Sssssnaketalk: Difference between revisions

[[File:Ssslumberthesnake_4650Ssslumberthesnake 4650.png|link=Banjo-Kazooie (Video Game)|frame|Note: the bear speaks perfect English.]]

{{quote|''"[[Insult Backfire|A snake, am I]]? [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner|Perhaps you'd like to see]] [[Scaled Up|how ssnake-like]] [[One-Winged Angel|I can BE]]!"''|'''Jafar''', |''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''}}

Ssnaketalk'''Sssssnaketalk''' iss the tendenccy of any ssnake or [[Snake People|ssnake-like creature/persson]] to sspeak sso that any ssibilant ssound becomess "ss", pressumably to imitate a ssnake hisssing.

Often employed by [[Lizard Folk]], [[Snake People|Ssssnake People]], and [[The Reptilians|The Reptilianssss]]sss.

Ssee also [[Fang Thpeak]], [[Vampire Vords|Vampire Vordsss]]ss.

{{examples|Examplesssssss of {{PAGENAME}} include:}}

* Kaoru Kaidou from ''[[The Prince of Tennis (Manga)|The Prince of Tennis]]''. [[Berserk Button|But don't call him out on it.]]

{{quote| '''Kaidoh''': "Fssssssshhhhhhhhuuuuuuuu..."}}

* Subverted by King Tyrant Lizard in ''[[Empowered (Comic Book)|Empowered]]'', who has a prominent lisp and simply cannot properly make "s" sounds, a fact that he is very sensitive about.

* [[Twisted ToyfareToyFare Theatre]]'s version of Cobra Commander talks like this, as a [[Take That]] to the characters portrayal in the second half of ''[[G.I. Joe: theThe Movie]]'' (the '80s cartoon movie, natch).

* The lizards and reptiles in the ''[[Star Fox (Video Gameseries)|Star FoxFOX]]'' ''[[Nintendo Power (Magazine)|Nintendo Power]]'' comic book all speak like this.

* The Other Mother in ''[[Coraline (Filmanimation)|Coraline]]''.

** Kaa, in the Disney animated version of ''[[The Jungle Book (Disney film)|The Jungle Book]]'', particularly during the song "Trust in Me".

** Sir Hiss, in the Disney version of ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]''.

** Jafar in giant cobra form at the end of Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]''.

** The eels Flotsam and Jetsam from Disney's ''[[The Little Mermaid (Disney)|The Little Mermaid]]'' talk like this. Eels aren't snakes, but they look very snakelike.

** Scar in Disney's ''[[The Lion King (Disney)|The Lion King]]'' talks like this at times. Yes, despite being a lion.

** Joanna from ''[[The Rescuers (Disney film)|The Rescuers Down Under]]'', although she is actually a lizard, but a reptile nonetheless.

* Completely averted in ''[[Kung Fu Panda (Animation)|Kung Fu Panda]]'', with Viper being voiced by the lovely Lucy Liu.

{{quote| '''The Spirit:''' Nicholassssss...}}

* The Fat Dog-on-a-Skateboard from ''[[Tom and Jerry: The Movie]]''.

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Filmfilm)|The Lord of the Rings]]'': Gollum. "Sssneakinggg, my preccciousss, yesss..."

* In ''[[Harry Potter (Filmfilm)|Harry Potter]] and the Sorcerer's Stone'', the snake says "Thankss." In the next film, Parseltongue is represented as an untranslated language; we don't hear it in English like in the first film. However, it still has plenty of drawn-out "s"es. To wit:

{{quote| '''Harry:''' "ssiah sieth."}}

* Agent Smith from ''[[The Matrix (Film)|The Matrix]]'' series tends to drag out the end of a lot of his words, but the s sounds are the most noticeable.

{{quote| '''Buddy''': "Have you got it?!"<br />

'''"French Mistake" Dancers''': "Yessssssssss."<br />

* Crowley of ''[[Good Omens (Literature)|Good Omens]]'' has "a tendency to hiss" whenever he forgot himself. This isn't very surprising, as he was [[The Bible|the snake]].

