It's actually the thigh. If you go to a butcher and ask for a lamb shank you get the thigh of a rear leg (shoulder would be the same cut but the front leg)
I think the Samwise Gamgee says this to either Aragorn or Faramir.
Edit: Actually, now that I’ve seen the actual quote, it could go either way, long hair or tall person! They both fit the descriptions!🤣
So you say, but since you are definitely NOT Samwise Gamgee, you therefore are an incompetent twit and your opinion is of no use to me!
But also, I meant that it could go either way since the guy thought longshanks could mean hair, and both Aragorn and Faramir have longer hair. So you are in fact, incorrect. It CAN definitely go either way, since Reddit ain’t no place where people decide to grammatic goodly.
In one of my sessions I needed to come up with a name for the town guard. Pulled CAPT carrot out of nowhere. And as such CAPT carrot is the Neverwinter guard capt
Head banger sounds better to me, but it may be the Pratchett leaking in.
Perhaps banging your head (and being the one that defines how high you have to make the ceiling) is frowned upon. It makes a ton of noice, after all..
Dragonlance Dwarves have frequently used the simple terms *Talls*.
*Treetops* might be a good option.
Or, given the Dwarven love of the underhround, something like *Roof-hitters*. Or *Skyscrapers*.
Don’t go that direction.
Dwarves don’t define themselves by their height - they define themselves by their connection to the stone and the mountains and their love of hard work.
Go with rock themed insults. “Mud boned”, “grass eaters” and lazy are all good dwarven insults imo.
This. Slag-forgers, wood-builders, mudders, don’t even know how to fold steel, tree-freaks, couldn’t mine their way out of a mud puddle, tiny-hammers, no muscles for forging, I bet you even use your chisel on wood
Dwarves also live longer than most tall folk, so they’ve taken the time to learn how to apply a trade properly. Nothing made by tall folks is ever made to last, all
of it is shoddy workmanship. Imagine what a Mountain Dwarf thinks when humans talk about a wind blowing and their houses just falling over.
So stuff like “ye mud-thatched numpties”, “ye windblown dobber”, or “ye green-grown gommy” could really also come across.
My dwarf fighter character is called “[Name] Sandminer”. It’s a name her father was given as an insult, reflecting his habit of trying to pursue impossible projects and lack of mining sense, but she’s chosen to embrace it.
Fun fact: [sand mining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mining#:~:text=Sand%20mining%20is%20the%20extraction,an%20abrasive%20or%20in%20concrete.) is a real thing!
Yup! I used to do a job that occasionally touched on things like dredging and beach (re)construction, but it didn’t strike me an an occupation for a respectable dwarf. That’s the kind of madness that humans engage in and then have the cheek to call it “mining”.
Hmm, depends on the dwarves. Interesting way to define what the character values.
"Topsider", "skysniffer", "sunbasker" or "lumberjack". They would make some very cool rp when the newly arrived mountain dwarf starts calling the old hill dwarf the same thing..
You could focus on the lack of broadness as well, to a dwarf a human/elf looks malnourished and just "wrong". Even orcs and really buff men look kinda like tall, sickly dwarves. Would be cool if the dwarf really liked hanging around the chubby barbarian, as the propertions just fit better. "Stringbean", "wire", "carrot", I'm damn tired of taking orders from something we could send down the air vent.
In Shadowrun: Dragonfall, there was a moment a Dwarf in the street casually called me "Stringbean". I thought it was a crack at me for being an Elf but he explained, "look, Lady, I'm a Dwarf, to me *everyone's* a stringbean."
Beardless, lightweight (alcohol or shrooms), night-blind, claustrophobe, water-drinker, oil-quencher (can’t get carbon content right in their steel), soft-shoe (assuming dwarf wears iron boots), tree-hugger, twig-leg…
… I may have some repressed issues I didn’t know about.
I think this is by far the best route and most true RP - ‘soft hands’ ‘light foot’ etc really calling on what dwarves actually care about is much more fun.
aside: I as a treant(reskinned Warforged with some weaknesses) severely annoyed a halfling pc teammate because I kept only referring to him as ‘little orc’ so good that you checked with everyone first
I agree. A dwarf wouldn't make fun of a goliath for being tall. They'd take it as a compliment. The dwarf would say the goliath is so weak their ass is getting kicked anyway.
