Grounder 101!

[ckret2]

I'm writing a fic where I'm going to have some characters speaking Grounder quite extensively. Since we only get a handful of Grounder quotes in the series, this is hard. (No, it's not ALL "boomboom." Just, oh, 99% of it.) So I went through Mira's Wedding and Star-Crossed to transcribe all the Grounder I could. Yay!

And I figured I'd post it here, just in case anyone else cares about using actual Grounder-sounding lingo in a fic. Or something. Double-returns indicate gaps between dialogue, because I'm not typing everything. So here we go!

"oo" is pronounced as in "boom." "ee" is pronounced as in "feet." "o" or "oh" are pronounced as in "no." "a" is pronounced as in "father." "Aye" is sorta pronounced like a cross between the father-"a" and the word "eye."

*seven grounders looking at their tin can targets*
Thin Guy: Boomboom. *points at target* Weebobeebo.
*apparently, encouraging the female Grounder to zap the target*
Chick: *zaps*
*Chick & Thin Guy high five, other Grounders shout approval*
Fat Guy: Hoohoo ya doo-oh. *shoos people aside so he can work* Boomboom.
*shot fizzles out*

Fat Guy: Lord Angstrom? Skree! No wonder powers wouldn't flobo.
Angstrom: Could we keep this conversation in the King's Tangean if you don't mind?
Fat Guy: Boo.

Thin guy: So when's big aye doodoo upstairs?

Angstrom: The attack is on.
Fat Guy: *makes motorcycle gesture w/ hands* Boomboom.
Angstrom: You do that.

*while incinerating their can target practice fence together*
Grounders: Boomboom-boom-boom (etc.)
(conclusion: they just like shouting the word)


Fat guy: Blaster probo.
Thin Guy: Blaster boomboom aye doodoo.
Fat Guy: Pleeease, in the King's Tangean.
Thin Guy: We must prepare for our entrance into high society.
Fat Guy: And don't forget the wedding gift. Bloom! Boom. *laughs*
("Bloom"? Okay...)

Chick: *powers die* Hmm? Tangean nearby.
Thin Guy: There she is! Boomboom!
(So there's a look at grammar. They drop verbs: Tangean nearby, not Tangean IS nearby)

Thin Guy: Heh heh, what problem blue-blood? Can't gho't away?
(He drops his S's here. "What" instead of "what's," "gho't" instead of "ghost")

A bunch jump to attack: Bwubwubwuh!
(... I 'unno, I liked this. Grounder battle attack!)

*as Mira is escaping, a bunch are shouting after her*
Random Grounder: Rloda! *shaking fist*

Thin Guy: *watch beeps time to attack wedding* Aye doodoo. *pumps fist* Boomboom!

Thin Guy: *taunting king* Heheheh... Boom.

Grounders: Buuzz Likeyear?!
(Or "Lightyear." Three pronounce it together; one seems to draw out the U in Buzz, one seems to switch the T for a K.)

And now for quotes from Star-Crossed:

Zurg: Just tell him how pleased we are to see him.
Grub: Hoowo... shoo... boomboom.

Zurg: Try telling the miserable lackwit that I have a job for him.
Grub: Skree doo... doo boom... boom?
Romac: Skip the boombooms.

*flashback*
Lover guy: Reeblao!
Lover girl: *shoves* Uuh, uuh! Scree! ("Uuh" pronounced like "u" in "run," but drawn out. It is not pronounced like the word "nuh-uh," which emphasizes the first syllable: both syllables of "uuh, uuh" have equal weight.)
Lover guy: Reebo reeblao!
Lover girl: Meebo reebo? Ha! Boomboom! *zaps him into a tree*
Lover guy: *gets up* Ffurhemee? (It really sounds like he's got no distinguishable vowels here, actually. "ff'rh'mee?")
*accidentally zap Mira; go to see her. Lover Guy is startled, Lover Girl looks worried*
Lover guy: Voomvoo! Bloobruh. (As in "blueblood")
Lover girl: *pulls him aside by wrists* *rubs Mira's sleeve* Scree! *reaches for tiara* BoomBOOM.
Romac: *shows up* Boomboom. Grree! Boom!
Lover girl: Woo!
Lover boy: Boomboom? Shooshoo!
Lover girl: Oo, shooshoo!
*they shooshoo*

Romac: Heyhey, not all Grounders are ignorant boomers.
(The fact that he uses "boomer" as a noun strikes me as interesting for some reason. Also, despite the fact that Romac's got no accent, the way he said "heyhey" fast together sounded similar to the way Grounders double other words: boomboom, shooshoo, doodoo, etc. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it!)

So there you go. Unless I missed something, that's every intelligible thing said in Grounder, excluding scenes where they grunt or yell or shout over each other. Is there another episode prominently featuring Grounders that I forgot, or was that it?

(And if you think this is obsessive, you should see what I did when I heard the aliens in District 9.)

[Skyfire]

Aww man, this is so cool! Major kudos to you, ma'am! ;D

[Alohilani]

Ah, freakin' sweet! I love fictional languages <3

[ckret2]

Thank you. I actually found ANOTHER bit of Grounder dialogue later, in "Downloaded." It wasn't until I rewatched it that I remembered there even were Grounders in that episode. Their dialogue:

Fat Guy: Boom boom, we get bot. (As in robot.)
Thin guy: Hoowoo, we get boocoo blodo

One of them: Oo, bloobluh powers no flobo.

Fat Guy: Heheh, we'll scaboo the bot, blue blood.

Fat Guy: Ray (Clay) and Marl get bot, Swack!

Thin Guy: Cray (Clay) and Marl got boocoo blodo!
Fat Guy: Wanna go dancing?

I keep calling them "Thin Guy" and "Fat Guy" because even though they've got names now, I don't know which of them is which. Also, the two times I heard the name "Clay" used, it sounded like "Ray" or "Cray," even though the credits call him Clay.

And, disclaimer: I'm not actually POSITIVE that I heard one say "Wanna go dancing?" That's what it sounded like to me, but that seems like such a random question that I don't quite believe that's what I heard. On the other hand, that might have been their plan. Because the people who write this stuff CAN be fiendishly clever. (Even if we do wonder what they're on sometimes. Zurg/Vicki, what?!)

[Warp Darkmatter]

LOL. That's great work, ckret! I'm so glad you put this up. If you've never seen someone who doesn't watch a lot of BLoSC try to read it out loud, you are missing something really hilarious.

Again good job.

((stops spamming))