Simlish Text - The Written Language of The Sims
Posted: 29 Apr 2014, 21:39
So I noticed something the other day...I was looking at the various written words around my Sim Town, and I realized I could actually read some of them! Like the Galactic Standard Alphabet from the Commander Keen series of PC games in the 1990's, and the Aurebesh used in the Star Wars films before that, Simlish is a simple "substitution cipher" where each letter of the alphabet has been substituted with a different symbol. I first discovered this while I was in the Community Center, and I noticed that the first three letters written on the first aid kit, were also the same as those on the fire extinguisher sign.
"FIRst aid" and "FIRe extinguisher," maybe?:
After looking around at some more writing, I determined that that is exactly what they said, and I can also read a lot more. For example, this poster says "BALLET":
...and the Sim Town Sign says, obviously, "SIMTOWN":
The Town Hall building says "TOWN HALL," of course:
...and the signs in an empty premium housing lot, or outside the Real Estate Agency, say "HOUSE":
The drink machines found at the swimming pool and community center say "COFFEE":
Outside the community center, the top part of the sign says "COMMUNITY" and underneath, it says:
COMMUNI
TY DTARTS
WITH YOU
(Yes, it says "dtarts," with a D. If you don't believe me, check my work. And the other sign, on the left side of the entrance, has this same phrase, but rotated 180 degrees)
The Supermarket is perhaps called "Y MART," although it uses a fancy lettering that doesn't quite match up with the rest:
It's pretty hard to make out, but in the window of the pet store, it says "PET STORE" (click image for larger version):
And here, at the very top of the picture (I had to take it from this angle so you could read it underneath the awning) in the window of the promotion store, it says what's probably "SALE" (click for larger version again):
Some things, like the "Uni Sign" from the Neo Tokyo and other pre-made houses, are like chopped in half and then one side is mirrored on the other. This one says "[...]ER." A neon "BEER" sign, maybe, like you might see in pubs and college dorms, if you're old enough to be in such places?
...and this warning sign in the community center's woodshop says:
DA[...]
SIM[...]
BES[...]
(Danger, sims...something?)
I can't quite make out what this one is, and the letters all appear to be reversed as well:
On the bottom is "HALB" (or "BLAH," if you read it in a mirror so the letters appear the right way), while on the left appears to be "AHC?" and on the right is "DHE?" where the ?'s are the same, unknown character. Based on what else has been decoded so far, there aren't that many letters it could be, but none of them seem to make actual words. The only unknown letters at this point are G, J, K, P, Q, V, X, and Z (I presume there's an X and G on the "Fire Extinguisher" sign, but they're too small and blurry to make out.)
I was hoping to use all this to decipher what it says on the sign by the windows in the community center, where the living dolls try to escape. Unfortunately, however, the letters are small, blurry, and backwards, and I can't make enough of it out:
If you mirror the image so the letters look right, it looks like this:
...and all I can make out there is "[something] THE [something] BE??RE" -- I can't tell if that last word is "beware" or "before," and I can't make out the other two at all. Any guesses?
"FIRst aid" and "FIRe extinguisher," maybe?:
After looking around at some more writing, I determined that that is exactly what they said, and I can also read a lot more. For example, this poster says "BALLET":
...and the Sim Town Sign says, obviously, "SIMTOWN":
The Town Hall building says "TOWN HALL," of course:
...and the signs in an empty premium housing lot, or outside the Real Estate Agency, say "HOUSE":
The drink machines found at the swimming pool and community center say "COFFEE":
Outside the community center, the top part of the sign says "COMMUNITY" and underneath, it says:
COMMUNI
TY DTARTS
WITH YOU
(Yes, it says "dtarts," with a D. If you don't believe me, check my work. And the other sign, on the left side of the entrance, has this same phrase, but rotated 180 degrees)
The Supermarket is perhaps called "Y MART," although it uses a fancy lettering that doesn't quite match up with the rest:
It's pretty hard to make out, but in the window of the pet store, it says "PET STORE" (click image for larger version):
And here, at the very top of the picture (I had to take it from this angle so you could read it underneath the awning) in the window of the promotion store, it says what's probably "SALE" (click for larger version again):
Some things, like the "Uni Sign" from the Neo Tokyo and other pre-made houses, are like chopped in half and then one side is mirrored on the other. This one says "[...]ER." A neon "BEER" sign, maybe, like you might see in pubs and college dorms, if you're old enough to be in such places?
...and this warning sign in the community center's woodshop says:
DA[...]
SIM[...]
BES[...]
(Danger, sims...something?)
I can't quite make out what this one is, and the letters all appear to be reversed as well:
On the bottom is "HALB" (or "BLAH," if you read it in a mirror so the letters appear the right way), while on the left appears to be "AHC?" and on the right is "DHE?" where the ?'s are the same, unknown character. Based on what else has been decoded so far, there aren't that many letters it could be, but none of them seem to make actual words. The only unknown letters at this point are G, J, K, P, Q, V, X, and Z (I presume there's an X and G on the "Fire Extinguisher" sign, but they're too small and blurry to make out.)
I was hoping to use all this to decipher what it says on the sign by the windows in the community center, where the living dolls try to escape. Unfortunately, however, the letters are small, blurry, and backwards, and I can't make enough of it out:
If you mirror the image so the letters look right, it looks like this:
...and all I can make out there is "[something] THE [something] BE??RE" -- I can't tell if that last word is "beware" or "before," and I can't make out the other two at all. Any guesses?