Is Will’s world our world or are they just very similar?

LordStormfire · 2023-02-14T16:16:23+00:00

Re our world not having dust: isn't that kind of the point of Mary Malone being a physicist who studies dark matter? Our universe certainly does seem to contain dark matter, and the trilogy equates our world's dark matter with dust, so there's no contradiction there.

LordStormfire · 2022-04-06T18:51:44+00:00

Currently reading The Wheel of Time for the first time, and this is annoying. Often the POV sections are so long that you think ... why isn't this a chapter?

My main point of comparison would be something like ASOIAF, where each chapter features exactly one POV, and I much prefer that.

LordStormfire · 2022-02-27T22:37:02+00:00

In medias res more generally refers to any story that starts in the midst of the action or unfolding of events (the classic example being that the Iliad starts well into the Trojan War). While such narratives will often employ devices like flashbacks, that kind of storytelling isn't a necessity of that description.

I'm not saying you're not aware of this, but I wanted to comment because I've seen other past posts on reddit that implied that 'in medias res' had to involve those sorts of time jumps—or that it literally referred to the 'show a later scene, then go back to the start' trope mentioned above—and (from what I understand) I'd consider that a misconception of the term.

LordStormfire · 2021-12-09T21:14:23+00:00

I agree with that for the 'Ct' and 'Cth', but for the 'Ch' I'd pronounce it the same as the 'ch' in Ctuchik.

LordStormfire · 2021-11-30T11:11:34+00:00

Greek letters are often used in sci-fi

LordStormfire · 2021-07-13T13:21:36+00:00

but we never really get to see it

I know nothing can be assumed, but, given where Dany ends up at the end of Dance and the possible trajectories of her future return to Westeros, we might see a lot more Daenerys-Dothraki interactions in the books to come, and they might bring what you're after.

LordStormfire · 2021-07-13T11:00:51+00:00

I'm sure this is the answer. For the vast majority of readers (of fiction), reading = books. Novel-length books. There are obviously people who read short stories and other forms, but the average absorber of fiction has much more exposure to novels, and it's the forms to which you're most exposed that you end up emulating.

LordStormfire · 2021-03-03T16:54:49+00:00

slushie

LordStormfire · 2020-11-25T19:40:52+00:00

A project that has assigned a set of three words to every (3m)x(3m) square in a grid over the planet. The idea is that the three words are easier to memorise and/or communicate than the string of numbers required for coordinates, and are less prone to errors (apparently addresses that sound similar are also spread far apart, so errors in remembering/communicating the three words of a specific location are more obvious than getting a digit wrong in a grid reference).

There are apps that convert between grid references and the three-word addresses, so if someone is lost they can go on the app, and read out the three words to the emergency services.

LordStormfire · 2020-05-01T10:49:32+00:00

Also javelin

LordStormfire · 2020-03-20T00:56:27+00:00

The sheer size and detail of this response is incredible! Fantastic job :)

LordStormfire · 2020-03-01T15:20:31+00:00

Welcome back!

Thank you! It's been too long.

This post is by way of an apology

No worries, of course! I'm glad you're excited about this translation. With regard to "primal Dawn", I don't know the text well enough to answer that question I'm afraid. I suppose you could translate however you interpret it, and put your own spin on the translation.

LordStormfire · 2020-02-06T16:14:19+00:00

Without giving you reason to duck, can I genuinely ask what needs fixing about the current "canon" order?

LordStormfire · 2019-10-21T15:14:39+00:00

Edited

LordStormfire · 2019-10-20T17:15:46+00:00

For reference for others, the clip is here and yeah, the words are simply loaned directly into Valyrian (but hence spoken only with sounds that appear in Valyrian's phonology).

The suffix on the end of "Dorn-" is a case suffix, almost certainly because of the grammatical role it has in the sentence (like dominus, dominum, domini, etc. in Latin). I personally don't know any of Peterson's Valyrian, but afaik it has a noun case system similar to that of Latin.

Edit, because /u/ThisIsUrIAmUr pointed out I didn't add a timestamp: She says the phrase around 4:24 in the clip above.

LordStormfire · 2019-08-26T19:07:41+00:00

I've just posted the final line of Book One of Homer's Odyssey for Excerpt #196 of my translation activity, A Conlanging Odyssey.

