29 réponses à ce sujet

[Fishy]

Shemlen = Quick Children

[Augustei]

Every time the Elves call me Shemlen it irritates me.. I killed the entire Mahariel clan because of it. lol

Its annoying when they say it

[MKDAWUSS]

They're just labels. It's the context that drives the point home.

Modifié par MKDAWUSS, 21 mars 2011 - 12:37 .

[Maria Caliban]

I'm going to guess it's more like the word gay. When used by certain people in certain circumstances, it's an insult.

[Fishy]

Taken from http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Elves

The first shemlen (a term meaning "quick children" that was used by the ancient elves to describe the humans) they encountered were the mages of the Tevinter Imperium.
They traded with the Imperium and grew friendly with humans, but soon
discovered that breeding with humans produced only human babies, due to
the elves' genetic adaptability, while exposure to the ‘quick children’
caused the elves to quicken themselves. For the first time, elves began
to age and die.

[Raygereio]

This thread be surfing on dangerous waters, matey.

Ahem. Regardless of what the history behind the word is, it's a pretty obvious - or at least does a fine job of appearing so - that it's used as a racial slur in the games. Though given the relationship between elves and human it would probably be more accurate to say that it's the equivalent of a negroid person calling a caucasian man "white boy", or "honky", something like that.

Heck, even though I'm Dutch (meaning less sensative to racial issuse) and my personal stance on racial issues and insults in general is "don't give a toss", even I got somewhat annoying with the fact that "What do you want, Shem?" is the friggin default greating for the vast majority of the elves in the games. Meanwhile knife-ears is rarely used by humans in comparison. Gee, elves; maybe if you opted for a standard "hello" every now and then, maybe people would like you more.

Modifié par Raygereio, 21 mars 2011 - 12:53 .

[Fishy]

Most elves don't really know what it mean.
It's a slang for human.

Modifié par Suprez30, 21 mars 2011 - 12:49 .

[elenilote]

Well since it's used by the Dalish and they call their City cousins 'flat-ears', I wager it's degenerated into a common insult 'you-who-are-not-elves' - as much as 'flat-ears' is 'you-who-are-not-proper-elves' - guess it's supposed to show how the Dalish feel superior to the other races

Modifié par elenilote, 21 mars 2011 - 12:56 .

[Fishy]

It's a word that have basicly no meaning anymore.Since elves themself don't even know if they were truly immortal or if it's just a tale of the past.

But anyway .A human calling a Elves .. Elves .. Can be considered a racial slur . You call them by their race because you feel superior..Like calling a woman , woman.

I think it's mean more 'stranger' for the Dalish and not 'Inferior human being that compromised our entire race 5000 years ago' . They call you shemlen when they don't trust you.

Modifié par Suprez30, 21 mars 2011 - 01:05 .

[Jiggasaurus]

Racial tension between the elves and the humans who in which are known to call elves knife ears as a slur, always found it quite amusing when elves call my human Warden/Hawke “Shem”

[Nathan Redgrave]

elenilote wrote...

Well since it's used by the Dalish and they call their City cousins 'flat-ears', I wager it's degenerated into a common insult 'you-who-are-not-elves' - as much as 'flat-ears' is 'you-who-are-not-proper-elves' - guess it's supposed to show how the Dalish feel superior to the other races

Alienage elves regularly use th word "shemlen" as well, so although their bitterness toward humans may make it sound like an insult, it's probably closer to just being a different word for human than a term like "flat-ears" would be to simply meaning "non-Dalish elves."

I should also mention that one codex uses the term "flat-ears" from an Alienage elf's point of view, to refer to elves that have left the Alienage to live outside of the elven community altogether.

Modifié par Nathan Redgrave, 21 mars 2011 - 01:30 .

[Big I]

Shemlen is a racial slur, just like knife ear. It's not the original meaning of the words that are important, it's the context in which they're used.

EDIT: I suppose flat ear would qualify as well.

Modifié par LookingGlass93, 21 mars 2011 - 01:32 .

[ISpeakTheTruth]

You elves are all racist!!!

[dreman9999]

I felt the same way when someone called me Knife ears in DA:O.

[Parrk]

It is not a racist slur but rather a demographic term that has become derogatory over time due to the elves' overwhelmingly negative experience with humans.

Much like "liberal" and "conservative" are not by their nature negative, you would be hard-pressed to find examples of their use in current politics where they are not meant as derogatory.

[Rockpopple]

Shemlen or Shem is basically the same as "Knife ears" or "flat ears" yep.

[Icy Magebane]

Yeah, and I get sick and tired of elves calling my human PCs that.

[Beerfish]

I heard they are editing out the word Shemlen in Huck Finn.

[Kriselia]

"Elf" this, "elf" that, I'll "elf" your mother!

Also, elves are the opressed minority in this context, so there's a certain care to be taken when talking about "shem", "knife-ear", "flat-ear" and other slurs.

Modifié par Kriselia, 21 mars 2011 - 02:19 .

[Exile Isan]

If you ask the Dalish hunters when you first go to Sundermount what Shemlen means and you have Fenris in your party he will tell you it is the elven word for human. So I don't think it is really a slur so to speak the elves just speak it as if it were.