Goodman Games

On my world, since dinosaurs replace common animals, and the word 'dinosaur' was never invented, I've had to come up with names folks might call the things, yet at the same time, not sound stupid. The good news is there's only Cretaceous dinos to worry about, though. Until the group comes up with one, I usually take a nickname out the Broncosaurus Rex guides.

So far, I've managed to come up with a few:

Reaver (Deinonychus) - Fairly common on Charnra (North America.) Don't eat humans, as humans tend to start killing them when they do. Smart enough to learn to take dictation with a typewriter or break into a locked dumpster.

Vulture (Tyrannosaurus Rex) - Big, bad, and opportunistic. Cars and fast moving humans with airhorns are not opportunities.

Hopper (Velociraptor) - Often kept as pets when hand raised. Harrass folks, but everyone carries an airhorn anyway. They are dangerous if you're alone, though. Refers to their hunting habit of hopping towards their prey, slashing it, and then waiting for it to bleed to death.

Deathwalker (any Carnosaur) - Should be self-explanatory. Migrates. Try to stay indoors or well-armed during transitive seasons. Most notably, Tarbosaurus.

Shield Lizard (ceratopsians) - Shield Lizard refers to protoceratops, often kept as pets. Others include Three-horned Shield Lizards, and so on.

Brawny Treesplitter (Therizinosaurus) - Refers to its habit off ripping open tree trunks to get at food.

Walking Fish - Shouls be self explanatory. Any species of mudfish or lungfish that can move about on land. Kids like to catch them and play with 'em for awhile.

Kingfisher (Baryonyx) - Oh come on, think about it. What you you call it if you saw one and didn't know what it was? Don't eat humans. Exclusive fisheater, but damned if you shouldn't piss one off and not have a car.

I gotta come up with more. Luckily, the group hasn't encountered anything more impressive than a couple of hoppers and some dumpster-raiding reavers yet. Dinosaurs aren't the centerpiece, and they're just as common as animals are in Africa nowadays.
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General Wildlife safety guidelines:
It's always good to carry a flaregun when you travel into the wilderness.

Most animals don't like loud noises. Carry an airhorn with you at all times.

If you see a deathwalker, do not make excessive noise. Instead, find a hollow log or ditch. Preferably, you should take cover near a well-scented area to confuse its sense of smell. If you can, cover yourself with mud. This will usually block your scent.

Walkie-talkies are found at various points along nature trails. Check your map. Each one has instructions on how to properly use the device and its hand-crank generator.

Always stay on the marked paths.

Avoid cameras that flash brightly or that make a lot of noise as they record.

Those are good nicknames. The Xenozoic Tales comic also had good nicknames for dinosaurs. Some of them were just funny-sounding words that always seemed appropriate (sort of like "mugwump" or "snuffulufugus" but for dinosaurs), and others were descriptive. It might be good for inspiration.

Yeah. Have you ever thought about the common names for animals, like 'bird' or 'lion?' Where do these words come from? I mean, from a language, like latin or greek, but why are those words the way they are? What possessed someone to sit down and apply a sound or series of letters and say, 'this is what it means.' I mean, how do these words evolve in a language?

I mean, when you get right down to it, what the heck is a 'crawdad?'

I like those names, very creative. We probably use the common names for animals because that's what they have been called since language was created. Since english is based on latin, then the latin names for things is what we use I guess. Now how the latin guys thought up the concept of what to call each animal I have no clue.
Oh, and a 'crawdad' Is a small lobster like animal that is found in swamps and shallow rivers especially in the south. They are also known as 'crawfifh' or 'crayfish' ands taste great in stews and gumbo.

I know what a crawdad is. I cooked 'em before. Family comes from the whole southeast area o' the states. But where the heck did the term come from?

Mr. Author wrote:I know what a crawdad is. I cooked 'em before. Family comes from the whole southeast area o' the states. But where the heck did the term come from?

I called them "crawfish" as a kid, and didn't learn "crawdad" until I heard it used once by my grandpa (who was from the Ozarks). Maybe it's a regional or rural term?

Huh. Could be.

Maybe it's a French or Creole term, corrupted into English?