TheGreyKraken Posted January 12, 2013 Share Posted January 12, 2013 Meh, something as insignificant as that doesn't affect me, though I can understand why it will with others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castellan Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 In Asha's chapter in AFFC she starts calling her uncles and Rodrik her 'nuncles', which would be fine on its own because I can understand its an older English terminology and fits in with this medieval world.But what bothers me is that she switches from calling them Nuncle to Uncle every few times its mentioned.I don't know why but this just really bugs me, can anyone explain this to me, is it a mistake on Martins side of things or is it intentional? I would say you are completely insane except it bothers me that there is a character with surname Holland when there is no Holland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinkie Baelish Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Same here. Mayhaps I should create a list of words in the series that bother me..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King.In.Yellow Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I think that the passages regarding Harry Hardying's relation to Robert should have been put into song. This song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danm_999 Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Tolkien managed to include alot of details, and still finish his story BECAUSE he wrote efficiently. If you cannot see the difference, then you are just not seeing.Please provide a passage from "The Lord of the Rings", about family details, that is even remotely as overblown and unnecessary as LF's 2-page speech.Tolkien was especially efficient in the middle portion of his novel, where the heros were scattered, and the threads were divided.Wait what? You don't even have to go that far into Fellowship to find this.Seriously, the first few pages has all this information about the relationships between the Baggins and the Brandybuck's and the Took's and the Sackville Bagginses and why Buckland and Hobbiton hobbits are slighty different in their predilection for watercraft and how Bilbo sent out a gross of invitations and how much that is and why it's important that he sent that much and to whom these invitations were sent and what their family was like, and the narrative shifts to the Gaffer yelling at people down at the pub about respecting the Baggins name.And this is for a party that happens almost two decades before the actual events of the War of the Ring!And shiiiit, don't even bring up the Silmarillion! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommen Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Nuncle/Uncle for me is like leal/loyal and wroth/wrath. Ugh. Just...ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolorous Nedd Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Very shocking how many people are put off by the term. :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old-Growth Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Nuncle/Uncle for me is like leal/loyal and wroth/wrath. Ugh. Just...ugh.If it was good enough for Shakespeare, it should be good enough for you. Be glad Martin sticks to Elizabethanisms that are not so out of use that they would require footnotes to explain the meaning (as is already true for a number of words/phrases in the plays).As for "nuncle", one important use is in King Lear: always by the Fool to Lear, as he attempts to get the King to see the folly of dividing the Kingdom, banishing the Earl of Kent, and disinheriting Cordelia. Lear is not the Fool's uncle; rather the expression is part of the Fool's role as jester; allowed to address the King in ways more familiar than an ordinary courtier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Currawong Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 ... and wroth/wrath. Ugh. Just...ugh. At least GRRM understands and appreciates the difference between 'wrath' and mere 'anger'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tyrion I Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 If it was good enough for Shakespeare, it should be good enough for you. Be glad Martin sticks to Elizabethanisms that are not so out of use that they would require footnotes to explain the meaning (as is already true for a number of words/phrases in the plays).As for "nuncle", one important use is in King Lear: always by the Fool to Lear, as he attempts to get the King to see the folly of dividing the Kingdom, banishing the Earl of Kent, and disinheriting Cordelia. Lear is not the Fool's uncle; rather the expression is part of the Fool's role as jester; allowed to address the King in ways more familiar than an ordinary courtier.Thanks for saying that. I wanted to do the same, but you did it.GRRM knows how to use words - even old ones - properly."leal/loyal""wroth/wrath"There are tiny differences - and I'm glad about Martin's understanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old-Growth Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Oh, about "wroth", there is an old joke by Groucho Marx in one of the Marx brothers movies. Someone says to Groucho "Epstein is waxing wroth" to which Groucho replies, "Well, tell Roth to wax Epstein". (I may not have the quote quite right, but close enough ;-). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Tyrion I Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Yeah, I remember that.:lol:I like puns. :smug: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommen Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 If it was good enough for Shakespeare, it should be good enough for you. Be glad Martin sticks to Elizabethanisms that are not so out of use that they would require footnotes to explain the meaning (as is already true for a number of words/phrases in the plays).Thanks for saying that. I wanted to do the same, but you did it.GRRM knows how to use words - even old ones - properly."leal/loyal""wroth/wrath"There are tiny differences - and I'm glad about Martin's understanding.I have no problem understanding the words, I just don't like them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady_wolf Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 hehe, quite a funny topic. Isn't it just because you're not used to the term nuncle?In dutch we have the same word 'nonkel', thought it was even still common in the north of the UK?Word related, is there a topic concerning translated books? I've read everything in English, but i'd REALLY like to know how some things are translated in Dutch.Like warg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mother of The Others Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 This is an outrage! Everyone aboard the protest bus! On the way, we'll make a huge banner sign that says something like, "If my aunt was my uncle she'd have nuts, if my uncle was my nuncle he'd be a putz!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Crow Come Over Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 parenthetical phrases bother me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofashes Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 I'd never heard of the word nuncle before, and since Asha was talking to The Reader who was an uncle on her mothers side I took it to mean that. Your fathers brother is your "uncle" wheras your mothers brother is your "nuncle"I didn't help that Asha used both terms.I agree that it is a bit of an affectation. A waste of a perfectly good "n". But GRRM has done far more wasteful things for me to complain about. Like saying "You are not wrong" instead of "You are right."I dunno about America but in the UK(at least here in Scotland anyway) when you are asked how you are, instead of saying "good", people say "not bad" which is a weird way of putting it. Guess it goes with our gloomy nature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingofashes Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 In dutch we have the same word 'nonkel', thought it was even still common in the north of the UK?I'm north UK and have never heard the term. But the north of England might be different. Wales,England, N.I. and Scotland all have different terms for granparents so why not uncle aswel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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