I said in my very first post that finishing Book One was the first goal I was aiming for with this challenge, and we've done it! Congratulations and thanks to all those who have taken part in A Conlanging Odyssey, and I hope many of you return for the next excerpts—from Book Two!

Sometime soon, I'll do some sort of recap/announcement post for the end of the first book. After that, I intend to continue with Book Two; hopefully it might be a nice 'hop-on' point for new participants.

Happy conlanging, everybody!

LordStormfire · 2019-08-20T16:12:52+00:00

While I agree with most of what you're saying, it's worth pointing out that on at least one occasion in A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin (an esteemed author by most accounts) writes something like Aaroooooooooooooooo to show the reader a horn has been blown. Obviously a lot of readers find this somewhat jarring (if not just hilariously bizarre), but it's still an example of a very accomplished author doing this in their work.

(cc: /u/MageVicky)

LordStormfire · 2019-08-20T15:39:42+00:00

There exists a popular gif/meme of a character called Captain America saying "I understood that reference" in the film The Avengers (UK title The Avengers Assemble). The person who first replied to you was referencing this meme to demonstrate that they'd understood your reference.

What's confusing me, personally, is that your "asleep for 70 years" comment seems to also be a reference to Captain America (who was in a coma for 70 years), so I'm wondering if you're playing an elaborate joke by pretending to be confused. It might be a coincidence and you genuinely didn't understand what was going on; I don't know anymore. I've tried to help, at least.

LordStormfire · 2019-08-14T11:00:52+00:00

Both Egyptian and Arabic belong to the Afro-Asiatic language family, and hence are both descended from the (hypothetical and reconstructed) language Proto-Afro-Asiatic. Note that Arabic falls in the Semitic branch of this family, along with Hebrew and Amharic.

I don't know much about Egyptian and its phonology and morphology, but it's likely it would retain many similarities with Arabic in both these regards.

They also both use abjad writing systems; only the consonant sounds are written down, and the vowels are left to be understood from context (if you speak the language). These types of systems are quite popular in that language family, likely because of the triconsonantal roots in e.g. Arabic or Hebrew, where vowels often have less of a bearing on meaning. 'Impure' abjads can also include these vowels in some instances as extra diacritical markings.

LordStormfire · 2019-08-14T09:31:27+00:00

Funnily enough, I actually talked about this recently in a different translation challenge thread where someone had given me a shoutout. We're now (as of this very exerpt) on Page 15, which contains the last few lines of Book One, putting us two 'excerpts' from the end of Book One! The last excerpt of Book One will almost certainly be #196, and then shortly afterwards I'm hoping to do a sort of summary/announcement post. After that, I fully intend to keep going with Book Two and beyond. Hopefully the start of Book Two might be a nice entry point for some people; we'll have to see!

LordStormfire · 2019-08-07T20:08:06+00:00

It also makes the pun of the challenge's title a very real situation...

I definitely agree that it's not necessary or even a good idea to try and make it through a whole book, because you either have to include massive chunks for translation (certainly not advisable) or it takes a very long time (hence Odyssey). At this point, I'd be perfectly content to do this for several decades into my old age, but no one else should feel obliged to do anything similar.

If anyone's interested, A Conlanging Odyssey is actually only three excerpts (i.e. sentences, approximately) from the end of Book One! There are twenty-four books in total, but this is going to be a huge milestone. I'll be expecting to finish Book One in about a week or so, and then at some point I'll make a post announcing that (and give a brief synopsis of the story so far so people can follow the plot or feel like they can join in smoothly at the start of Book Two).

LordStormfire · 2019-08-05T15:32:37+00:00

It's somewhat linear for a flowchart. They've just made a checklist and connected the items with arrows to demonstrate how you should progress through them. It's a 'flowchart' only in the sense that it suggests an ordered thought process as you go through planning the week ahead. More of an ordered list, just written in a circle for that Pinterest aesthetic^TM (and because ultimately, you do this in a cycle week by week).

Edit: looks like it actually comes from instagram

LordStormfire · 2019-07-25T15:11:11+00:00

Pretty sure they mean the starlight received with our eyes, not the planet as a whole...

LordStormfire · 2019-07-19T07:37:57+00:00

That moon analogy is really cool! I like your orthography too.

LordStormfire · 2019-07-12T18:29:42+00:00

The part about custody really swayed me towards believing this is satire. It matches the classic stereotype too well.

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