A selection of Bad EpithetsTM collected from reading

[cimorene]

• his ancient friend began devouring his mouth



• the equally gasping man



• curses the dark-haired middle-aged man as he gets out more bread



• the himbo vampire



• tossed the silvery reel into the air

The last one is referring to duct tape.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

What in the world is "himbo"?????

[cimorene]

Himbo

A dumb or naive man, who, despite looking like an asshole Chad, is actually sweet, respectful, and kind. Typically large, beefy, and relatively handsome, but friendly. Gentle giants, if you will. Perhaps the best example of a himbo is Kronk, from The Emperor’s New Groove. He is large, strong, and stupid, but extremely kind and respectful to everyone. He is also incredibly innocent and unaware of many events happening around him, as most himbos are.

Urban Dictionary

(see also bimbo)

[princessofgeeks]

Somehow "himbo" and "vampire" do not go together in my mind AT ALL. Not even a LITTLE BIT.

[cimorene]

I guess comedy vamps can perhaps come the closest, but it's hard to ascribe gentleness, respect, and earnest goodwill to someone who, uh, kills and eats other people. A sweet, respectful, and kind... murderer. Obviously vamps and other murderers can be sweet, respectful, and kind the rest of the time. Like... if they want. But applying the adjectives without qualification seems somewhat misleading...

[bonibaru]

masculine version of bimbo: cute, but not very bright.

[stranger]

I can actually see "himbo vampire," as amusing rather than stupid, if the POV character picked him up in a Goth club and has more specific pursuits than IDs at the top of their mind. Depending on the vampire side of whatever plot there is, maybe vampires don't even remember their names. I'm sure some urban fantasy somewhere could make this work.

[cimorene]

Yeah, using an epithet for someone whose name you don't know and/or don't care about is common practice and would not meet my definition of a Bad EpithetTM!

"Himbo vampire" is potentially a useful distinction as well as a great name for... maybe more an album than a band? Plus it rolls nicely off the tongue. Definitely an off-the-cuff description someone could conceivably come up with if they'd met Nandor at a party and couldn't remember his name.

[stranger]

As long as the album cover shows the band, or maybe the lead singer, as himbo vampires?

[bonibaru]

Hang on, I'd like to know more about himbo vampire please

[cimorene]

They're referring to Nandor, from What We Do in the Shadows (TV). I'm not sure it's a 100% fit though. He doesn't really have the wholesome niceness that is often implied.

[daegaer]

He made the Euphrates run red with blood, but in a cute way!

(Is the ancient mouth devouring friend also a vampire? Because that could be a cool moment of horror, though I suspect the context is different ;-)

[cimorene]

Nah, it's just Methos again. SMH.

[cimorene]

THOUGH... "He made the Euphrates run red with blood, but in a cute way" sounds like somebody's journal title or subtitle.

Or perhaps a song lyric.

[oracne]

Well. Those are certainly phrases somebody wrote.

[princessofgeeks]

*cracks up*

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

I look forward to adding that one about duct tape to my repertoire. Makes it sound fascinating.

[cimorene]

For maximum mysterious intrigue, make sure to NOT include context in the sentence that lets people know what you're referring to! (To be fair, it was in the previous sentences in this fic.)

[torachan]

I think the first is my favorite. Mouth devouring always sounds unpleasant to me, but paired with ancient friend makes me picture like, the crypt keeper or something idk.

[cimorene]

EXACTLY. "Crypt Keeper I thought we were mhhnffaaaaaughhhh"