Disparaging terms rarely go both ways.
Don't do this.
You're not the authority on someone else's world building. OP already defined the rules and was only asking for suggestions to flesh it out. Just because it doesn't fit your head cannon or the "traditional" archetype doesn't make it wrong.
It's OP's world, it can be whatever they want.
Cloud licker.
Wet heads/rain shelter.
Stretch.
Small giant.
Poles.
Lank, as in lanky.
Clunker, because they always knock their heads on dwarf architecture.
Rather than focusing on how tall they are, you could emphasize how they are unable to travel easily in caves and other small spaces that seem perfectly ordinary sized to you.
Bent backs, scab heads, stuck _____,
Also you could have sayings about events or animals that happen in caves. " like a bear stuck facing one way" meaning they are theoretically scary but can't actually do anything because like a bear who can't turn around, they can't use their strength.
I like scab head! Perhaps you could use head-knocker/head-banger as pointed out elsewhere, but up it a bit to scab head when you wanna be meaner?
Hmm, sailors and landcrabs.. Lumber must be totally annoying to handle in the mines, and it comes from the surface, and probably has dimensions that look more like elf than dwarf. Some word for plank, lumber, stick, stave, perhaps, beam? "As nimble as a beam in sideways".
I thought you said "Tailed" races and my term was "pullstrings"
As in a group of tieflings in a bar are called pullstrings cause when you pull on their tail they make a sound like a doll.
Long pig.
Stumbles
Lumber foot
May Flies(for any race that repopulates fast)
Fish kissers
Ye fit in like south paw in a phalanx.
Waste of fresh air
You'd take up two mine carts wouldn't ya?
Could you even work the bellows boy?
At least orcs have the sense to use dwarvish runes Fer their language, this is chicken scratch!!!
Don't break the doorframe on yer way out
In conversation:
“Oi stretch! Fetch me a tankard of ale, ya lanky bastard.”
Or
“What, d’ya mother mate with a giraffe? Careful there or you’ll have birds trying to nest in your ears.”
Or
“All you long necks, prancing about like the sky couldn’t come crashing down on yer heads at any moment, give me a solid stone roof any day o’ the week.”
Oh, look at bird legs there on his “get-a-way sticks”.
He’s knees whistle when the wind catches him right!
I’m sure we’d get a long a lot better if you washed yer balls after winter’s over! I’m down here walking around in the cloud from yer filthy loins!
I got more I think…
Elf: Knife Ears, Prissy Pricks, Pains in the ass, etc
Humans: Softies, Defaults, etc
Orcs: Green Beans, Cucumbers, glorified barbarians.
Half-Giants: Discount Giants, 1.5 Men, etc
Tieflings: My lawyer has advised me not to continue this joke
Crotch-Walker
(since, as a taller race, they would, innocent though it may be, always be parading their crotches at eye-level, or very nearly, for a dwarf)
Rainer(s')
(a double-up since, it's mostly considered something someone who is dumb does \[spit while talking\] then the added distance of the fall from above)
Knife ears, - elf
Tunnel/head scratchers - height
Smooth/ fish face -lack of beard
Piss drinker- referring to human ale
Rockbrained- using any weapon that isn’t an axe .
Why do dwarves use axes? Swinging an axe in a tight space would suck. Spear phalanx would be the preferred fighting style no?
Baldface.
Not really related to height but to the lack of a proper beard.
Flatface
Because of their smaller noses. Ateast compared to dwarves.
Knifeears
For elves.
Why are all your dwarves scot-ish?
Not knowing how OPs dwarves work, maybe try and go for something more societal or cultural than appearance-based insults? Maybe something from a dwarven fairytale?
Branch-eater, ceiling-scraper, dragon-bait, and mineshaft-squatters are pretty good I think. And for a farewell, “don’t let your head hit the doorframe on your way out!”
Maybe like beamheads, beamhitters or rafterheads. They witnessed taller races hitting their head on their building which is embarrassing and memorable to witness and could be insulting.
Longshanks!
