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

[Kikajon]

OP = original post. I.e. the person who starts the thread. If abbreviations stump you, the pinned Abbreviation translation for n00bs is a good help guide ;) :)

thank you, yes really without it my brain would have busted :)

I'll have to print it and keep it always with me :)

but I'm progressing...slow but sure :) thank you all for your kindness

[Lars Penry]

I think it's just one of those things that contribute to world building, there are various little things like this in the books.

[oursisthefury69]

Whats the point of this thread is a much better question

[The Marquis de Leech]

Not really. Many people type with two fingers like that, its all a matter of preference. In my experience, older people are more likely to type like this.

Tolkien typed out the entire LOTR twice, using two finger typing.

[CharlesW]

Just to be different I guess?

[Lady Fevre Dream]

I don't think I complained about anything. I disagreed with you that the post your were talking about was super-good, that's all. my apologies if you're offended, but I didn't thing I was saying anything offensive and I was pretty surprised by your reaction.

I accept your apology. Sorry if I was a bit snarky, too. There's just so much of that around here, I may have snarked first, thought about it later. My main issue with acknowledging that post was I did think it was an interesting observation that the E is closer to the rest of the letters in the word SER than the I, regardless of fingers. That was all. I've only been around sporadically the past few days, didn't really check this thread til now.

All in all, in regards to the main OP of the thread, I do think SER is one of the nice touches in the story. I suspect as time goes on......I will more and more think that word SIR looks strange, go figure.

[Hodor's Dragon]

I accept your apology. Sorry if I was a bit snarky, too. There's just so much of that around here, I may have snarked first, thought about it later. My main issue with acknowledging that post was I did think it was an interesting observation that the E is closer to the rest of the letters in the word SER than the I, regardless of fingers. That was all. I've only been around sporadically the past few days, didn't really check this thread til now.

All in all, in regards to the main OP of the thread, I do think SER is one of the nice touches in the story. I suspect as time goes on......I will more and more think that word SIR looks strange, go figure.

Thank you, good on you, and cheers.

[Margaret]

Why is there a 'g' in 'night'? While I can't explain this specific example, I can say that because English is a hybrid language it contains many artifacts of its development. For example, consider the other white meat. In the years after the Norman Conquest, in England the upper classes spoke an early version French. The language spoken by common people was of Germanic origin. As English developed, it incorporated grammar, orthography, and vocabulary as and when convenient. So, back to supper; the more refined, classy way to refer to the entrèe comes to us from those upperclass Normans, pork. (Porc is the French spelling yet.) But what is pork when it is still on the hoof? Remember, the folks who bred, raised, and slaughtered were the lower folks, and their language was Germanic. Therefore, swine ( or as spelled today in Deutschland, Schwein.)

But no one was all that picky about spelling until the introduction of moveable type in the West. Standardization became even more critical as literacy rates soared in the 19th century, along with the exponential growth in the publishing industry aand plummeting price of books, magazines, and newspapers.

In the 20th century, there were many efforts to reform and simplify languages. In Germany and Russia, these changes could be and were imposed from the top down. In English-speaking countries, language reform could not be imposed and so became a social movement. An example in the US is the use of 'thru' in informal usage with 'through' reserved for more formal communication.

But back to the original question, 'ser' vs 'sir'. I understand Martin uses these variants to add to the otherworldly texture of his prose, and I accept that motive as valid.

But it still drove me batty until I was able to train my brain to read 'mercenary' when it sees 'sellsword'.

[Game Of Thrones]

@Margaret

There is a 'g' in 'night' because in Middle English 'night' was pronounced the same as German 'nicht', with the gh making the German ch sound. /x/ in IPA

[nastydream]

Fixed it for you :D

It's the same deal as "southron," isn't it?

"Keng's Landing" :rofl: :lol: :lmao:

[JasonJD]

Very old typewriters can't handle fast typing... But more recent and decent ones can. He's been a professional writer for some decades now. It's very weird that he hasn't learned LOL

People get set in their ways I guess.

When I was in Middle School, I was taught the proper way to type (home row, etc). I was actually put into a second class for it because my teachers wanted me to type my assignments rather than hand write, due to certain medical issues. Despite that I still to this day type 'hunt and peck' though not really hunting once I'm comfortable with that particular keyboard (which doesn't take long). And I can type very fast, faster than many that use the 'proper' way. I can still use the proper way too, but have no real reason to. I also have the idiosyncrasy of toggling the caps lock instead of using shift. That habit, I've tried to break out of but to no avail.

[Rhaegar the Dragon Prince]

Same reason the English spell aluminum, color, and many other words wrong.

It's Called English, not American.

[Brandon the Wise]

It's Called English, not American.

:agree: