Common Phrases & Slang

There’s a wide variety of formulaic language that sees widespread use across the galaxy, retaining similar meaning across different cultures due to inter-galactic exchange. Many phrases and slang words originate from the ancient cufosan language, but some also had other origins and were spread to other cultures by the space-faring cufosni nomads.  

Backrocket

A slang term for old types of space rocket jets. Also a slang for a society that’s behind on the times - either being technologically underdeveloped due to isolation or being deliberately resistant to new ideas/events.   It’s often also used derogatorily to refer to a person that’s quaint or inferior.
 

Better spaced than based on Shancury

A saying denoting you’d rather be caught dead than do X. Refers to the cufosni’s dislike for highly urbanized and populated areas, with the ecumenopolis Shancury being considered the worst of the worst.
 

Brainscrape

A newer slang term that refers to a person that’s been subjected to the highly controversial S.A.I.K.A method.
 

Can of corrosion

An insult for a very unpleasant and/or unlikable person.
 

Cargo Bay

A widely accepted term for a larger storage space in vehicles, and also an inoffensive slang term for one’s rear.
 

Chink in the Cargo Bay

A saying that something’s a problem to someone. Similar meaning as ‘pain in the rear’.
 

Cold-Shirting It

Entering the vacuum of space without wearing the necessary protective equipment. Can also be used to describe a person foolhardily putting themselves into any similarly dangerous and potentially deadly situations.
 

Crunk

A catch-all slang term for anything considered disgusting and gross. Originally a cufosan word for excrements. Can also be used as an expletive or as a derogatory modifier.
 

Erre-Erre

Originally a shortening of ‘Errem Erremes’, which is a deprecated cufosni command to immediately stop what one’s currently doing.   Today, ‘Erre-Erre’ is most commonly used to mean ‘never mind’, ‘we’re done’, or to announce one intends to stop contributing to an ongoing conversation.
 

Exhaust Port

A slang term for one’s rear, considered far ruder than ‘cargo bay’.
 

Follows the comet’s tail

A descriptor for a person considered touched by fate or who has a set destiny to fulfill.   Individuals recognized as predestined for carrying out some feat or being the catalyst of some event are often treated to a special kind of respect by cufosni, regardless of what opinion they might otherwise have of them.
 

Fringe

Slang term for the outer edge of the galaxy.
 

Fringe to scalp, and the hair between

A saying meaning ‘all-inclusive’, ‘complete’ or ‘encompassing’, similar to ‘all and everything’ or ‘everything and nothing’.
 

Gone thermal

A descriptor for a person that’s lost their temper, usually becoming inordinately irate and furious as a result.
 

Got a few riggets loose

A saying that means someone’s not entirely sane. Riggets are small pests often infesting homes and ships.
 

Hatch

A slang term for mouth. Often heard in the exclamation ‘shut your hatch’, demanding someone to stop talking.
 

Hit off the cosmic deck

Be extremely lucky, often to the point of being preposterous. A term originally stemming from turning a sure loss to a victory by drawing a lucky card in a game of Azamet.
 

It’s just cosmic dust

An expression for something that’s small, insignificant, or trivial when compared to everything else. Often used to dismiss concerns or as a means to soothe worries.
 

Like getting kissed by a naiavon

An expression that something has such an astronomically low chance of ever occurring it could just as well be considered impossible.
 

Mudscuffler

Offensive slang term for a person permanently settled on a world, as opposed to living the traditional nomadic ways of the cufosni.
 

Naarberry - bush - some unit of distance

A saying referring to a child taking after their parents.
 

Nothing's eternally lost to the entropic nature of clutter

A saying that something you can’t find right now might show up later when you least expect it.

Nullvox that ate the radrock

A recently spreading expression describing a person having secret knowledge or a secret skill that’ll give them an advantage.   It’s a direct reference to the infamous negotiations between the Three Tails and the Ascendancy. The attending nullvox leader, Chip, had swallowed a sizable piece of highly radioactive cherrockite before meeting with the Ascendancy representatives.
 

Pick between Scarrock and Hailzone

A saying for choosing between two equally bad outcomes.   Scarrock and Hailzone are two mining worlds located not far from Scrabster — one known for its high air pressure and sweltering temperatures and the other for its frigid temperatures and frequent glass shard storms.
 

Pissed in the power supply

An expression that someone’s gone and done something that was obviously extremely stupid.
 

