicated, particularly on an herbal substance. Higher than wizard-high. | Wizards. A reference to both the altitudes dragons can reach in flight and the smoke that spirals from fire dragons' mouths and nostrils. | "Man, I'm, like, dragon-high right now." |
| "A dragon sang it to me." | Refers to hearsay; synonymous with “I heard it through the grapevine.” Often used sarcastically when one doesn't want to reveal their source. The irony lies in the fact that dragons are generally proud creatures who rarely sing for anyone but themselves. | Merchants and adventurers. The phrase has its roots in a phenomenon observed by travelers: when dragons fly in pairs (unusual) or groups (even more so), they will sometimes sing in harmony to pass the time. On the rare occasion when a dragon is seeking traveling companions, they’ll sing alone until another voice joins them. The songs tend to describe the singers’ specific journey or destination; thus they are largely improvised. Despite this, it seems all dragons somehow intuitively know the words. | "Why, a dragon sang it to me, of course. How else would I know? |
| "Fate's a clever huntress." | Fate strikes when one least expects it—and often with lethal precision. Often used when reuniting with a sworn enemy. | Tabaxi, specifically the jaguar folk living in Chult. | "So we meet again. Fate's a clever huntress, isn't she? |
| "A friend in the field is a stranger in the nest." | Even the closest friends should not be left alone with one’s children. Parents know their children best and should not trust anyone else to do the same, or to have their children’s best interests at heart. | A very old phrase among spotted gnolls, stemming from the earliest days of their emergence from Yeenoghu's reign of terror. While gnolls are deeply community-oriented now, the effects of Yeenoghu's curse makes many older individuals very slow to trust others with their cubs. | |
| "May your children feed crows." | A curse often uttered to those who disrespect nature or exploit the people around them. It carries several meanings. Either the recipient will change their ways, learn kindness, and teach it to their children; their children will make better choices than they did; or their entire bloodline will suffer a deadly fate. Those who use this curse generally believe its outcome is up to the recipient. | Druids and grave clerics. | |
| "Shake the cuckoo from the nest" | To identify or excise a traitor from a group of people. | Rangers and druids, seemingly irrespective of species. The phrase refers to brood parasitism; thus the word “cuckoo” is sometimes replaced with the name of a similar species, like “cowbird” or “phoebe.” Over time, the idiom has been shortened to simply “Shake the cuckoo.” | "We'd best shake the cuckoo before it's too late." |
| "Singing the dragon harmony" | Used to describe when a group of very different people bond over shared adventures, traumas, or stories. Most commonly used in reference to parties of adventurers. For an explanation, see the above expression "A dragon sang it to me;" sometimes, when dragons sing on their flights, other beings will attempt to join them. | Bards. | "He's off in Calimshan now, singing the dragon harmony with a band of ruffians he met." |
| "Tumbled from the branch" | Irritable; synonymous with “woke up on the wrong side of the bed.” Sometimes the phrase “mid-song” is used to describe someone who is especially or unexpectedly ill-tempered, i.e. “Tumbled from the branch mid-song.” | Aarakocra and harpies, seemingly independently of one another. Kenku have been known to reference it by mimicking the sound of a tree branch rustling, sometimes followed by a thud. | "Someone tumbled from the branch this morning, eh?" |
| "Trust the moon to wane" | Life changes; things won't be bad forever, at least not in the way they presently are. Sometimes shortened to simply "trust the moon." | Therianthropes, particularly those who learn to master their animal forms. | "I promise you'll get out of there. Just trust the moon on this one, alright?" |
| "A wildfire ago" | Many years ago; play on “a while ago.” | Phoenixes; refers to their process of death and rebirth, which occurs intermittently between very long lifespans. Sometimes “a conflagration ago,” a play on “a generation ago,” is used to denote an especially significant stretch of time. | “Many wildfires ago, I knew a man who could sell anything.” |
| "A wizard did it" | A tongue-in-cheek pseudo-explanation for something that is otherwise inexplicable. Who left that door open? Why is your flintlock jammed? Where did that missing sock go? The answer to all of these questions is “A wizard did it.” | Difficult to pinpoint; every region and species seems to have their own variation. Some scholars argue it dates back to a vast ancient compendium. | "I didn't take your claymore. It was probably a wizard." |
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