Little things that make you crazy.

[Shryke]

Stephen R Donaldson's habit of using the word "ejaculate" to describe a word or sentence bursting out of someone all of a sudden.

Ok, maybe it doesn't bother me so much as it makes me giggle and wonder WTF he was thinking using the word that way.

[MinDonner]

Language evolves. Decimate used to mean "to eliminate a tenth", now it also means to eliminate great numbers of.

Please don't be that guy :(

This. "Decimate" purists annoy me. You might as well start objecting to the common use of the word "computer" because it's supposed to mean a person who can do sums really quickly.

Re the Karen Miller comment above, I haven't read her, but Trudi Canavan does the same thing with stupid names for things. Why the fuck do you need to waste words describing a "szy'kryk" which is a small creature with eight legs that spins webs? Just call it a fucking spider!

[Horatz]

Building big things isn't magical or fantastic, it just takes time. Especially for something as straight-forward as a wall. With the spells to keep it solid (it's rather too narrow to hold together if you remove spells from the equation), it's not such an amazing feat when you think about it.

Not magical, impossible or fantastical; I'm just astounded that Brandon the builder actually commissioned such a huge and long structure.

It's not like he didn't have anything better to do.

There is no kill like overkill I guess, right?

What bothers me most about lightsaber duels is that they're using them as if they were made of metal and that they parry with them : you're supposed to be able to switch a lightsaber on and off very quickly right? Then if your opponent tries to parry your strike, just switch your own lightsaber off just before hitting your opponent's and switch it on again when you're past it...

You're a very cunning individual... :cool4:

Also, has anybody ever tried to simply smack their opponent with a random object TK'd from behind?

[lynxx]

Highly recommended trilogys. The bookstore or the library only has volume 2.

:stunned:

[SkynJay]

What bothers me most about lightsaber duels is that they're using them as if they were made of metal and that they parry with them : you're supposed to be able to switch a lightsaber on and off very quickly right? Then if your opponent tries to parry your strike, just switch your own lightsaber off just before hitting your opponent's and switch it on again when you're past it...

To really geek out on yall, your not the first to think this. Corran Horn in the expanded universe figured this out and used it quite effectively. Apparently he was the first in hundreds of thousands of years to come up with it, but still...

[Migey]

I haven't read her, but Trudi Canavan does the same thing with stupid names for things. Why the fuck do you need to waste words describing a "szy'kryk" which is a small creature with eight legs that spins webs? Just call it a fucking spider!

Her way of renaming animals in her universe was, i think she said, simply a way to make it feel more like her own universe. I thought it was stupid, but in and of itself, it never annoyed me, past the point where i actually worked out what the fuck is what.

What did annoy me about her books was in her trilogy about the gods - The protagonist (Auraya's) flight. WTF? I mean it was done okay - but it was just totally random. Not only did she discover how to do it exactly when she needed to, it was never explained. Well it was, but not very well. It wasn't as if 'Teh godz gave it to meh', it was more ''Yo! I can fly! Fuck y'all, imma chillin' in the air now.''

Just one peeve. I liked Trudi Canavan, but that thing with the flight always struck me as stupid and a lame plot device. Although in her defense, the rest of the trilogy was done fairly well. The twist at the end, while easily seen in advance, was still very good, (No matter how early you saw it. In fact, the earlier you saw it, the more interesting perspective you gained on the entire series. Im just wondering how awesome it would be if Abercrombie took that concept.)

[Migey]

Edit : Sorry for the double post - not used to this goddamned laptop.

[Grayscale]

Stephen R Donaldson's habit of using the word "ejaculate" to describe a word or sentence bursting out of someone all of a sudden.

Ok, maybe it doesn't bother me so much as it makes me giggle and wonder WTF he was thinking using the word that way.

I agree. I ran into alot of that when I read the Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr Watson seemed to blow a load every page and I snickered like an immature fool everytime.

[JarnJarna]

There is no kill like overkill I guess, right?

An sentence I think fits very well with all of Westeros, the place just doesn't work in technological, geographic and economic ways. So suspension of disbelief here I come (still for me the thread title fits fine)

What bothers me most about lightsaber duels is that they're using them as if they were made of metal and that they parry with them : you're supposed to be able to switch a lightsaber on and off very quickly right? Then if your opponent tries to parry your strike, just switch your own lightsaber off just before hitting your opponent's and switch it on again when you're past it...

The Lightsabers in star wars are excellent thrusting weapons, so they are not sabres. A "real" lightsaber duel would probably be over in about five seconds and both sides would use thrusts almost exclusively. But theatre fencing is the thing in cinema even thou it takes away much of the tension and common sense.

[kuroishi]

To really geek out on yall, your not the first to think this. Corran Horn in the expanded universe figured this out and used it quite effectively. Apparently he was the first in hundreds of thousands of years to come up with it, but still...

