Jonathan Palfrey
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Although I highly appreciate some of your Vorkosigan novels, on the whole I tend to prefer the World of the Five Gods—perhaps partly because it’s so European (apart from its theology, which I actually prefer to Christianity). Out of curiosity, I just checked, and in this world you never use the expression “freshen up”, which seems to appear without fail in the works of most American authors. Congratulations?
Lois McMaster Bujold
...Is "freshen up" not a term/polite euphemism used in Europe?
Or just medieval Europe.
Technically, none of the 5GU characters are speaking any our-Earth languages, so there ought to be some elbow room in pretend-translation by the Author. But I do try to comb out metaphors, anachronisms, and terms based on technologies that don't exist there. (I really miss being able to use "download" and "upload" when discussing demons and souls.) This gets fuzzy when one gets to words like "sanguine" or "melancholic", or "born under a bad star" based off medical and other theories that never existed in the 5GU, but deeply embedded in standard English. (The 5GU also happily free of bleeding and cupping as medical practices, and have discovered hand-washing centuries early, from dreams from their Mother goddess demanding they Wash Up First.)
Though I'm sure they have their own astrology and alchemy at this point, accurate observation with gonzo theories developed to account for them.
(And word echoes. I spend so much time in revisions playing whack-a-mole with word echoes.)
Ta, L.
...Is "freshen up" not a term/polite euphemism used in Europe?
Or just medieval Europe.
Technically, none of the 5GU characters are speaking any our-Earth languages, so there ought to be some elbow room in pretend-translation by the Author. But I do try to comb out metaphors, anachronisms, and terms based on technologies that don't exist there. (I really miss being able to use "download" and "upload" when discussing demons and souls.) This gets fuzzy when one gets to words like "sanguine" or "melancholic", or "born under a bad star" based off medical and other theories that never existed in the 5GU, but deeply embedded in standard English. (The 5GU also happily free of bleeding and cupping as medical practices, and have discovered hand-washing centuries early, from dreams from their Mother goddess demanding they Wash Up First.)
Though I'm sure they have their own astrology and alchemy at this point, accurate observation with gonzo theories developed to account for them.
(And word echoes. I spend so much time in revisions playing whack-a-mole with word echoes.)
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Richard
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Give that Gentleman Jole takes palace more than 5 years after Vorpatril’s Alliance when the Barrayar government came into an unexpected influx of billions of marks, why is Sergyer still scrambling to build a second planetary base / spaceport? Did fatherhood turn Gregor stingy?
Shane Castle
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
In your "five gods" stories, you use the word "vail" as a noun in a way that implies a gratuity or emolument, but the only definition I can find suggests its usage was as a verb, meaning to show submission or respect, typically by removing a hat. How did you come by your usage of this word?
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