* In the ''[[Warcraft (Video Game)|Warcraft]]'' novel trilogy, [[The War of the Ancients]], one of the [[Our Demons Are Different|demon commanders]], Hakkar the Houndmaster, exemplifies this. Though he isn't so reptillian as much as a flaming skull on a scaled body...

* In ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]],'' the Taxxons have tongues so long they ''can't'' speak any language but their own, which is filled with "S's."

* Gollum in [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)|JRRR. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|The Lord of the Rings]]'', my preciousss. Gollum is so fond of sibilants that he will use all nouns in the plural (regardless of actual number) and all verbs in s-form (regardless of whether the subject is third-person singular or not). He also avoids second person, using third person instead. Probably to get even more sibilants in.

** Not just probably: Tolkien once spotted an "error" in ''[[The Hobbit (Literaturenovel)|The Hobbit]]'' as printed, where Gollum said the correct "I like riddles" instead of "likes". As he said, "Not that Gollum would miss the chance of a sibilant!"

* The criminal Ssnake in [[Perry Moore]]'s ''[[Hero (Literaturenovel)|Hero]]''. {{spoiler|Is [[Hand Wave|handwaved]] when Thom unwittingly makes out with Ssnake in his civilian identity (Simon Hess, ironically enough) at a gay bar. The hiss is stereotypically explained away as a lisp.}}

* The voles in [[Piers Anthony]]'s ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'' series replace all their 's's with v's, leading to very confusing vpeech patternv. They, however, hear everybody else speaking snaketalk.

* Not Rose from [[The Book of Lost Things (Literature)|The Book of Lost Things]] speaks like this after undergoing [[Glamour Failure]].

* [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''The Elephant's Child'' (one of the ''[[Just So Stories (Literature)|Just So Stories]]'') has the bicoloured python rocksnake, who combines this with [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]. In the audiotape version read by Jack Nicholson, this is spot-on.

* Leia's Jedi Master in the ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe (Franchise)|Star Wars Expanded Universe]]'' talks like thisssss.

* In the ''[[Percy Jackson and& Thethe Olympians (Literature)|Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' world, this is how Dracaenae (snake/dragon women monster thingies) talk.

* Mostly averted in [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[Worldwar (Literature)]]'' books with the Race, the reptillian conquerors to arrive to Earth in the middle of [[World War II]]. While their native language does involve a lot of hissing and coughing, the words printed in the books are written in normal language. It is mentioned, however, that they still hiss a lot when speaking human languages. Some of the lizard names are also supposed to be pronounced with a hiss, such as Ussmak.

* In another non-reptilian example, ratfolk of Pular Singe's line have trouble with hissing their sibilants when speaking Karentine (language of ''[[Garrett PIP.I.]]'''s home city). Subverted in that it's merely mentioned as a racial accent/speech impediment, rather than sssspelled out in the text.

* Notably subverted by the Gorn in ''[[Star Trek: the Original Series (TV)|Star Trek theThe Original Series]]'' and ''[[Star Trek Enterprise (TV)|Star Trek: Enterprise]]'' where the reptilian species had a notably deep and gravely voice, but whose speech patterns did not have an emphasized sibilance, although their breathing was somewhat sibilant.

* In the ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'' two-part episode "Self-Inflicted Wounds," the villain, Pathfinder Neeyala speaks like this- despite being more [[Fish People|piscine]] than reptilian.

== Theatrical Productionsss - Playssssss ==

* The boss of Guffawha Ruins in ''[[Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga (Video Game)|Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' is not a snake, but a talking stone head who does this with "f" and "s" sounds.

* Mordak in ''[[King's Quest V Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder (Video Game)|King's Quest V Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder]]'' says "Sssssay goodbye, sssssswine!" Mind you, he is actually taking the form of a snake at this point.

* Klungo from ''[[Banjo-Kazooie (Video Game)|Banjo-Kazooie]]'' is not reptilian or snake-like, but still ssspeaks thisss way.

