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What's the Point of "Ser" Instead of "Sir"


MadKingDavid

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Chilly Polly, I am referring very specifically to the use of the word 'wrong' in this statement. There is nothing 'wrong' in the dialectal spelling variation between English speaking (ee.g. US/UK, or kiwi! ) nations.

It is "wrong" for the exact same reasons, and by the exact same standards, that any spelling variant is ever "wrong". Because it violates a convention. Yes, his choice of words was humorous. The British use similar humor all the time when they accuse Americans of being bad spellers. But the humor is all the more funny because it is true. In spelling, the only standards of "right and wrong" that we possess, and that we try to teach our children in school, are the very ones being violated here. So please hold off on throwing politically-correct tantrums.

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Baronet is an inherited title. If you are the heir, you become 'Sir' on your predecessor's death. Knighthoods are awarded, but not passed on to your heirs.

As for schedule...

UK: Shed-jool.

US: Sked-jool.

Thank you!

Am I also correct in believing that the couples go:

SER -LADY

SIR- MADAM ?

And another question just arised: Paul McCartney was knighted (???) "sir" but this title won't pass over to his heirs, correct?

Thank you again

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Haha no hard feelings. I think you are one of at least five who did so. To be fair, I should use a more ridiculous font when posting something that can go either way as opposed to something like "How to win friends and influence people" by Ser Alliser Thorne

Eh, I figured it as a good-natured jest and chuckled. Your username is far too witty for a comment like that to have been serious. I read through and saw it was sarcasm, then chuckled again. My advice for the five who read up to your comment, clicked the quote button, and responded is to keep reading multipage threads. Also, to pay attention to the dates. Though, I do so love seeing other nubs respond to stuff from 2011 or earlier - people are still quoting D&D from 2008 and saying things like, "You should totally cast me!"

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Thank you!

Am I also correct in believing that the couples go:

SER -LADY

SIR- MADAM ?

And another question just arised: Paul McCartney was knighted (???) "sir" but this title won't pass over to his heirs, correct?

Thank you again

The wife of a male knight is Lady or Dame. A female knight is a Dame, and the husband of a Dame (in her own right) has no title.

Paul McCartney's knighthood won't pass to his heirs, correct.

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Haha no hard feelings. I think you are one of at least five who did so. To be fair, I should use a more ridiculous font when posting something that can go either way as opposed to something like "How to win friends and influence people" by Ser Alliser Thorne

You are a true Ser amongst Sers. ;)

I think I might need a copy of 'How to Read People and Act Accordingly' by Lord Eddard Stark....

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Septon Chayle doesn't find that funny.

If I survived being thrown down a well only to mysteriously show up at the Wall I'd like to think I'd be able to laugh about it after.

Though only a few men of the Night’s Watch had gathered about the ditchfire, more looked down from rooftops and windows and the steps of the great switchback stair. Jon took careful note of who was there and who was not. Some men had the duty; many just off watch were fast asleep. But others had chosen to absent themselves to show their disapproval. Othell Yarwyck and Bowen Marsh were amongst the missing. Septon Chayle had emerged briefly from the sept, fingering the seven-sided crystal on the thong about his neck, only to retreat inside again once the prayers began.

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This is hard when you're native language isn't English. I did think Sir, Maester and Sept were real words. Also, Oliphant.




There is also a Perra Royce somewhere. Perra means literally, a bitch (a female dog) in Spanish.



Also... I never understood why Sean and Bean were pronounced different... @_@


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This is hard when you're native language isn't English. I did think Sir, Maester and Sept were real words. Also, Oliphant.

Oliphant is an alternate spelling of a real word. I mean it was, but I doubt anyone really uses it anymore:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olifant_(instrument)

I only know this cause I had to read The Song of Roland in college. Or at least I was supposed to read it, god bless sparknotes. :)

Also... I never understood why Sean and Bean were pronounced different... @_@

I'm a native english speaker and I still always have to stop myself from pronouncing it "seen."

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This is hard when you're native language isn't English. I did think Sir, Maester and Sept were real words. Also, Oliphant.

There is also a Perra Royce somewhere. Perra means literally, a bitch (a female dog) in Spanish.

Also... I never understood why Sean and Bean were pronounced different... @_@

Sean isn't English. It's the Irish Gaelic version of John.

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This is hard when you're native language isn't English. I did think Sir, Maester and Sept were real words. Also, Oliphant.

There is also a Perra Royce somewhere. Perra means literally, a bitch (a female dog) in Spanish.

Also... I never understood why Sean and Bean were pronounced different... @_@

Ut oh, Bitch Royce?

Don't feel bad on Sean, hell, it gets even more confusing when alternate spellings are thrown in. Shawn, Shaun, Sean, not sure if I'm forgetting any.

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This is hard when you're native language isn't English. I did think Sir, Maester and Sept were real words. Also, Oliphant.

Oliphant is not really a proper English word, but GRRM was not the first to use it.

There is British family name Oliphaunt/Oliphant. Originally, the name was something like Olifart. They evidently decided that Oliphaunt sounded cooler, for obvious reasons.

Olifant may have been an old english word for "elephant". Certainly, musical instrument made elephant horns were called olifants.

Chaucer's "Tale of Sir Topas" (14th century) features a giant named "Sir Olifaunt", presumably so-called because of his great size.

Olifant is the word for "elephant" in the Dutch and Afrikaans languages.

J.R.R. Tolkien, who, perhaps not coincidentally, grew up in the Afrikaans-speaking Orange Free State (South Africa) until he was 3 years old, used "Oliphant" as the hobbit-term for the giant elephant-like Mumaks.

Gary Gygax followed suit by using the word for an elephant-like monster in Dungeons and Dragons.

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