In my story, the MC and his best friend are introduced as such as soon as the story begins. They have grown up together, facing the hardships of a training facility for super-human children. It takes place eh, 300-ish years in the future on Mars, and I need a word that they use exclusively to address each other. Something like "bro" or "buddy". I could just use "bro" or "buddy" but with how frequently slang changes generation to generation I doubt they will be around in 300 years. Plus those words are just boring... Any suggestions?
I'd rather go with a personalised nickname that was created through some shared experience or in-joke between the two of them. Much more specific and serves your purpose much better than creating some strange slang that no one knows the meaning of. For example, the family is the only people who call my daughter "Tingka" because it's a nickname derived from her Chinese middle name mixed up with a typical Czech way of rendering a name endearing. No one else uses this, no one even knows it unless I tell them. From this, I occasionally refer to her as Tingky, Tingky Wingky, and Tinker Bell. Or an old childhood friend of mine has the nickname "Rean" from the name "Christine" - no one called her that except me and another girl in our little trio when we were growing up. It came from a silly joke we were making trying to make everything rhyme, and then she became Rean-dean the washing machine thus came the name Rean. Or an ex-boyfriend of mine - his family nickname is Willa because his youngest brother couldn't pronounce William. He doesn't use that name ever anymore, but that nickname is very specific to him. I don't think you'd find any other Williams being referred to as Willa lol. If you want the term to be meaningful, make it specific to their history together. That would also add depth to them and the relationship.
I had a friend we all called 'dragon' because she could get angry in a second and she really liked shiny things and another we called 'granny' because she was the cardboard cutout of a granny- but twenty one instead (she wore shawls, knitted, offered everyone sweets and would complain about her joints all the time). A lot of terms of endearment actually boil down to calling the other person an idiot, at college people would yell (lovingly)"What's up, dickhead?" at each other which of course would only be reserved for friends.
You need a little lexicon, and spend some time walking your planet [in your head]. 300 years from now all kinds of class/race/gender slurs have emerged on Mars. Play around, imagine a few: 'Hey redrock, check this out..!' 'Spaceballs eh...yummy?' 'Spaceballs in a spaghetti sauce.' Actually, that's quite shit, but you catch my drift.. ..?
Mate, Pal, Buddy, Bro, Dude, Man, Charver, Amigo, Cobber, Shag (probably only in Shropshire, England), Nigga, Homey, Chum, Dog/Dawg. That said I think specific nicknames are probably better and that could be anything based on their history. My friend Paul refers to me as Dr Puke - going back to an incident on a field trip when we were both 17 and I spewed all over our hotel room. (we are both 43 now). I tend to refer to him as "spider killer" or just "spider" based on an incident in the army in Belize where he shot a bird eating spider with his side arm after finding it on his pillow. Also as barnie says insults are good - Paul and I both refer to our friend Jamie as "you fat bastard" (hes a little out of condition), while "Hey arsehole" can be applied to any of us by any of us, but its fighting talk if anyone else says it
Totally makes sense for them to use something from their history together.... My MC's powers of telekinesis manifested in the middle of an anger induced episode, and he broke a guard's back. Perhaps a nickname that ties into this memorable event? "hothead", or "mad max" or something along those lines?
It's a guy. lol We've been best friends for like fifteen years. I call him an asshole all the time, so we're even.
I was about to say the same thing. Lots of times close friends nicknames for each other would sound insulting to someone not familiar with their relationship. The insult usually has some special meaning to them. "Good luck, asshole." If you heard someone say that out of context you'd think it's an insult. When Glen said it to Rick in The Walking Dead, it was to show their friendship and related to how they first met.
Isn't Mad Max a movie? I wouldn't use something that references a current movie, TV show, or book, since you're trying to avoid the feel of the nickname being dated.
I think you're just taking lines from my family's thanksgiving. Also... You can pretty much make it whatever you want as long as you write it in well. It's the future. "What's up my steve?" You've gotta be Steven me." I always liked the idea of everyone suddenly using one word generically like has happened with the F word. Like maybe Steve was a real poo-face and killed a whole colony on accident. (I avoid cursing on here due respect for parents... Except for my repeated future curse of Steve.)