* A group of semi-anthropomorphic snakes called, well, "The Snakes" from ''[[City of Heroes (Video Game)|City of Villains]]'' uses this. Extensively.

* The Bangaa race in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]''. Thankfully they dropped this in ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]'' and ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics a 2 (Video Game)|Final Fantasy Tactics a 2A2]]''.

** In another ''[[Final Fantasy (Franchise)|Final Fantasy]]'' example, ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]] DS'' has one of the Four Fiends Scarmiglionne using this trope. Though he's a bit inconsistent.

* The T'Rang from the ''[[Wizardry (Video Game)|Wizardry]]'' games speak like this, despite being insectoids.

* Sssssam the snake in ''[[Rayman 2 (Video Game)|Rayman 2: The Great Escape]]''.

* Komodo Joe in ''[[Crash Team Racing (Video Game)|Crash Team Racing]]''

* The Argonians from the ''[[The Elder Scrolls (Video Game)|Elder Scrolls]]'' universe use this trope, although it's less noticeable with the females. One of the [[In-Game Novel|stories]] in ''TESII: Daggerfall'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20090402152707/http://www.imperial-library.info/dfbooks/b100_complete_edward.shtml King Edward], even describes the Argonian healer of the story as "a strange looking lizardlike man, who spoke with such a hissing accent that Edward couldn't understand him at all" ("I cannn fixxxx thissss, it'ssss cleeean"). A later installment in the series, [[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]], is a little bit lighter with this trope, retaining the raspy, "lizardlike" drawl, but dialing down on the hissing. As of ''[[The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim (Video Game)|The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' none of the Argonians have this.

* Some of the ''[[Ever Quest (Video Game)|Ever QuestEverQuest]]'' Iksar and lizardmen have a few extra S's. Some however don't. It's even more common in ''[[Ever Quest II (Video Game)|Ever QuestEverQuest II]]''.

* Theron-class Locust in ''[[Gears of War (Video Game)|Gears of War]]'' speak with a whispery, hissing voice and have a tendency to elongate their S's ("Sssapient wasste!").

* The enigmatic G-Man from the ''[[Half-Life (Video Gameseries)|Half-Life]]'' sseries tends to draw out his speach in this fashion, Mister Freeman.

* The mushroom like Lk from ''[[Star Control (Video Game)|Star Control]] 3''. "Greetingsss, fellow sssentient. I am the massster inheritor." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBJUnSosFJk&feature=PlayList&p=B3C721669BDBBB3F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=42 Click this link to watch it].

* Ignus of ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''. It's nothing to do with snakes in his case, though; he is [[Incendiary Exponent|perpetually on fire]], and his voice sounds like crackling flames as a result.

* Nagas in ''[[World of Warcraft (Video Game)|World of Warcraft]]'' do this sometimes, and one mob is actually called Ssslith. That's not a spelling mistake: his name contains three esses.

* Reptile men and Serpent men (in previous versions, Lizardmen and Snakemen) in ''[[Dwarf Fortress (Video Game)|Dwarf Fortress]]''.

** This is determined by the "[LISP]" [http://dfdwarffortresswiki.magmawiki.com/index.phporg/DF2010:Creature_token#L creature token] in the raws, so if you want to, you can make everybodyanybody snake talking.

* ''[[X (Videovideo Gamegame)|X]]'' has the local reptiloid race, the Teladi, talk like this. It's especially annoying since they are a race made exclusively of profiteering maniacs, and so have a tendency to put words like "profitssss" and "creditssss" where other races wouldn't.

* Variant: ''[[Dragon Quest IX (Video Game)|Dragon Quest IX]]'' has {{spoiler|Drak after eating the Fygg}}, a giant taking '''l'''izard, who does this with the letter l instead of s.

* Most of the Kremlings in the [[Game Boy Advance]] remakes of the ''[[Donkey Kong Country (Videovideo Gamegame)|Donkey Kong Country]]'' trilogy.