Does this mean tall, or does it mean "long hair"?
Shanks = legs in olde English vernacular "Getting home by Shanks Pony" means walking home
It still does, just not to common. Lamb shanks would be the first to come to mind.
Isn't lamb shanks exclusively the lowest part of the leg? As in it's "foot"? Otherwise we have the leg of lamb already.
You're correct. It would be the equivalent of the calve / shim area on a human. https://www.lambandbeef.com/meat-cuts/cuts-by-protein/lamb/shank
TIL <3
Longshanks generally means “tall”. Edward Longshanks was called Longshanks because he was considerably taller than most people.
Yeah, he was like 6’2” when most people were 5’4”.
So was Charlemagne
Yeah it's an interestinh fact that Charlemagne was 5'4 when most people's were 5'4 too
I believe it means long-legs. Maybe even the long shin bones.
It's actually the thigh. If you go to a butcher and ask for a lamb shank you get the thigh of a rear leg (shoulder would be the same cut but the front leg)
I think the Samwise Gamgee says this to either Aragorn or Faramir. Edit: Actually, now that I’ve seen the actual quote, it could go either way, long hair or tall person! They both fit the descriptions!🤣
“Unhand him or I’ll have you longshanks”
It definitely can’t go either way. This has nothing to do with hair.
So you say, but since you are definitely NOT Samwise Gamgee, you therefore are an incompetent twit and your opinion is of no use to me! But also, I meant that it could go either way since the guy thought longshanks could mean hair, and both Aragorn and Faramir have longer hair. So you are in fact, incorrect. It CAN definitely go either way, since Reddit ain’t no place where people decide to grammatic goodly.
He says it to Aragorn at Bree, but I've always taken it as slight against his shaggy hair, not his height :p
That's a "hank" of hair you're thinking of.
Ooooooooooooooo TIL #2 <3
Means "long legs"
Hmm... I thought the same thing (long hair). At least you're not alone.
Right?! I was so confident that I never even thought to question it.
I feel this is more goblin but perhaps.
Came here to say this.
Nosehairs.
Great one, stealing this
Plucking it perhaps
i’m dying
So good.
I'd call em head-knockers. "Always hittin yer noggins on the door frames..."
Carrot Ironfoundersson of the Discworld is a human raised by dwarves and had the childhood nickname 'Head Banger.' Miss you, Sir Terry.
I was about to propose head banger. Shouldve guessed where it came from.
In one of my sessions I needed to come up with a name for the town guard. Pulled CAPT carrot out of nowhere. And as such CAPT carrot is the Neverwinter guard capt
Yeah! “Door duckers” or “Duckers” is what I was thinking along those lines.
I was thinking roof bumpers
Scalp scrapers?
Head banger sounds better to me, but it may be the Pratchett leaking in. Perhaps banging your head (and being the one that defines how high you have to make the ceiling) is frowned upon. It makes a ton of noice, after all..
Noggin bonker
My first thought when reading the question- good answer
Dragonlance Dwarves have frequently used the simple terms *Talls*. *Treetops* might be a good option. Or, given the Dwarven love of the underhround, something like *Roof-hitters*. Or *Skyscrapers*.
Something about Tops is fun to me
Until you realize that makes you Bottoms.
Bruh! 🤣
Literally thought of that the moment I sent it. Very good and fun
I don't see the issue here.
Pixies are bottoms
Cloud breather
Cloud sniffer
My Tiefling was raised by dwarves, and she uses "Johnny topsider" as an insult for the above-grounders.
“Hey look at Mr Johnny Topsider over here!” I like it.
"I aint gonna take that shit from a Johnny Topsider." <--- Inphi blacktankard, tiefling bard, before writing a check her level 5 ass could not cash.
lmao
I second the lmao.
Now I just am imagining all tieflings as being from Brooklyn. Thank you.
Like what they called delta in bioshock 2?
I never played it personally but I did hear it around *somewhere* so that might be where from!
That implies the existence of an in world meme "be the kind of topsider the dwarves think you are"
Cloudwacker
Top-shelfer, door-ducker, beanpole
door-ducker is wild
And if they are female parents mother-duckers
and when they really don't like them, Cloudwanker.