Put some coolant on it!

A rude way of telling someone to calm down.
 

Scalp

Slang term for the core of the galaxy.
 

Scrabstack

The world Scrabster got historically infamous for the many tries to illegally export more goods than their ship manifests detailed.   ‘Scrabstack’ became a term for such goods, and has today transformed to refer to any shipped illicit goods.
 

Scudder

A cowardly person - someone’s who’s likely to run and hide the moment they meet resistance or get caught in trouble. Scuds are small and skittish animals found on Vandesmyr.
 

Scud It!

An exclamation to hunker down or hide.
 

Scud Out!

An exclamation to get away as fast as one can.
 

Sold gattas as lamuris

An expression for making something sound more dramatic than it is.   Gatta and lamuri are two very similar cufosni confectioneries, the only difference being the latter has a glazed coating made from flavored sugar.
 

Screaming at stars

An expression of someone performing a useless action that won’t result in anything meaningful.
 

Smooth as a neutron star

An expression that means ‘very smooth’. Often used to denote an event unfolding smoothly, easily, and/or without issues.
 

Snogwash

A cufosan word for ‘snot’ (‘snog’ being the word for ‘nose’), but nowadays is mostly used as an expletive expressing disbelief in a statement made by someone else.
 

Snoot

Endearing cufosan slang word for nose, usually reserved for children or animals.
 

Spaced

Colloquial term for being dead or killed, referring to being violently flung out an airlock or through a hull breach into space.
 

Starstruck

Slang term for quickly and madly falling in love.
 

Sucks atmo

An expression describing circumstances that are as welcome as a pressure leak.
 

Sweet tukie!

Exclamation of surprise and/or dismay. Tukie is a traditional cufosni dessert consisting of bite-sized sweet-sour tarts. It was common for them to end up only tasting sweet when done by inexperienced bakers, which was undesirable.
 

Tissy as ninety-nine ninns

An expression describing a person being very nervous, skittish, jittery, or otherwise experiencing difficulties sitting still.
 

Though blade washed of blood, the scar remembers

A proverb meaning that the individual inflicting pain might forget, but the recipient suffering it rarely does.
 

Use the auxiliary jets

An expression for asking someone to slow down or wait.
 

Vos mora / Vos suu

A cufosni exchange of greetings translating to ‘I see (you)’ / ‘I hear (you)’. It sees widespread use in galactic society today.   When one person is greeting a group of people, it’s common to use the contracted ‘Vos morsu’ and expect no vocalized response. In the case of two groups greeting each other, usually a single person from each will make the usual exchange.
 

Yum-yum

A slang descriptor for a food or drink considered delicious and tasty. It’s also used as a rude way to describe a person considered physically attractive.

Cover image: by geralt

Comments

Author's Notes

A bit of a prompt-stretch, but I wanted to focus on the actual formulaic language coming from cufosan than describe the language itself.


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Jul 29, 2025 22:10 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

Cargo bay is my favourite, though I do also like snogwash.

Emy x
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Aug 22, 2025 07:03 by Nimin N

Cargo bay's probably my favorite too in the list I got so far. I plan on expanding it later down the line. :D

Aug 9, 2025 09:18

I think it's great that you focused less on describing the language and more on the idioms and expressions. Very inspiring, thank you.

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Aug 22, 2025 07:08 by Nimin N

Happy to hear you liked that focus and makes me glad you found it inspiring too. <3   I think idioms and expressions tell a lot between the lines about the culture they're from, so it felt fun to try come up with fitting ones for this setting. :)

Aug 20, 2025 17:40 by Lynea

I had a lot of fun reading this :)

Aug 22, 2025 07:08 by Nimin N

Glad to hear it, and thank you for reading!

Aug 28, 2025 21:02

The style of giving each a box works well in this aesthetic. The holistic integration of your cultures and lore into some of the sayings is impressive. I thought "fringe to scalp..." was out of place and was going to comment upon it until I got to the word scalp, and then it all came together. Nice. My favorite is Can of Corrosion, as I can totally see it, especially in this world.

Sep 5, 2025 13:45 by Rin Garnett

"Pissed in the power supply" got a good laugh out of me. These are all so fun and thoughtful, they do a lot to express what this culture values.

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Oct 24, 2025 17:31

I absolutely love focusing on idioms and expressions for a setting. And those are all really good!

At the end of everything, hold onto anything.