Rule of Discourse

The Rule of Discourse is a wide ranging rule the covers how ones specific speech patterns do not factor in to someone being forsworn or gainsiad.<ref>Point is,” Zed told them. “[...] language is ambiguous. Lots of words can mean different things and different words can take on new meanings as language evolves. What the spirits tend to look for is consistency. A goblin that swears every other word means something specific and it’s not a literal interpretation of those swears, a lot of the time. And if you’re someone that calls people fuckers or dicks or whatever…”

“It’s okay?” Avery asked.

“Yeah. It’s called the rule of discourse. We make our own rules.”

They’d stopped outside a door, but the conversation continued.

“If you got called out on your little brother not actually being a dick the first time and every time thereafter, it might be a problem,” Nicolette said. “But once it’s established, you’re clear. There are some edge cases where a practitioner will always speak in verse, to meet certain requirements for a career, or make a daily habit of singing before doing so before a crowd, so they can establish their rule of discourse.”

“Then Snowdrop’s way of talking?” Avery asked.

“Is a rule, yes,” Zed said. - Excerpt from leaving a mark 4.5</ref>

For example every time someone yells "fuck you" at a target of their ire, they don't litteraly want to copulate with them.

This is also how goblins can can have such colorful vocabularies.<ref>“You gonna call me forsworn?” she asked, her words taking on a dangerous edge. “‘Cause I got a whole mess of counter-arguments and it’d come around and forswear you instead.”

He sighed.

“They say those igloo fuckers have a buncha words for snow and ice, and I’ll tell you right now, goblins have about as many words for, ‘I’d shank that bitch if she hadn’t gone and died on her own already.’”

He sounded very tired as he said, “I don’t intend to ever call you forsworn, Dee. That’s not how we do things, and anyway, it’s your Rule of Discourse. That’s a losing fight.” - Poke 4</ref>