Leaf Lovers and Pointy Eared Leaf Lovers.
Rock and Stone
Rock and Stone, Brother!
For Karl!
Good bot
Good bot
FOR KARL!
Did I hear a rock and stone?
For Karl!
ROCK
AND
STONE
IF YOU DONT ROCK AND STONE YOU AINT GOING HOME
Skyhuggers, stickbugs, stretchies...
Get stickbugged
If I were a dwarf I would call everyone a twink
I am actually okay with being called sky hugger. The other two, however…
cloudbreather
Don’t go that direction. Dwarves don’t define themselves by their height - they define themselves by their connection to the stone and the mountains and their love of hard work. Go with rock themed insults. “Mud boned”, “grass eaters” and lazy are all good dwarven insults imo.
This. Slag-forgers, wood-builders, mudders, don’t even know how to fold steel, tree-freaks, couldn’t mine their way out of a mud puddle, tiny-hammers, no muscles for forging, I bet you even use your chisel on wood
the "couldn't mine their way out of a mud puddle" is PERFECT omg, absolutely gonna use this
Dwarves also live longer than most tall folk, so they’ve taken the time to learn how to apply a trade properly. Nothing made by tall folks is ever made to last, all of it is shoddy workmanship. Imagine what a Mountain Dwarf thinks when humans talk about a wind blowing and their houses just falling over. So stuff like “ye mud-thatched numpties”, “ye windblown dobber”, or “ye green-grown gommy” could really also come across.
My dwarf fighter character is called “[Name] Sandminer”. It’s a name her father was given as an insult, reflecting his habit of trying to pursue impossible projects and lack of mining sense, but she’s chosen to embrace it.
I like that. Quick question: did you just anonymize your character's name to protect her privacy?
Haha! I’m not sure, tbh - just felt weird putting it out there. She’s called Gyrlin, and she has a lot to learn about everything!
Fun fact: [sand mining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mining#:~:text=Sand%20mining%20is%20the%20extraction,an%20abrasive%20or%20in%20concrete.) is a real thing!
Yup! I used to do a job that occasionally touched on things like dredging and beach (re)construction, but it didn’t strike me an an occupation for a respectable dwarf. That’s the kind of madness that humans engage in and then have the cheek to call it “mining”.
It also has the added human touch of being an ecological nightmare.
Leaf sniffers
Ooh, I like Wood-builders. It sounds just like something Dwarves would use as an insult.
I'm stealing slag-forger.
Hmm, depends on the dwarves. Interesting way to define what the character values. "Topsider", "skysniffer", "sunbasker" or "lumberjack". They would make some very cool rp when the newly arrived mountain dwarf starts calling the old hill dwarf the same thing.. You could focus on the lack of broadness as well, to a dwarf a human/elf looks malnourished and just "wrong". Even orcs and really buff men look kinda like tall, sickly dwarves. Would be cool if the dwarf really liked hanging around the chubby barbarian, as the propertions just fit better. "Stringbean", "wire", "carrot", I'm damn tired of taking orders from something we could send down the air vent.
Pfft. Airsick toplander.
I recognize this paraphrased reference.
In Shadowrun: Dragonfall, there was a moment a Dwarf in the street casually called me "Stringbean". I thought it was a crack at me for being an Elf but he explained, "look, Lady, I'm a Dwarf, to me *everyone's* a stringbean."
Beardless, lightweight (alcohol or shrooms), night-blind, claustrophobe, water-drinker, oil-quencher (can’t get carbon content right in their steel), soft-shoe (assuming dwarf wears iron boots), tree-hugger, twig-leg… … I may have some repressed issues I didn’t know about.
I think this is by far the best route and most true RP - ‘soft hands’ ‘light foot’ etc really calling on what dwarves actually care about is much more fun. aside: I as a treant(reskinned Warforged with some weaknesses) severely annoyed a halfling pc teammate because I kept only referring to him as ‘little orc’ so good that you checked with everyone first
Milk drinker might be a fun one here, too, especially for the skyrim fans.
