A useful resource for Biting the Sun fanfic
Translator's note: Though the excerpts are written in equivalent modern English, there are some Jang terms of slang that pale in translation. This is a glossary:
attlevey: Hello.
dalika: Violent argument.
derisann: Lovely, beautiful.
droad: incredibly boring, a mindless waste of time.
drumdik: Utterly horrible, the most ghastly thing.
farathoom: Bloody, fucking hell.
floop: Jerk. See also thralldrap.
graks: Balls.
groshing: Fabulous, marvellous.
insumatt: Unsurpassable.
onk: Mild ejaculation, e.g. bother.
ooma: Endearment, like honey or darling.
ooma-kasma: Extreme term of affection, e.g. "Love of my life." Not generally used.
promok: Moron.
selt: slow on the uptake. 'Con'-able.
soolka: Well-groomed. Applied by Jang only to non-Jang.
thralldrap: see floop.
tosky: Neurotic, irritable.
Vixaxn: a word so bad that it is often not written in full.
zaradann: Insane, nuts.
General Terms
Glar: Early Four BEE title, similar to professor. The term hung on as a polite name for Q-R teachers at the hypno-schools, but otherwise was extinct by this time.
hypno-school: children of the fours attend six hours of hypno-school each day, where they learn incredibly complex mathematics and arcane subjects of theoretical knowledge through trance-induction. it should be noted that this education does not include knowledge of many practical or survival activities, as everything is provided to citizens of the fours through a legion of Quasi-Robots doing all the real work.
Jang: the middle stage of human life, an extended adolesence that lasts until the Jang grows bored of the structureless fun that is expected of his age-group and applies to become an Older Person, adopting the customs and behaviour of that group. the Jang stage usually lasts two rorls, but some stay in this stage for far langer than that.
mid-vrek: Middle period of any vrek, lasting forty units.
Older Person: the final "Adult" stage of human life. Older People have jobs and become Makers with another Older Person to supply the other half of material required to create a child, a process done entirely through creche incubation. All people of the Fours regularly ingest contraceptives, so childbirth in the older sense is unheard of in Four society.
PD: Personality Dissolution. Since the people of the Fours enjoy a form of immortality where their soul-essences can be retrieved and placed into new bodies, Older People who grow tired of their lives can opt to "die" by having their personality erased and start over from infancy, but with a Q-R Guardian instead of Makers.
rorl: Four BEE equivalent of a century.
split: Four BEE minute.
unit: Four BEE day.
vrek: Period of one hundred units.
attlevey: Hello.
dalika: Violent argument.
derisann: Lovely, beautiful.
droad: incredibly boring, a mindless waste of time.
drumdik: Utterly horrible, the most ghastly thing.
farathoom: Bloody, fucking hell.
floop: Jerk. See also thralldrap.
graks: Balls.
groshing: Fabulous, marvellous.
insumatt: Unsurpassable.
onk: Mild ejaculation, e.g. bother.
ooma: Endearment, like honey or darling.
ooma-kasma: Extreme term of affection, e.g. "Love of my life." Not generally used.
promok: Moron.
selt: slow on the uptake. 'Con'-able.
soolka: Well-groomed. Applied by Jang only to non-Jang.
thralldrap: see floop.
tosky: Neurotic, irritable.
Vixaxn: a word so bad that it is often not written in full.
zaradann: Insane, nuts.
General Terms
Glar: Early Four BEE title, similar to professor. The term hung on as a polite name for Q-R teachers at the hypno-schools, but otherwise was extinct by this time.
hypno-school: children of the fours attend six hours of hypno-school each day, where they learn incredibly complex mathematics and arcane subjects of theoretical knowledge through trance-induction. it should be noted that this education does not include knowledge of many practical or survival activities, as everything is provided to citizens of the fours through a legion of Quasi-Robots doing all the real work.
Jang: the middle stage of human life, an extended adolesence that lasts until the Jang grows bored of the structureless fun that is expected of his age-group and applies to become an Older Person, adopting the customs and behaviour of that group. the Jang stage usually lasts two rorls, but some stay in this stage for far langer than that.
mid-vrek: Middle period of any vrek, lasting forty units.
Older Person: the final "Adult" stage of human life. Older People have jobs and become Makers with another Older Person to supply the other half of material required to create a child, a process done entirely through creche incubation. All people of the Fours regularly ingest contraceptives, so childbirth in the older sense is unheard of in Four society.
PD: Personality Dissolution. Since the people of the Fours enjoy a form of immortality where their soul-essences can be retrieved and placed into new bodies, Older People who grow tired of their lives can opt to "die" by having their personality erased and start over from infancy, but with a Q-R Guardian instead of Makers.
rorl: Four BEE equivalent of a century.
split: Four BEE minute.
unit: Four BEE day.
vrek: Period of one hundred units.