* A non-snake example would be General Bertram of ''[[Fire Emblem Tellius (Video Game)|Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance]]'' who elongates all of his s's and vowels until you start wondering if there's a snake rather than a man under that helmet.

* While not a snake, ''[[Minecraft (Video Game)|Minecraft]]'' has creepers which hiss when about to explode. [[Memetic Mutation|"Thatsssssssss a very nice example you've got there. It'd be a ssssssshame if something happened to it."]]

* The [[The Reptilians|Sakkra]] homeworld in ''[[Master of Orion (Video Game)|Master of Orion]]'' is called Sssla. However, you won't see them hissing much in their speech to you during diplomatic meetings. This is likely due to the use of [[Translator Microbes]].

* The LizardmenGhouls from ''[[BrunoSluggy the Bandit (Webcomic)|Bruno the BanditFreelance]]'' did a lot of "his"ing.

* Shannon in [[Bloody Urban (Webcomic)|Bloody Urban]], who has a forked tongue, hisses slightly when he says certain wordss.

* Mac does this on one of his [[G-Rated Drug|sugar rushes]] in ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (Animation)|Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends]]''.

{{quote| "It burn usss! IT BURN USSS!"}}

* King Hiss in ''[[He -Man and Thethe Masters of Thethe Universe (Animation)|He Man and The Masters of The Universe]]''.

* Cobra Commander on ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. Particularly in ''[[G.I. Joe: theThe Movie]]'', where he "wass onsse a man..."

** [[Robot Chicken (Animation)|Could you repeat that?]] [http://robotchicken.wikia.com/wiki/Hissing_Noise I'm getting a hissing noise].

* Camille Chameleon, a villain from ''[[Darkwing Duck (Animationanimation)|Darkwing Duck]]'', is a shapeshifter who does this, which gives the hero a simple way to tell her from the person she's imitating - that is, unless he simply thinks they need some throat lozenges...

* The Lizard in ''[[Spider-Man: theThe Animated Series (Animation)|Spider-Man the Animated Series]]''.

* Waspinator in ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' does a variation of this trope, rendering his "s" sounds into buzz-like elongated "z's".

* Slithe from ''[[Thundercats (Animation)|Thundercats]]'' (whose name, in the comic books, proves to actually be "S-s-slithe") talks like this. Many of his lines end with "Yes" whether it makes sense to end the sentence that way or not, apparently just to add extra sibilants so he can do this, [[Verbal Tic|yeeeesss]]?

** In ''[[Thundercats 2011 (Western Animation)|Thundercats 2011]]'' Snaketalk is present with all the [[Lizard Folk|Lizards]], Slithe included, but comparatively [[Downplayed Trope|underplayed]]. They generally stress their sibilants, but don't heavily prolong them.

* Repton, leader of the raptors from ''[[Storm Hawks (Animation)|Storm Hawks]]''.

* Snake of the Gangrene Gang in ''[[The Powerpuff Girls (Animation)|The Powerpuff Girls]]''. He even at one point goes out of his way to say "yess" instead of "no", the correct answer to the question being asked. When Ace [[Dope Slap|slapped him]] he wised up and said "I means no."

* Dr. Viper in ''[[Swat Kats (Animation)|Swat Kats]]'', who was half kat/half lizard.

* The Cobra Queen on ''[[Freakazoid (Animation)|Freakazoid!]]'' occasionally slips into this trope but thankfully doesn't overuse it.

{{quote| '''Cobra Queen:''' Tell me more about my eyessssssssss.<br />

* Snake Man in ''[[Mega Man (Animationanimation)|Mega Man]]''.

* Cedric from ''[[WITCH (Animationanimation)|WITCH]]'' is a mild example. He doesn't elongate his "s's" as much as many examples of this trope, but they're still more exaggerated than a normal person's, even when he's in human form.

* Adder and Sinuous from ''[[The Animals of Farthing Wood (Animation)|The Animals of Farthing Wood]]''.

* Mr. Burns from ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]''. "Exxxxxxxxxxxxcellent..."