Themes

A theme is a slice of everyday vocabulary that a modifier can sit in front of. There are twenty-nine of them, every language fills every one, and a word belongs to exactly one, which is what makes the theme a word reports unambiguous.

Each theme is also a generator of its own. randWord takes the theme as an option; the twenty-nine functions in the third column are the same generator with the theme already chosen, and randNickname builds on the same pools.

Theme	Function	What it holds	Korean	English
animal	randAnimal	animals	사자, 고양이	Lion, Cat
object	randObject	things within reach	물병, 우산	Bottle, Umbrella
nature	randNature	nature and its phenomena	하늘, 노을	Sky, Dawn
plant	randPlant	plants, and their parts	민들레, 솔방울	Dandelion, Acorn
gem	randGem	stones, metals and gems	흑요석, 청동	Obsidian, Bronze
concept	randConcept	terms, and ideas from the humanities	철학, 자유	Philosophy, Truth
myth	randMyth	creatures and things out of myth	구미호, 불사조	Phoenix, Rune
job	randJob	the trades and roles people hold	대장장이, 항해사	Blacksmith, Archer
music	randMusic	instruments, forms and terms	교향곡, 거문고	Cello, Sonata
place	randPlace	places you can walk into or up to	광장, 골목	Lighthouse, Plaza
food	randFood	things to eat	떡볶이, 김밥	Dumpling, Pancake
sport	randSport	sports, and what they are played for	양궁, 트로피	Archery, Trophy
vehicle	randVehicle	things that carry you	열기구, 전차	Airship, Tramcar
product	randProduct	things you buy	이어폰, 냉장고	Earbuds, Toaster
color	randColor	colours, plain and storied	주홍, 쪽빛	Crimson, Ocher
finance	randFinance	money, and what is done with it	이자, 환율	Ledger, Yield
tech	randTech	computers, and the networks between them	서버, 캐시	Server, Subnet
weather	randWeather	what the sky is doing	소나기, 무지개	Drizzle, Gale
space	randSpace	what is beyond the sky	은하, 혜성	Galaxy, Nebula
time	randTime	when something happens	새벽, 한여름	Twilight, Epoch
emotion	randEmotion	what someone feels	그리움, 설렘	Longing, Relief
body	randBody	the parts of a body	손목, 심장	Wrist, Sinew
clothing	randClothing	what people wear	두루마기, 양말	Cardigan, Linen
tool	randTool	what a hand works with	대패, 곡괭이	Chisel, Trowel
drink	randDrink	something to drink	식혜, 보리차	Cider, Cordial
toy	randToy	toys and games	팽이, 연	Kite, Yoyo
sound	randSound	sounds, voices and onomatopoeia	속삭임, 함성	Whisper, Chime
person	randPerson	people by age, kinship and character	꼬마, 이웃	Toddler, Neighbor
furniture	randFurniture	furniture and furnishings	흔들의자, 요람	Hammock, Cradle

import { WORD_THEMES, randFood, randWord } from 'randino';

WORD_THEMES;
// ['animal', 'object', 'nature', 'plant', 'gem', 'concept', 'myth', 'job',
//  'music', 'place', 'food', 'sport', 'vehicle', 'product', 'color', 'finance',
//  'tech', 'weather', 'space', 'time', 'emotion', 'body', 'clothing', 'tool',
//  'drink', 'toy', 'sound', 'person', 'furniture']

randWord({ theme: 'food', language: 'en', count: 3 });
// ['Dumpling', 'Cocoa', 'Pancake']

randFood({ language: 'en', count: 3 }); // the same thing

import 'package:randino/randino.dart';

wordThemes; // every WordTheme, in presentation order

randWord(theme: WordTheme.food, language: WordLanguage.en, count: 3);
// [Dumpling, Cocoa, Pancake]

randFood(language: WordLanguage.en, count: 3); // the same thing

from randino import WORD_THEMES, rand_food, rand_word

WORD_THEMES
# ('animal', 'object', 'nature', 'plant', 'gem', 'concept', 'myth', 'job',
#  'music', 'place', 'food', 'sport', 'vehicle', 'product', 'color', 'finance',
#  'tech', 'weather', 'space', 'time', 'emotion', 'body', 'clothing', 'tool',
#  'drink', 'toy', 'sound', 'person', 'furniture')

rand_word(theme="food", language="en", count=3)
# ['Dumpling', 'Cocoa', 'Pancake']

rand_food(language="en", count=3)  # the same thing

Leave the theme out and each result draws from one theme picked at random, so a batch spreads across all twenty-nine.

randNickname is the exception: at the default realism it spans twenty-six of them, leaving out color, finance and tech, because a word in front of a colour or a loan reads as a joke rather than a handle. Loosening realism puts them back, and naming one of them works at any realism. See How a nickname behaves.

The rules a theme follows

Themes are disjoint. A word in two of them would make the reported theme ambiguous, and would make the detail output name a theme the caller never asked about. When a new theme claims a word an older one already held, the word moves rather than being copied: place took the twelve places that were sitting in concept, vehicle took the bicycle and the train out of object, plant took the flowers and the trees out of nature, music took the instruments out of object, toy took the tops and the dice out of it, and furniture took the wardrobe and the bookshelf out of product. Where the two senses are genuinely different words, the word is renamed instead: the English toy became Marbles so that gem could keep Marble.

No person names, and no word that is only a name. For English this is enforced against the person-name pools automatically, which is why job has no Knight, Baker or Hunter and plant no Rose or Ivy. Korean and Japanese cannot be held to the same check, because 하늘, 별 and 森 are everyday nouns that happen also to be names. A modifier in front of one is still nobody's name.

Pool sizes are uneven on purpose. Most themes hold a hundred or more nouns per language, and the thinnest sit in the sixties. Some of these slices of vocabulary hold fewer words to begin with, and padding a pool with near-synonyms reads worse than a shorter pool.

The theme a word reports

Where the word came from	What theme reports
Drawn from a theme	That theme
Invented at realism: 'invented'	Null — unless it happens to spell a real word

That last row is a real coincidence rather than a bug: the syllable templates spell Snake now and then, so an invented word can come back with theme set to animal.

See also

• randWord — the generator the theme belongs to, and the twenty-nine functions beside it.
• randNickname — the same pools, put together.
• Constants — the theme list at runtime.