Era 3 mistborn Shard Swearword(s)

[dreamgor he/him]

Disclaimer: This topic is based on two, partially three assumptions about Era 3 of Mistborn. Whether they are likely or not to happen is beyond the scope of the thread, since I would like to focus on what would happen if they were true. I can very well be entirely wrong about one or more of these in which case this topic will be rendered obsolete. The first assumption is that the fan-theory about Harmony will turn into Discord thanks to the imbalance between the shards. The second assumption is that this transformation will be either consciously or subconsciously well known enough that people will at least have a vague knowledge about it. The third assumption is that, even if it does interest me personally on a linguistic level enough for me to make this topic, for this topic to be relevant cosmere-wide, that one way that worldhoppers and such can be identified is how they swear, and that stays true in the future of the cosmere.

With all that out of the way, my questions are as follows: If Harmony becomes Discord, will the old in-world swearword of "Harmony" be replaced by a/multiple new swearword(s) regarding Discord? Will the old swearword(s) still be used alongside the new ones? Which ones will be more commonly used and/or which will be the harsher ones?

[RedBlue]

It takes language a while to catch up, so I don’t anticipate any Discord-related exclamatory language to appear right away. Maybe if Era 3 covers a significant span of time (decades?) we might see a linguistic shift.

It would be interesting to hear the characters examine the language they use and how it relates to their power structures and religious beliefs. Back in The Final Empire, Kelsier made a point of not swearing by the Lord Ruler because of what that implies about his godhood. It would be cool if that topic comes back around, but this time in relation to Harmony.

[Sophrosyne He/any]

YO! I'm well suited for this one. Saficed to say I've converted religions in my life and now well over a decade later I still use the 'wrong' swears when I'm scared, excited, or sleepy. So, from personal experience even if you have good reason to use another word a lifetime of using a particular one can be hard to impossible to fully overwrite.

I think that younger people would have an easier time but even then, it'd take a generation or more to fully switch. 100% something like " That old man is swearing to harmony even though we've been saying to Discord now for 5 years!" Could set off alarms but I imagine it'll be a slow shift regardless.