Amnian phrases

Amnian phrases are those with specific meaning in Amn. There are a number of these in common usage.

B
Book – Used with an adjective such as clean, other or true, to imply that someone is being dishonest. What is in your clean book? is a request for the truth, as are give me the true book and read from your other book. The terms refer to a corrupt business which keeps two copies of account books.

Buy – Used in the place of 'accept', of a deal, explanation or plan.

C
Crimson ink – Very bad luck. See also red ink.

D
Dragon – Can be used to describe a person who is miserly, although sensible, with their wealth. The term implies respect.

F
Finance – To gain something beyond one's monetary means or something undeserved.

Foreclose – A very loose term that can mean a variety of things depending on context and intent, including stop, take over, steal, hijack or kill.

G
Good business – A general expression that can mean 'hello' or 'goodbye'.

K
Kobold – A derogatory term used to imply stupidity.

O
Outbid – To beat or be more impressive.

P
Pearl – Used to personify luck. To find the pearl is to be lucky, and respectively, lose the pearl is to be unlucky. A lucky gain can be called a delivery by pearl.

R
Red ink – Bad luck. The ink couldn't get redder is used to describe a situation where things could not be worse. See also crimson ink.

S
Sell – Used in the place of 'convince', for example: "you've sold me!" Can be misinterpreted literally, leading to the belief that slavery is condoned in Amn.

T
Take delivery – One who takes delivery of something is one who acquires something through skill or work.

Y
You're only as tall as your last deal – Used to imply that one cannot rely on notoriety for long. Can be used to warn that the recipient has not done much for the speaker lately.