I've noticed that in Skyrim (and Morrowind and Oblivion too) people refer to each other by using their race.

"Greetings, Breton!"

"Speak, Imperial."

"Well met, Dunmer!"

I know it isn't a big deal, but it's always bugged me! People in real life don't go around saying:

"Greetings, black person!"

"Hello, Asian man!"

"How are you, white guy?"

I've just always found these kinds of greetings in TES really odd. Maybe it's just me but I find it pretty funny.


Edit:

Just to make this perfectly clear, I'm not complaining, I understand it's a very small thing that really doesn't matter at all. It's just a funny observation I've made that I wanted to share with you all.

Thats because its a fanasty world and not real life.

Calling by race is alot better then just 'hey you!'

"That's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iaR3WO71j4 to you Breton."

Its probably because otherwise they would have to record all the names and use them in the dialogs ~and do that across all of the localized versions.

I get your point, although the "real life" equivelent would be "Hello, Nigerian", or "Hello, Chinese", or "Hello, Irish".

be glad they don't do that in real life.. i would laugh if someone came up to me and said, Hello Tuturu tangata whenua o aotearoa!

lol

Yeah it's a lot better than hey you, but it just seems kind of weird when you think about it compared to real life, since you would never do it that way in a real conversation. But like you said it's not real life, I guess it works for TES.


Oh that's true, I didn't think about that.

As soon as you have any affiliation they'll call you that. "You're that one from the college," "hail Companion," whatever.

People are bothered by the dumbest things.

Nope not bothered by it, I just think it's funny when you stop and think about it.

Skyrim is really upfront about race issues.

Actually, I try to reference someone's nationality as much as possible when I speak to them.

Well..races in our world are basically..location and skin color.

Let's compare a white person to a black person. They look different, act a little different, some times talk a little different..

Now let's compare a Dunmer to an Argonian. Completely different species, vehemently different skin color and..texture. One has an extra limb..etc, etc.

The words "friend" or "stranger" could be used instead.

We need a mod for "we dun like ur kind roun ere"

I'm sure you meant this sarcastically but so do I, I have a freind from up North. As such I call him Northie all of the time, etc.

Hey you American....... Does sound a bit silly but can't say it's top of the list of things that bother me

I always get called a lizard.

I think maybe you have to take into account the world of Skyrim is a quasi-medieval world with diferent attutdes than today. I would guess addressing someone by their apparent race or origin was common and acceptable for those times, just like wearing a great big nasty sword at your side as you walk down the street was not given a second (or even first) thought back then. It may not be PC now, but for the people of Skyrim, it's nothing.

Nonono, it's basically like "Hello, N-word". Todd said it's a racist game so it's absolutely logical.

"Stay out of trouble, lizard"

Maybe someone`s alreday said this, but you`re making the mistake of putting 21st century values on a game based on pseudo-Medieval times.

In a real medieval world say in the 12 th century and you happened to be a Black man in England, there`s a very good chance you would be referred to as a `moor` or even just `black` or worse. A Jewish man would be `The Jew` or similar. Anyone`s who was DIFFERENT would be publicly known and greeted by that name which showed his difference whther as an insult or out of respect. An unknown woman wondering around would be referred to as just `woman`, `wench` or other names, depending on what people think she does (which Skyrim is too PC afraid to replicate in Skyrim). A poor commoner tilling the fields would be a `peasant` to anyone of higher class. In fact, most people would be referred to by their most basic profession, class or father`s surname\profession if not well known.

And they would be referred to as such to their face.

You were not left in any doubt as to your position or place in society.

I guarantee if Khajitts and Argonians lived around then in reality being called `cat` and `lizard` would be the least of their worries.

Skyrim is trying to portary this a bit.

People in skyrim are weird in general.

In the game it's made to seem perfectly natural that everyone starts talking to you as you pass them.
"My name is George. I like playing the tamborine. You should try it sometimes"
"I have 6 fingers. It makes fishing hard!"

But in real life, anyone doing that is usually a lonely crazy person.

People used to talk like this. And they still do in different countries if they don't know your name or aren't formally introduced to you. Leave your house sometime and take a journey outside of your country.

Skyrim is supposed to make you feel like you're in the mythological past, and people are expected to talk this way then. You're the weird one OP, for not understanding why the NPCs speak like this and acting as if it's some limitation. You're the one who is limited.

When I played an Argonian in Oblivion the guards would say, "You'd make a fine pair of boots, lizard."
That was pretty bad.

When I used to work in restaurants I would always say "alot of you whiteys coming in today" or "hello canadians". One of my nicknames is Asian bob, there was already another bob working there so he became black Bobby. It isn't racist if there is no meaness to it.

I have to say that they do that to distinguish people and creatures between each other. After all, it's better than some probable slurs that they could hurl at each other.

-lol- 1000 times I've thought this. But when it was mostly absent in Oblivion , I missed it.

Hmm, perhaps i've gotten used to it; i find the "speak imperial" quite normal. Although "speak, asian" obviously sounds weird