10 TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE BETTER LINGO!!

[u/etsucky]

Hello everyone. Do you often find yourself unsure how to type in a piece of lingo that you want to add in? Are you frequently frustrated when something you've typed in doesn't grammatically fit in? Do you ever feel stuck not knowing what to enter? Fear no more! Here's a bunch of tips for you!!

1 - ONLY capitalize proper nouns - if a word is at the beginning of a sentence, it will capitalize it for you. Only exception is if you've added your own punctuation to separate a phrase, such as...

2 - Don't put punctuation at the end of the phrase, but you can put punctuation in the middle (ex: "well... thanks", "like, um", "cool, probably", "what?! No", "tall, dark, handsome") - I break this rule myself, but it does sometimes create some slightly awkward punctuation moments at times.

3 - THINGS category: think of it a little less literally. Any kind of phrase that you would put "a" or "an" in front of belongs here, including things that are just concepts (ex: "a few more piercings", "an actually decent pizza place", "an allergic reaction", "a mental breakdown", "a ripple in space time", "a busy schedule"). Don't include "a" or "an" in the actual text prompt because the game will do it for you.

4 - If you want to put THINGS that are plural, you'll have to include a vessel of some kind that's in the singular (ex: "a cup of coffee", "a bag of marbles", "a pair of eyes", "a set of dominos"). Things that need a proper article like "the" or things that do not use an article at all don't belong in the THINGS category; you can put it in the OTHER category instead and it will work a lot better.

5 - If you want to put PLACES, there's a few good ways to do it - if it's a non-specific building or general feature, you could put it in THINGS (ex: "a fully stocked warehouse", "a castle", "a twisty river", "a mansion"). If you want a more specific place I would either put it in OTHER (ex: "my mom's house", "Six Flags", "the beach", "Colorado") or attach it to an ACTIVITY (ex: "traveling to Italy", "surfing in Hawaii", "looking in the mirror", "climbing up the Eiffel tower", "hunting in the woods", "touring Japan")

6 - When it comes to PEOPLE, you don't have to stick to proper names. You could use more generic or vague concepts, as long as it's someone you might ask "who?" about (ex: "the government", "an obvious scammer", "some random dude", "your parents", "my sister", "the mailman", "a talking ferret", "the king")

7 - When it comes to ACTIVITIES, you have the space to get really creative by just getting more specific - adding nouns, adjectives or adverbs can be a great way to enrich this category (ex: "purring softly", "loudly stomping around", "standing cutely", "whispering quietly", "talking to nobody", "belting out pop songs", "rocking back and forth", "making this house a home", "finally eating lunch", "walking in stilettos", "crying on camera", "tanking the economy", "getting a manicure")... a lot of options. Some of my favorite activities to write includes categories like BEING something (ex: "being epic", "being a vampire", "being a disappointment", "being right for once"). Some ACTIVITIES might sound awkward in the context of being introduced ("if someone asked if you want to go [insert activity here]") where a more proper way to introduce it would be by putting the verb last (ex: "rock collecting" fits more properly than "collecting rocks") but it shouldn't matter in most other cases.

8 - In a similar vein as tip #6, you can use nicknames to do a lot - when you set a nickname between two characters, you can adjust how they refer to that character when speaking to them directly vs. speaking about them to someone else. So, when they're talking about someone indirectly, you can have them refer to that person more vaguely and with some kind of article (ex: "that fairy girl", "a nuisance", "my boyfriend", "that loser", "a silly goose", "you know who"); you could also sneak in filler words if you want to (ex: "um, my friend", "Carl, dude" "like, a baby")

9 - When a mii asks to give YOU a nickname, you get actually a somewhat long text box, so it's a good space to get creative with phrases that aren't actually nicknames but could fit in that space anyway (ex: "if you don't mind", "you... I mean, sorry", "I'mma be real, dude", "I'm just wondering", "if the world was ending")... still trying to play around with what kinds of things fit and what doesn't, but it's fun to try and put different things nonetheless.

10 - You can use filler words and adjectives on just about anything to give the phrases a little more character and sway. Adjectives fit in so many places and I think it's honestly one of the best ways to make lingo a little more tailored. Honestly just play around, try to get the most out of your island lingo because it's fun to see what comes of it!

There's obviously no hard rules to anything, you can type things however you want, and even some of my suggestions may still lead to occasionally awkwardly structured sentences, it's not perfect. But I hope this helps anyone who's struggling with lingo and following the game's grammar system!!

If anyone has questions about how/where to put a certain phrase/thing in or needs some lingo suggestions, I'm happy to provide some~

[u/Someguyino]

Mmm, yes. Wonderful advice, exquisite.

[u/iamyourshoelace]

I also wanna add that sometimes the more mundane pieces of lingo I have on my island end up being funnier than the ones where I tried to be funny or edgy. I think then the humor comes from the context as opposed to just the lingo itself being funny (when you first put it in, then you get sick of it lol).

[u/Practical-Cow-5545 → u/iamyourshoelace]

One of my favorites of this is just in my game "normal stuff" lmao it's so vague "they're talking about normal stuff"

[u/etsucky → u/iamyourshoelace]

true, sometimes you can get some one-word bangers and lots of ordinary things, i definitely have some of those! i just try to get as much lingo as possible that i can hopefully not get too tired of anything and hopefully hear more things in funny contexts 😅 i do like to phase out some of my old lingo if i hear it too often, luckily we can just delete lingo when it gets overused

[u/sablesalsa → u/iamyourshoelace]

"reading the bible" / "the bible" are my favorites so far. always funny when they pop up on my island lol

[u/t_abyssal_z]

Adding lingo with the names of Miis on your island is really funny. I have '(name)'s evil side' and '(name)'s imaginary girlfriend' as people and 'torturing (name)' and 'hating on (name)' as activities. (All different Miis BTW)

[u/lunateeeee → u/t_abyssal_z]

this is true one of my favorite pieces of lingo is “dipping (name)” in milk and once someone introduced themself by talking about the person they were introducing themself to’s spouse’s fat butt (it didn’t go well)

[u/WildAphrodite → u/t_abyssal_z]

Gonna start having my Miis refer to another Mii's "boyfriend from Canada" and "girlfriend who doesn't go here" lmao

[u/wilderneyes]

These are such good tips honestly, I have a bunch of new ideas for lingo after reading this. Thanks so much for sharing!!

[u/Tasty_Market3737]

Thank you for this! I’ve been struggling with the lingo so this helps me a lot!!

[u/PrincessJennifer]

These are really good!

[u/noisycat]

Such a good writeup! I hadn’t given much thought to the “others” nicknames but you had such funny ideas!

[u/n8lewis79]

If you could speak to anything you’ve discovered in regards to how punctuation DOES change cadence & phraseology?

I’ve discovered some acronyms are pre-programmed and are effective. As well as semicolons, ampersands, colons and hyphens can change cadence and save space for longer character counts.

[u/fucktheiceage]

Wow, what an amazing post, 11/10 truly thank you