Writing Accents

WRITING ACCENTS Following up on last week’s post, “Don’t Write Accents Phonetically,” here’s some more particular recommendation on what to do somewhat than what to not do. But first, let’s take a look at the offending passage from Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die in more detail. This is textual content scanned instantly from the e-book: ‘Aw, honey,’ the girl was anxious. ‘ ’dey ain’t no use tryin’ tuh git mad at me. Ah carried out nuthen tuh give yuh recasion tuh ack dat way. Ah jist thunk you mebbe preshiate a ringside at da Par’dise ’nstead of settin’ hyah countin’ yo troubles. Why, honey, yuh all knows Ah wudden fall fo’ dat richcrat ack’ of Birdie Johnson. No sir. He don’ imply nuthen tuh me. Him duh wusstes’ man ’n Harlem, dawg bite me effn he ain’t. All da similar, he permis me da bestess seats ’nda home ’n Ah sez let’s us go set ’n dem, ’n have us a beer ’n a great time. Cmon, honey. Let’s git out of hyah. Yuh accomplished look so swe ll ’n Ah jist wan’ mah frens tuh see usn together.’ ‘Yuh carried out look okay yoself, honeychile,’ mentioned the person, mollified by the tribute to his magnificence, ‘an’ dat’s da troof. But Ah mus’ spressify dat yuh stays shut up tuh me an retains yo eyes off’n dat lowdown trash ’n his scorching pants. ’N Ah might say,’ he added threateningly, ‘dat ef Ah ketches yuh makin’ up tuh dat dope Ah’ll jist nachrally whup da cover off’n yo sweet ass.’ ‘Shoh ting, honey,’ whispered the lady excitedly. Bond heard the man’s foot scrape off the seat to the ground. ‘Cmon, baby, lessgo. Waiduh!’ Bond put down the menu. ‘Got the gist of it,’ he mentioned. ‘Seems they’re excited about much the same issues as everybody elseâ€"sex, having enjoyable, and keeping up with the Joneses. Thank God they’re not genteel about it.’ Okay, the place do I begin? First of all let’s simply get previous the overtly racist context this is set in, and Bond ’s reaction to the overheard conversation, which goes to the chapter’s general feeling of males observing wild animals of their natural habitat. What’s additionally troubling is that Bond, who's English, is hanging out with Leiter, a Caucasian American CIA agent, and Fleming makes no effort to try to render Leiter’s “white American” accent in any means. The residents of Harlem are singled out for special honors. The content material of the conversation is deliberately unflattering, and we’ll depart that aside too, and simply have a look at the phrases on the web page. By now, I’m sure everybody on Earth has seen that bit of textual content that’s run a number of million laps around the internet that reveals that as long as the first letter and final letter of a word are left in place, the remainder of the letters may be in any order and also you’ll nonetheless be able to read it with out much bother. This seems to be true, and actually factors to why Mr. Flemingâ €™s rendering is so tough. He’s turned this right into a type of train for the reader, a puzzle we’re pressured to work out, taking each word and attempting to decode it. I’m nonetheless suffering over the that means of “recasion” and “richcrat,” for instance. The proven fact that “Ah” is capped is a particularly bizarre touch, subbing in for “I.” . My recommendation is to not try to render the pronunciation of words phonetically, which really virtually every single time ends up being confusing at finest, demeaning at worst. Instead, search for the peculiar word selection after which swap in those phrases, permitting sentence construction and word choice to convey that peculiar voice. Screenwriters have the luxury of counting on actors and a director to infuse written dialog with the right cadence and pronunciation, however prose authors should be the actor in every part, the director, and so forth. But we can study lots from motion pictures and TV, listening h ow folks speak. I as soon as had the chance to interview Harlan Ellison, one of my absolute heroes, and he told me he watches Judge Judy so as to keep up with the way people talk. That’s by far one of the best cause to observe reality TV! I sat down and watched a pair episodes of some scripted TV, and transcribed the dialog. We’ll begin with The Sopranos, which made exceptional use of an impressive ensemble forged who reveled in that New Jersey dialect. From season one, episode eight, “The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti,” this change at a wedding reception: Livia: Listen to him with that ‘my darling.” I am no person’s darling.” Lorenzo: “This one right here, she never disappoints, I’ll let you know that.” Livia: “Are you still seeing your other ladies, Lorenzo?” Carmella: “Come on, Ma. Let’s mingle.” Tony: “Sorry, the older she will get the more severe she will get.” In that first line, observe the precise use of “I am” versus “I’m” to e mphasize the point. Nowhere but in New York and New Jersey would anybody ever structure a sentence this fashion: “This one here, she by no means disappoints, I’ll tell you that.” See how that “accent” comes via with no single apostrophe or alternate spelling? In the case of “Ma,” that’s what Carmella truly saidâ€"it wasn’t my attempt at rendering her version of “Mom.” Another instance from The Sopranos, season 2, episode 10, “Bust Out”: Richie: “Coolers are like scissors. Everybody wants one, nobody has any fucking concept what they price. You put a Nigerian out on the road, have him sell these for a pair three bucks a bit, who’s not going to say, ‘Fuck it, gimme one.’ ” The magic is here: “a pair three bucks.” The f-bombs sprinkled in, bucks rather than “dollars,” my favourite: “a pair three” as a substitute of two or three. Then I used “gimme,” which, like “Ma” within the previous instance, is nearly as commonly seen as “gi ve me” and could be complicated to nobody, and not becuase he mentioned, “give me” and it seemed like “gimme,” but he really stated “gimme.” Crossing the pond to England and Ricky Gervais’s brilliant Derek: “I loves babies, however they’re fragile, isn’t they. If I drops a vase or something like that, or sits in some apple crumble and custard, I’ll go ‘Oops, sorry,’ and all people goes, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, Derek,’ but when I drops a child or sits on it, ‘Oops, sorry’ isn’t enough, is it. So I sort of . . . I play it safe. I would like to maintain one, though.” What you read there are the precise phrases he said. It didn’t type of sound like he stated “drops” and “sits” when he was actually saying “drop,” “sit,” or “sat,” he actually stated the words “drops” and “sits.” There are not any question marks after “isn’t they” and “is it” as a result of his voice didn’t go up on the finishâ€"he wasnâ €™t asking a question. These are simply little colloquial tics. And all of these examples sound correct on the page, without me having to kind out the slight variations within the pronunciation of vowels and render it in gibberish. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans Great advice, yet I really feel an urge to fuss. Specifically I suppose “Gimme” actually is identical factor, besides it’s normal. That’s the purpose: Don’t make the reader sound issues out, unless the purpose is that the character is hard to grasp or the narrator is a bigot. I’ve got plenty of characters (fantasy monster males) who use “English” as a second language. Some of them even pretend having an accent. I think I generally follow Philip Athan’s recommendation. Unfortunately, I even have the dangerous behavior of utilizing made up, “untranslatable” phrases to depict their culture. It’s efficient, however I suppose I lose a few of my readership. Too dangerous I can’t discover a word in English that claims, “You have the character of a glassmaker, acting like it’s everybody’s obligation to by no means place any calls for on anybody or anything because you’ve been raised to rely upon shoddy issues quite than be taught the reality about your junk. ” I can see what you’re saying, better to maintain it nearly bare bones than go overboard. Thanks for the follow up! Very comprehensive data..thanks Playing catch up on your posts tonight. This is perfect for my writing group. Thanks!