Yeah, I very much suspected I wouldn't be the first one and that someone in the expanded universe would have figured it out in the last 20 years. ^_^

The Lightsabers in star wars are excellent thrusting weapons, so they are not sabres. A "real" lightsaber duel would probably be over in about five seconds and both sides would use thrusts almost exclusively. But theatre fencing is the thing in cinema even thou it takes away much of the tension and common sense.

Yeah, I agree with that too, but I've seen nods to it in the (very few) EU books I've read, and isn't Qui-Gon Jin killed with a thrust?

All in all, the use of lightsaber in SW defies common sense, but the rule of cool prevails.

[Spring Bass]

One thing to keep in mind is that both sides in your usual Jedi lightsaber duel* have precognitive abilities, meaning that they can basically know that you're going to turn off your lightsaber a brief period of time before you do it, and convert their parry into a thrust at your chest. I think that's one of the reasons why Jedi lightsaber duels go on for so long - each side can predict the other's moves, so it ultimately comes down to whoever can last the longest without getting tired and screwing up.

* The key being duel. If it's just a Jedi versus a bunch of crappy battle droids, then it's not the same.

[Eponine]

Nonplussed. Not only is it frequently used incorrectly, but sometimes it's almost impossible to tell from the sentence how it's being used.

And I don't think it's like decimated where it's ok for the meaning to change over time - because the incorrect usage means the exact opposite of the correct usage, so being able to pick whichever meaning you like more pretty much renders it meaningless.

My boyfriend pointed out that Stephenson used the phrase "a little nonplussed" in Anathem. Now what the hell is that supposed to mean? He was taken aback very little, which is kind of like being almost unperturbed? Yeah.

[Migey]

Id jsut take 'a little nonplussed' as 'a little confused'

[felice]

What bothers me most about lightsaber duels is that they're using them as if they were made of metal and that they parry with them : you're supposed to be able to switch a lightsaber on and off very quickly right?

Not that quickly - we see the blades extend and retract (except when it happens offscreen to save on special effects), and takes quite long enough for your opponent to decapitate you while you're waiting.

[kuroishi]

Not that quickly - we see the blades extend and retract (except when it happens offscreen to save on special effects), and takes quite long enough for your opponent to decapitate you while you're waiting.

I don't know, looking at some videos, it seems it depends a lot on the circumstances : see this video of

(very quick) and then this video of the

Obiwan's seems slow but Anakin's is quick, and again around the 1:30 mark : Anakin's is almost instantaneous.

Are some lightsaber quicker than others ? Seeing as Anakin's in Ep III is the same as Luke's in Ep IV, is this some sort of amazing continuity? And look ! Obiwan's is still slow in his fight against Darth Vader in Ep III.

I won't watch every video to confirm this idea, but it still seems that lightsabers can be very quick when they are needed to.

[Grack21]

It would bother me less if the words made sense within the context of the world, but Miller just makes random verbs up and throws them around like a monkey throws poo.

Ha, spot on to the Canavan NOW I CAN FLY WOOT thing. That was handled very badly.

[Fiddler]

I've read most of Salvatores D&D books(Drzzt books and the clerics quintet) and there is something he does that I hate. He uses the word sublimate. A lot. I was reading one of the books just after the Icewind Dale trilogy and one page had 5 sublimates on it.

It just got annoying very fast.

[unJon]

Red Seas Under Red Skies- In the spire, there is a gambling game that only ends when someone passes out from the random drink giver. Good idea, but why have any in round betting? All that matters is the money up front, then play hands and drink, right?

I don't see the problem with this one. If everyone put in money at the beginning and that's it, then everyone puts in equal money. BUT, not everyone is an equal drinker. But if people put in different amounts of money based on how well they play cards, then it is a more interesting game. A worse drinker may be a better card player. So he may lose most of the time, but since he puts in less money, he can still be a net winner the few times he wins.

[SkynJay]

I don't see the problem with this one. If everyone put in money at the beginning and that's it, then everyone puts in equal money. BUT, not everyone is an equal drinker. But if people put in different amounts of money based on how well they play cards, then it is a more interesting game. A worse drinker may be a better card player. So he may lose most of the time, but since he puts in less money, he can still be a net winner the few times he wins.

I didn't really think of it this way, but your right, the game is a little clearer with that thought in mind. All the money ought to go to a big pot in the middle i still feel(assuming once money is on the table it cant leave, as evidenced by the dealer giving Lamora chips to make up for the ones under the now-passed out chick.

[Sariel]

The use of a character's name several times on a single page.

X said something something. Something happens in the background. X turns around and glowers at Y. Turning back X repeats his query.. and so on and so forth. It's glaring!