Racial insults for humans to toss at non-humans (2024)

One campaign area my group is going to be going through is an area where the human populace looks down upon non-humans, and foreign humans as well. But, mostly non-humans. They even have a religious deity that promotes that sort of idea that is gaining some traction in the area.

Any good insults to toss at elves, half-elves, dwarves, etc?

I don't want to just use "pointy-eared tree hugger" for an elf, or "shorty" for dwarf or halflings. Something slightly more creative, but not too long-winded. (I'm thinking of the bar scene with the Klingons in 'Trouble with the Tribbles' from the old Star Trek)

Just a few -

"By the time you breed, my children will be masters of the realm..."
"We may breed like rabbits, but we bite like wolves!"
"Spoken like an ageless, long-lived, obsolete (insert race here)."
"Haven't your kind gone extinct yet?"
"Elf - Erratic, long-lived, fool"
"Dwarf - "dumb, warty, asinine, rotund, fool"
"Halfling, not quite as good as a real human"
"Gnome - Garish, narcissistic, obtuse, miniaturized, elf"
"If your mother had been smart she would have had you killed at birth (best used on a half breed, especially orcs)"
"Elves, so much intelligence, so little brains."
"I've never met a dwarf that wasn't a legend in his own mind."
"If your ancestors are so great, why are they dead?"

How are these?

Thunderfoot said:

Just a few -

"By the time you breed, my children will be masters of the realm..."
"We may breed like rabbits, but we bite like wolves!"
"Spoken like an ageless, long-lived, obsolete (insert race here)."
"Haven't your kind gone extinct yet?"
"Elf - Erratic, long-lived, fool"
"Dwarf - "dumb, warty, asinine, rotund, fool"
"Halfling, not quite as good as a real human"
"Gnome - Garish, narcissistic, obtuse, miniaturized, elf"
"If your mother had been smart she would have had you killed at birth (best used on a half breed, especially orcs)"
"Elves, so much intelligence, so little brains."
"I've never met a dwarf that wasn't a legend in his own mind."
"If your ancestors are so great, why are they dead?"

How are these?

Click to expand...

Excellent (rubbing hands like Mr. Burns from the Simpsons)

"slowlife" for elves

"earwig" for half-elves or elves

"dirtsucker", "ground-chomper", "mossface" or "dopey" for dwarves. (Okay, the last one only works if you have the Snow White legend. )

A lot of real-worl racial name-calling has a basis in things like cultural foods, regional geography, and the sound of some words from those languages. Think about what a commoner would say about some of these races:

Half Orcs: killers, rapists, never worked an honest day in their lives.
Elves: prissy know-it-alls (heck, just search the web for forum posts from people who hate "elf-lovers" to get some nasty sayings)
Halflings: they look like children. Don't you think halflings would hate being called "kids"?

Consider your own game world. Is there a geological feature common to one of the races' homelands that might be assigned to them? Maybe in the current age elves consider roses to be a major design feature, hence the reason they're called "Rosy."

This is one where I'd ask my players for help in coming up with epithets. However, make sure there's some civility. If you borrow anything from the real world, make it abundantly clear to everyone playing that you're not meaning to demean them or anyone else you or they know. (i.e. I could see describing a human mimicking a dwarf by rubbing ash on his face and pantomimimg their actions, but in the modern world, this would be considered extremely poor taste.) If your players are mature enough to handle the subject matter, though, it could really add interesting (and probably fairly dark) characteristics to your world.

One PC in my game hates all "gutter races" (his catch all for anything non-human).

-- N

"Stunties" is an old goodie for dwarves from the Role-Aids Undead product.

Shadowrun has lots of good insults for pretty much all the PC nonhumans. "Dandelion-eaters," "pixies," etc. for elves, and so on.