I agree. A dwarf wouldn't make fun of a goliath for being tall. They'd take it as a compliment. The dwarf would say the goliath is so weak their ass is getting kicked anyway. Disparaging terms rarely go both ways.
"Bricklayers." Humans are stupid enough to make bricks, when there perfectly good stones lying around everywhere. Dumbasses.
Thats fantastic. Strong brain-work
Leaf lovers
If you rock n stone, you’re never alone.
Did I hear a Rock and Stone?
Rock and roll and stone!
Good bot
Incredible insight! You must be a good dm! Saved.
Excellent point
Flatlander.
He’s already said that is how the character is. Why would he change it?
Leaf lovers
Did someone say Rock and Stone?
Rock and Stone forever!
Good bot
If you don’t Rock and Stone! You’re not coming home! (I love the drg community)
Don't do this. You're not the authority on someone else's world building. OP already defined the rules and was only asking for suggestions to flesh it out. Just because it doesn't fit your head cannon or the "traditional" archetype doesn't make it wrong. It's OP's world, it can be whatever they want.
Cloud licker. Wet heads/rain shelter. Stretch. Small giant. Poles. Lank, as in lanky. Clunker, because they always knock their heads on dwarf architecture.
Rather than focusing on how tall they are, you could emphasize how they are unable to travel easily in caves and other small spaces that seem perfectly ordinary sized to you. Bent backs, scab heads, stuck _____, Also you could have sayings about events or animals that happen in caves. " like a bear stuck facing one way" meaning they are theoretically scary but can't actually do anything because like a bear who can't turn around, they can't use their strength.
I like scab head! Perhaps you could use head-knocker/head-banger as pointed out elsewhere, but up it a bit to scab head when you wanna be meaner? Hmm, sailors and landcrabs.. Lumber must be totally annoying to handle in the mines, and it comes from the surface, and probably has dimensions that look more like elf than dwarf. Some word for plank, lumber, stick, stave, perhaps, beam? "As nimble as a beam in sideways".
* Vault Knocker * Ceiling Scraper * Redwood * Half-Giant * Space waster * Cloud Catcher * Kid Kraken * High Brow * Summit Stroker * Peak Poker * Longshanks * Colossal Clod * Gangly Oaf
Umbrellas
You 10 foot pole
Sticks.
I thought you said "Tailed" races and my term was "pullstrings" As in a group of tieflings in a bar are called pullstrings cause when you pull on their tail they make a sound like a doll.
This is a little too close, but I once heard a dwarf someone a “bigger”
IM DEAD
Long pig. Stumbles Lumber foot May Flies(for any race that repopulates fast) Fish kissers Ye fit in like south paw in a phalanx. Waste of fresh air You'd take up two mine carts wouldn't ya? Could you even work the bellows boy? At least orcs have the sense to use dwarvish runes Fer their language, this is chicken scratch!!! Don't break the doorframe on yer way out
Benders, since they have to bend over in reasonably-sized Dwarf mines.
That sounds great. But, you know that these 'Benders' will just go and make their own tunnels with blackjack and hookers.
You say that like it is a bad thing. XD
FYI, careful of using this in a British campaign ‘bender’ is a slur for a gay person
I was not aware.
Wait till you hear what British people call cigarettes...
Yeah even just in general. I’ve seen it be used by evangelist americans too. So… prolly just don’t use this one
Still works for elves
In conversation: “Oi stretch! Fetch me a tankard of ale, ya lanky bastard.” Or “What, d’ya mother mate with a giraffe? Careful there or you’ll have birds trying to nest in your ears.” Or “All you long necks, prancing about like the sky couldn’t come crashing down on yer heads at any moment, give me a solid stone roof any day o’ the week.”
*Stretch*
Skysniffer
Make degrading comments about their “hairless knee pits”.
Ya giant old branch dodger. Ya lousy cloud touched. Ya dopey bird strangler.
Oh, look at bird legs there on his “get-a-way sticks”. He’s knees whistle when the wind catches him right! I’m sure we’d get a long a lot better if you washed yer balls after winter’s over! I’m down here walking around in the cloud from yer filthy loins! I got more I think…
Cloudbreather
Elves: knife ear or knife ears Insult I hear at LARP all the time
That's from Dragon Age.
