Entry tags:
for a black cat that isn't there
There's nothing quite like doing research for a term even though your society is not really parallel with any real world.
There's a servant who's attending on the princess. The fairy tale world has some touches of realism in there, so I don't think the marriageable princess would have her old nurse as a servant still (whatever happened in Tattercoats), but I need a term for her.
And it's still got some of the fairy tale world-building.
I think she's going to be a lady of the chamber.
There's a servant who's attending on the princess. The fairy tale world has some touches of realism in there, so I don't think the marriageable princess would have her old nurse as a servant still (whatever happened in Tattercoats), but I need a term for her.
And it's still got some of the fairy tale world-building.
I think she's going to be a lady of the chamber.
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Entry tags:
ah, colors
Character's looking at a flame and thinking it's darker a shade of orange than it should be.
It's the orange of --
Took me some time to decide that it was the color of hot metal. Something about a distinct lack of dark orange things that our hero would know.
It's the orange of --
Took me some time to decide that it was the color of hot metal. Something about a distinct lack of dark orange things that our hero would know.
Entry tags:
the game of terms
Ah the delights of fantasy terminology. . . .
Magical objects are important in this world. So important that they would have a name for them. But (curse D&D) I can't call them artifacts even if those who make them are artificers. Too much baggage.
Magical objects are important in this world. So important that they would have a name for them. But (curse D&D) I can't call them artifacts even if those who make them are artificers. Too much baggage.
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changing of the terms
Decided to change a term in a world.
Went through all the separate files to update all the notes. Organization is great. Having a way to search and replace in multiple files would improve it.
But it's done.
Went through all the separate files to update all the notes. Organization is great. Having a way to search and replace in multiple files would improve it.
But it's done.
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quarrels
What is the good of words if they aren't important enough to quarrel over? Why do we choose one word more than another if there isn't any difference between them? If you called a woman a chimpanzee instead of an angel, wouldn't there be a quarrel about a word? If you're not going to argue about words, what are you going to argue about? Are you going to convey your meaning to me by moving your ears? The Church and the heresies always used to fight about words, because they are the only thing worth fighting about.
― G.K. Chesterton
― G.K. Chesterton
Entry tags:
color, philosophy, and good and evil
Aesthetics being a branch of philosophy still. . . .
You can't make the reader see a precise shade of color, as a visual artist can. Not only for blue, but for robin's egg blue or sapphire, or navy. Even if a color term has just one shade, the reader can misremember it.
So instead as a prudent writer, you take advantage of the way you can do what the visual artist can't: load your language. Can't do it too heavily, or it will betray its presence too much, but it works.
( Read more... )
You can't make the reader see a precise shade of color, as a visual artist can. Not only for blue, but for robin's egg blue or sapphire, or navy. Even if a color term has just one shade, the reader can misremember it.
So instead as a prudent writer, you take advantage of the way you can do what the visual artist can't: load your language. Can't do it too heavily, or it will betray its presence too much, but it works.
( Read more... )
Random RPG-world Reflection
Ah, words.
Was thinking of some villains and giving them the name of closest approximation in the real world: Leveler. Much later, remembering how often the term "level" gets thrown around in D&D. (Those not familair can check out this.) Most D&D characters would probably think that a leveler is someone who wants to gain levels, and therefore experience points, at all costs, not someone who wants to bring everyone down to the same level.
( Read more... )
Was thinking of some villains and giving them the name of closest approximation in the real world: Leveler. Much later, remembering how often the term "level" gets thrown around in D&D. (Those not familair can check out this.) Most D&D characters would probably think that a leveler is someone who wants to gain levels, and therefore experience points, at all costs, not someone who wants to bring everyone down to the same level.
( Read more... )
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semantic drift
My heroine reads romances.
That is, because she lives in a medieval era, she reads tales of knights and dragons, adventures, enchantresses, cryptic hermits, damsels in distress, kings, quests, wild men of the woods, lions, bears, gryphons, tournaments, etc.
I think I'm going to have to use another term.
That is, because she lives in a medieval era, she reads tales of knights and dragons, adventures, enchantresses, cryptic hermits, damsels in distress, kings, quests, wild men of the woods, lions, bears, gryphons, tournaments, etc.
I think I'm going to have to use another term.
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obsolete
OBSOLETE, adj. No longer used by the timid. Said chiefly of words. A word which some lexicographer has marked obsolete is ever thereafter an object of dread and loathing to the fool writer, but if it is a good word and has no exact modern equivalent equally good, it is good enough for the good writer. Indeed, a writer's attitude toward "obsolete" words is as true a measure of his literary ability as anything except the character of his work. A dictionary of obsolete and obsolescent words would not only be singularly rich in strong and sweet parts of speech; it would add large possessions to the vocabulary of every competent writer who might not happen to be a competent reader.
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
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wonders of wordle
Recently ran across a revision discussion, which had a recommendation for wordle -- to check for repetition and things. I took a look. . .
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( Read more... )
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flowery
Working on a story set in a vaguely Dark Age setting.
Having some linguistic difficulties. Dark Ages kennings do not come naturally to me when I want to be flowery in language.
Perhaps I should just opt for laying on the alliteration. 0:)
Having some linguistic difficulties. Dark Ages kennings do not come naturally to me when I want to be flowery in language.
Perhaps I should just opt for laying on the alliteration. 0:)
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decisions, decisions
A clockpunk world, with philosophic engines. Or possiblhy philosophic machines. Or mechanisms. or mechanica or other weird term. . . .
If it were a robot-equivalent I could call it an automaton, but while the philosophic mechanica have powerful effects (mostly magical), they don't move.
You want words that suggest the era you are dealing with. Unfortuantely that gets interesting when your era doesn't have an exact historical counterpart, and you want to name one of the non-parallel things.
If it were a robot-equivalent I could call it an automaton, but while the philosophic mechanica have powerful effects (mostly magical), they don't move.
You want words that suggest the era you are dealing with. Unfortuantely that gets interesting when your era doesn't have an exact historical counterpart, and you want to name one of the non-parallel things.