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. . . for instance in WWI & II the German soldiers were called "Jerry", "Fritz" and "Kraut" and the Japanese were "Nips", "Slants" and "Tojo", and in Vietnam the VC were "Charlie", and in the Battle of Mogadishu (1993) the Somali milita were "Sammies" and "Skinnies" etc.

Well, I was trying to think of some good 40K counterparts, particularly for what the Imperials would call the Tau. I know there is the obvious "greenskin" for Ork (and "old foe", which is quite nice) and things like "bugs" and "nids" for Tyranids, and "arch-enemy" for Chaos etc, but I can't recall coming across any for Tau, and was wondering what some good ones could be.

The only things I can pick from my brains is "roach" or "roaches" which could have two potential origins. First is the roach fish (carp family), which kinda fits in lieu of the Tau's aquatic vehicle theme and also due to their greyish blue colouring which seems to match Tau skin tones. Another possibility could be that it's short for "cockroach", in which the Tau lend a (admittedly weak) likeness with their brown fatigues and exo-skeletal looking armour, but could also derive from their survivability and hardiness (their technological advantage and tactics of digging in for long-ranged firefights and cautious retreats from danger, making them notoriously difficult to hunt/pin down and erradicate, for example). Also, I thought of maybe something like "sandhoppers" for their XV8's (due to the arid nature of many Tau worlds and their jump capability).

Anyway, I'm sure there are many more that can relate to their skin colour, their physical features (that slit in the forehead is screaming out for a slur or two!) and other traits etc, but I'm trying to avoid lame ones such as "blue/grayskins" (works with Orks, but just doesn't here, for some reason) or "slit-heads" and the like.

Thoughts?

Nevermind...

In Ciaphas Cain they call the Tau something like Blueis. I dont remember the spelling, havnt read it in a while and dont have the book on me.

Whatever it was it was a refrence to the color of skin

Coolyo294 wrote:Nevermind...

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Galdos wrote:In Ciaphas Cain they call the Tau something like Blueis. I dont remember the spelling, havnt read it in a while and dont have the book on me.

Whatever it was it was a refrence to the color of skin

Not read them unfortunately. However "blueis" (I assume pronounced BLOO-EES) doesn't sound that great, to be honest.

xenos always works....

I remember hearing slit face one time and blueskins.... but that's about it...

blazinpsycho&typhooni wrote:xenos always works....

I remember hearing slit face one time and blueskins.... but that's about it...

Hmm, xenos is perhaps too general and official-sounding to be a Tau-specific slang term that would get thrown around the trenches and barracks of the IG.

all i can think of is blue-es.

Targets?

Fish from space.

Space Hippies?

Guppies, fish heads, kroot-huggers, blue meanies, pip-squeaks, blueberries.

Why name that which you "suffer not" ?

Frazzled wrote:Targets?

Bludbaff wrote:Fish from space.

Fish theme works but kinda needs to be one word, or a maximum of two that can be hyphenated, to work.

Squidmanlolz wrote:Space Hippies?

No.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:Guppies, fish heads, kroot-huggers, blue meanies, pip-squeaks, blueberries.

Now this is more like it! Like guppies, fish-heads and blueberries, not so much the others. How about flat-face/flat-fish?

"Guppies! To the right!"

"Now, ol' flat-face is dug in real deep along these islands . . ."




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Magpie wrote:Why name that which you "suffer not" ?

Probably because not having names for things would be confusing as hell.

Kill them all, what's to confuse ?

Tau: fish face
Kroot: Polly (as in "Polly want a cracker?")
Demiurg: Squat

well most slang terms tend towards racists and insulting, so if they're a fish type race, then you'd either call them "bait" or "minnow" or "barnacles," "barney" for short

What about air breathing HOOVED blue SKINNED HUMANOIDS says "fish people" to you? Really? No, really, I want to know? I dont understand it... there is NOTHING to Tau biology to imply fish people... Is it because their vehicles have a nautical theme?!? Thats weak considering they are imperial designations for the vehicles and by that logic Imperial Guard should be mythical beast-people...

Anyway, I would go with slit face or blues (as in blue but plural...)

Slot machine?

Magpie wrote:Kill them all, what's to confuse ?

Ahh, but you see, without any kind of system for designation, I have absolutely no idea what you're referring to when you say "them". Neither would anybody else, and, ultimately, neither would you. Result? Utter and complete confusion. The only things we don't have names for are things we've yet to discover to exist, and the Tau, from an Imperial perspective, don't fall into that category. Sorry.

chaos0xomega wrote:What about air breathing HOOVED blue SKINNED HUMANOIDS says "fish people" to you? Really? No, really, I want to know? I dont understand it... there is NOTHING to Tau biology to imply fish people... Is it because their vehicles have a nautical theme?!? Thats weak considering they are imperial designations for the vehicles and by that logic Imperial Guard should be mythical beast-people...

Anyway, I would go with slit face or blues (as in blue but plural...)

And what about German physiology says "cabbage" or "herb" to you? Hmm? Perhaps the Tau eat a lot of fish. Or, perhaps their link to things piscine is a result of their ship/vehicle designs? Unless you're suggesting that the Imperial designations somehow preceded their design and construction . . .


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blazinpsycho&typhooni wrote:Slot machine?

Yes! That's brilliant.

You all fail to remember that the "Fish" Theme has been handed to the Tau race by the IoM.

Since the Tau do not speak "Humie"

The Fish designations are what the slang terms for Tau are already.....


The only good name I can think of relates to IoM from a Tyranid perspective....... Dinner.

Milisim wrote:You all fail to remember that the "Fish" Theme has been handed to the Tau race by the IoM.

Since the Tau do not speak "Humie"

So I suppose the IoM handed the Tau their ship designs, too?

Just because the Tau language doesn't say "fish", it doesn't mean that they can't base elements of their culture off of a fish theme . . . they simply have a different word for it. I'm pretty sure the Tau had their theme and their piscine vehicles before the IoM discovered and designated them. Meaning? Their culture and their theme are their own.

I'd like to point out that the Tau homeworld is an arid desert-like planet. Not to say there isnt water, but they are HARDLY FISHPEOPLE.


As for the comment about German physiology etc. nothing. Kraut came from the perception that all Germans ate Sauerkraut... Other names have similar connotations. Calling Tau a "fishhead' because there vehicles are named after sea critters (by the imperium) is like calling an American a Chinaman because most goods sold in this country are produced in China and Chinese-American cuisine is awesome...

Tau are commies/space-cows/cow people, see? plenty of nicknames there

I wouldnt exactly call them commies either, but cow-people kinda works... I guess... I always thought them more horse/camel like myself (I think there was a bit of fluff about them being able to retain some extra water in their bodies or something).

Otaku

Bliggers?
Blopes?
Smoked (as in herring or to be shot)?
Blooks

Blueberries?

blazinpsycho&typhooni wrote:
I remember hearing slit face one time and blueskins.... but that's about it...

Wow...slit face sounds nice and offensive. I'd go with that...

Baby seals - coz they're easy to club
Voldemort - they have no noses

Nicknames aren't made up by people sitting at computers...
Maybe the tau get a nickname from the shape of their water containers (jerry cans), or the way they say "human" sounds like the name of a popular entertainer, so they adopt his name.