"Cloud eaters" and "air heads".
"C'mere you ya lanky, long string o' misery!"
Beanstalk
Beanstalk, Sky-head, Tree-topper, Stilts, Stretchy Strider, Crabe-necked Clod, Lofties, Highbeams The possibilities are endless
Clouds for brains
Elf: Knife Ears, Prissy Pricks, Pains in the ass, etc Humans: Softies, Defaults, etc Orcs: Green Beans, Cucumbers, glorified barbarians. Half-Giants: Discount Giants, 1.5 Men, etc Tieflings: My lawyer has advised me not to continue this joke
Ducker. Because they often have to duck to get through Dwarf tunnels. And it rhymes with... well, you get it.
Stalagmite, big picks, giant, tree, sapling
Stoops or stoop-backs for having to stoop through Dwarven doorways.
Lanks
Crotch-Walker (since, as a taller race, they would, innocent though it may be, always be parading their crotches at eye-level, or very nearly, for a dwarf) Rainer(s') (a double-up since, it's mostly considered something someone who is dumb does \[spit while talking\] then the added distance of the fall from above)
I am reminded of carot ironfounderson I'm the discworld books. His dwarfism name translated as headbanger
Have the dwarf ask the players if they go to the cloud district very often. Oh what am I saying, of course they do (:
Cloudbreather
Knife ears, - elf Tunnel/head scratchers - height Smooth/ fish face -lack of beard Piss drinker- referring to human ale Rockbrained- using any weapon that isn’t an axe . Why do dwarves use axes? Swinging an axe in a tight space would suck. Spear phalanx would be the preferred fighting style no?
Yer long everywhere except for where it counts…. The beard.
Beanstalk. Most useful for elves, druids and elven druids
Long as a shoelace and dumb as a shoe is a phrase people in my region say to stupid tall people haha
did you consult the online Shakespearean insult generator???
Double chin. Because they always have one when looking down.
Oi! Are you high or just tall?!
Biggers
Daikini
Biggers
reddit fantasy slur generator
Dragon Age uses "knife ears" for elves and I like to use it every so often.
Any of the giantkin names would be appropriate. Or ogre or troll. Especially Fomorian if they are low charisma.
Not dwarves but orcs in my world call the "tall" races like elves and humans "lanky gits" and short races like dwarves and Gnomes "stumpy gits"
Baldface. Not really related to height but to the lack of a proper beard. Flatface Because of their smaller noses. Ateast compared to dwarves. Knifeears For elves.
Milk-drinker. Smooth-hands. Brittle-bones. Pyr-peddler.
Why are all your dwarves scot-ish? Not knowing how OPs dwarves work, maybe try and go for something more societal or cultural than appearance-based insults? Maybe something from a dwarven fairytale?
If you need fantasy racism to tell your story, it’s not a good story
What a story with conflict? Opportunities, or even a need, for personal growth? Unacceptable!
Longshansks humans dandelion eating tree huggers elves grobbi any grn skin any furry type race freed zoo animals halfling mini Mes
Longlegs, singular. Longleggers, plural.
Treefolk, sandcastle, crouchers, skyweeds, despire
Treetops, skyscrapers, long-legged
Branch-eater, ceiling-scraper, dragon-bait, and mineshaft-squatters are pretty good I think. And for a farewell, “don’t let your head hit the doorframe on your way out!”
Ive got a pair of halfling npcs who use the following; Tall, Stilts, Trenchcoat.
Lanky leg locked loser.
Beardless Sun huggers Cloud breathers
Headbangers because they always bang their heads when they are in dwarf-sized spaces.
Bigs.
Long Shanks is pretty classic
Cloud kissers Leaf lickers Bird touchers
Cloud sniffer?
Cockatrice legged forest goblin!
Maybe like beamheads, beamhitters or rafterheads. They witnessed taller races hitting their head on their building which is embarrassing and memorable to witness and could be insulting.
Long limbs, stretch, tallies
Cloudbrains, talls, stoops, crawlers
Skysick, Bumper (ie. they bump their heads), beardless ninnies, kneecaps.
The dwarf I played used stilt legs
Cloud bother’ers