Author Topic: A writer's question about lingual shift  (Read 10602 times)

Offline Kali

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #30 on: December 17, 2009, 11:09:35 AM »
You never sound peeved, Shecky dearest. :* :)

And of course no one asked the cat.  You tell the cat it's not allowed in the box, and in it goes.
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Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #31 on: December 17, 2009, 03:54:26 PM »
Oh, and about Schroedinger's Cat: did anyone think to ask the cat? :D

The whole thing is a complicated and subtle experiment the cats are doing on us. Really.
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Offline Shecky

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #32 on: December 17, 2009, 04:24:35 PM »
The whole thing is a complicated and subtle experiment the cats are doing on us. Really.

QUIET. Or our feline overlords might hear and begin to suspect we're starting to emerge from the feline-Jedi mass-mindtrick.
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Offline Blaze

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #33 on: December 17, 2009, 04:26:22 PM »
I would NEVER recommend anyone use a fake affectation of "ye olde Englishe"  First of all because nobody seems to get that the Y in Ye is really a thorn and pronounced th.  People shouldn't even use it at ren faires.

If you are going to show a language shift, just pull words out and switch their meaning.  "Bimbo"  was originally a "fellow," ( coined in 1919)  by 1920 it was a "floozie,"  and today no one says "Bimbo" without evoking a strictly female image.  

No changes in spelling or pronunciation are needed, no excuses need to be made, you just chose a word and make it mean what you want.

Don't hang a lamp on it.
Chi pò, non vò; chi vò, non pò; chi sà, non fà; chi fà, non sà; e così, male il mondo va.

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #34 on: December 17, 2009, 05:09:29 PM »
Don't hang a lamp on it.

  It would be gigglesomely satirical if Armaggedon got rid of verbs, so future generations verb their nouns.

Offline Shecky

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #35 on: December 17, 2009, 05:09:49 PM »
Heh. One of the reasons I like Cajun French is that it retains lots of OLD French vocab/grammar/turns of phrase (which makes sense, as the French core of the dialect was pretty much frozen in the 17th century) that are archaic or quaint at the LEAST today. Example: there's a term of endearment, "catin" (sort of "doll"), that is still used among Cajuns, but in France-French, it's become exclusively slang for "prostitute". :D
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Well, if you couldn't do that with your bulls***, Leonard, I suspect the lad's impervious.

comprex

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #36 on: December 17, 2009, 05:11:00 PM »

Wasn't there a shift like that for 'morue'?

Offline Shecky

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #37 on: December 17, 2009, 05:13:48 PM »
Canadian French. I especially like how Québécois French uses so many religious-object terms as swear words. ;D
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Well, if you couldn't do that with your bulls***, Leonard, I suspect the lad's impervious.

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #38 on: December 17, 2009, 05:22:19 PM »
  It would be gigglesomely satirical if Armaggedon got rid of verbs, so future generations verb their nouns.

When they came for the verbs, I said nothing, for verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns: I speech nothing, for I no verbs.

(".. your nouns can't verb, and if they can't verb then they ain't no nouns of mine.")
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #39 on: December 17, 2009, 05:24:31 PM »
Canadian French. I especially like how Québécois French uses so many religious-object terms as swear words. ;D

Depending on which particular bit of Denys Arcand you watch the subtitles of, "tabernak" gets translated as anything from "for Pete's sake" to f-bomb levels of seriousness.
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

kittensgame, Sandcastle Builder, Homestuck, Welcome to Night Vale, Civ III, lots of print genre SF, and old-school SATT gaming if I had the time.  Also Pandemic Legacy is the best game ever.

comprex

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #40 on: December 17, 2009, 05:41:48 PM »
When they came for the verbs, I said nothing, for verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns: I speech nothing, for I no verbs.

(".. your nouns can't verb, and if they can't verb then they ain't no nouns of mine.")

GWADZ!

Offline Shecky

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #41 on: December 17, 2009, 05:43:19 PM »
When they came for the verbs, I said nothing, for verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns: I speech nothing, for I no verbs.

(".. your nouns can't verb, and if they can't verb then they ain't no nouns of mine.")

Ah, the Calvinization of language.
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Quote from: Stanton Infeld
Well, if you couldn't do that with your bulls***, Leonard, I suspect the lad's impervious.

Offline the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #42 on: December 17, 2009, 06:20:32 PM »
Mildly OCD. Please do not troll.

"What do you mean, Lawful Silly isn't a valid alignment?"

kittensgame, Sandcastle Builder, Homestuck, Welcome to Night Vale, Civ III, lots of print genre SF, and old-school SATT gaming if I had the time.  Also Pandemic Legacy is the best game ever.

comprex

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #43 on: December 17, 2009, 07:52:44 PM »
Bless you.

  :) Unfortunately the Keats cybrid never gets that line.

Offline Shecky

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Re: A writer's question about lingual shift
« Reply #44 on: December 17, 2009, 07:54:58 PM »
'Splainy.
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Quote from: Stanton Infeld
Well, if you couldn't do that with your bulls***, Leonard, I suspect the lad's impervious.