Every author has his favourite words, but now I'm reading Lee Child's books (I really like them, btw), and there's one thing that is a bit annoying. He uses "spell" word all the time, meaning "short while", "moment". "He stood there for a spell", "how long have you been here? - just for a spell", "a spell", "for a spell". I read some books in English, not many (maybe fifty or sixty), but I dont recall anyone using this word so often. Is it that common? Most of his novels are placed in the US, and it doesnt sound so American to me. Am I wrong?
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
Where in the US? And are they modern?
Feels a bit odd to me, as someone who has lived on the West-Coast or Southwest most of my life. My gut tells me that if it is commonly used anywhere in the US it's going to be the South, but I haven't spoken with my southern relatives in over a decade. Sounds sort of like something my southern grandmother might have said.
Posted by Szymon (Member # 7103) on :
No, the stories I read so far took place in Montana and South Dakota... And yes, it is modern. And it is not only the character saying it, but also the narrator.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
Huh. Don't know anyone from either of those states, so it may be common over there. Might also be an idiosyncrasy of the author. Where is he from?
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
It's a Western thing, and fairly common.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
Well, it's common if by "Western" you mean Western America as it was defined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries...By that consideration you're actually right. I would have no trouble hearing that phrase in a cowboy flick, for example.
Hmmm...
I guess Montana and South Dakota have a much higher number of modern cowboys than we got in the southwest, so that must be what you mean, Kwea. Because I lived around the AZ/UT/NM border and on the west coast I've lived in Northern CA and WA and I don't think I ever heard anyone use that phrase.
As an aside, it's sort of funny that "Western" excludes literally all of the westernmost states in the country.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Kwea: It's a Western thing, and fairly common.
More Southwest than West, but definitely still used.
Posted by ambyr (Member # 7616) on :
Sounds normal to me.
Posted by Szymon (Member # 7103) on :
Author is British Just checked. It might be it, huh?
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
It sounds old fashioned to me, for British English. Although my grandmother used to say it.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
I can attest to the fact that older people in rural parts of NE Kansas still use "spell" in this way occasionally. It's definitely on its way out, though.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
I'm on the fourth book of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. He can't bring himself write twenty or twelve, only score and dozen. It is beyond him apparently, I've heard 'score' enough to know it represents a number but never enough to care about what it mean, Tad Williams forced to look it up to make sure I understood correctly.
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
Try taking a shot every time George R. R. Martin uses the word "puling" in Tuf Voyaging. You will be dead of alcohol poisoning within a chapter or two.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Hehe, you could do a drinking game in a bar (a college town most likely) where you project particular chapters of Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind and have someone reading out loud. Take a drink whenever Rothfuss uses a seven word sentence, finish your drink every time Kvothe's red hair is mentioned. Shot of Jack when Deanna becomes distant or Ambrose is a Jakis.
By outlining this game I may have committed murder. I regret nothing.
Posted by Szymon (Member # 7103) on :
Hehe I had to check what puling means, though;) Do you think OSCs got such words? I never noticed.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Every time OSC uses inner dialogue to show us just how intelligent a character is. Posted by Szymon (Member # 7103) on :
Oh yeah, absolutely:)
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
Or whenever an older character condescends to a younger character who is actually smarter than them.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jake: Try taking a shot every time George R. R. Martin uses the word "puling" in Tuf Voyaging. You will be dead of alcohol poisoning within a chapter or two.
Or every time he uses a form of the phrase, "he was not wrong," in Dance w/ Dragons. It became amusing in the first half of the book. Then it started to get annoying.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
I am from Montana. We do not use "a spell" any more often than any other American English speaker, which means we don't use it very often. 100 years ago? Maybe.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Every time OSC uses inner dialogue to show us just how intelligent a character is.
Except for the time he used 'predilection' then the characters had a brief conversation about the use of 'predilection'.
Posted by ZachC (Member # 12709) on :
The chapter in Ender's Shadow in which Major Anderson discusses with the head of command school about his use of the word 'predilection' is probably one of my favorite 'chapter opening dialogue' moments
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Just checked. It might be it, huh?