This subject was brought up by @Wandarine in another thread today but I’ve also seen it discussed on Instagram (in a screenshot from Tumblr) and I wanted to get others’ thoughts on it! Basically, how do you address certain words or phrases that were created from places in this universe, in a universe where those things didn’t exist / a universe you created?
For example, I was thinking about this as I read through something I wrote in my WIP. The story is told from first person by my MC, and she describes a sense of anticipation like a child waiting to jump into the ropes of a double dutch game. But… how could she know about double dutch? The Netherlands don’t exist in her world (not even an equivalent, I’m afraid) so there weren’t [name_m]Dutch[/name_m] immigrants in NYC neighborhoods playing a jumping game with two ropes for her to reference.
In this scenario, I’ll probably just end up using “jump rope” in place of “double dutch”, but what about things without a synonym? [name_m]How[/name_m] would you refer to a [name_u]French[/name_u] braid in a world with no [name_f]France[/name_f]? Or a “platonic” relationship with no one named [name_m]Plato[/name_m] having existed?
I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to this, just maybe an interesting discussion. In my situation, I expect I’ll try to work around those situations, trying to find synonyms or use other descriptors instead, but it might be difficult to spot these words and phrases!
I dunno… one time I was going to write a scene where a boy threw a paper airplane at a girl during class, but then I remembered the setting predated airplanes, so I used the term “paper dart” instead. Neither one of them would have called it an airplane, right?
Usually, my stories take place on [name_f]Earth[/name_f], so I don’t typically run into the [name_u]French[/name_u] braid/Plato problem you described. Although most of my stories are set in the past, so I generally have to worry about anachronisms (things that don’t belong/wouldn’t have existed, etc. If my story is set in early 1800’s [name_f]France[/name_f], then the [name_u]Eiffel[/name_u] [name_u]Tower[/name_u] hadn’t yet been built.), if that makes sense.
This is something I’ve thought about a lot, and I think it really depends on the word, and what they refer to. I think if you are writing about a world that doesn’t have [name_f]France[/name_f], then you can’t have [name_u]French[/name_u] braids, and would just have to call them braids/pleats, but I think platonic is fine, because we don’t really have another word for it on [name_f]English[/name_f] (other than friendship). It’s also probably a word that a world without [name_m]Plato[/name_m] would have a different word for, but even if you thought about that in detail and invented an alternative word for a non-[name_m]Plato[/name_m] world, your readers aren’t gonna know what it means.
I also think it’s more acceptable in third person than in first. For example, gargantuan comes from the name of a giant in a [name_u]French[/name_u] book, so in a secondary world, gargantuan shouldn’t really be a word. So, a character thinking something is gargantuan doesn’t really work, but in third person if the author is telling you something is gargantuan, it’s fine.
I’d say platonic is fine, but [name_u]French[/name_u] Braids or said jumping rope game should be called something else - you could either call them just braids/jumping rope or invent an in-universe equivalent and call it, let’s say, a Dornish Braid if this was ASOIAF.
Saying you can’t use platonic because [name_m]Pan[/name_m] doesn’t exist makes sense, but it opens up a never ending rabbit whole. [name_f]Every[/name_f] word comes from somewhere! Next you question if your characters can say igloo when there’s no Inuit language, then if they can say liberty if there’s no [name_u]French[/name_u] language, and eventually will find yourself wondering why they speak [name_f]English[/name_f] at all. I suppose there’s no “correct” place to draw the line here, but being okay with platonic but not [name_u]French[/name_u] Braid seems like a good start.
Your readers come from this world, so you can describe the things in your narrative and use words like [name_u]French[/name_u] and iphone or double [name_m]Dutch[/name_m]…but in the dialogue they might need to have different words
no it does not
should have decided between “can’t use platonic because [name_m]Plato[/name_m] doesn’t exist” and “can’t use pandemic because [name_m]Pan[/name_m] doesn’t exist”. Mixed them up instead.
I totally agree! I don’t think this would be as much of an internal struggle for me if the story weren’t told in first person. As @EJpuddlejumper said, an omniscient third person narrative could include these words/phrases but dialogue shouldn’t. In first person, it’s almost like my entire story is told in the form of dialogue!
I didn’t know that about gargantuan’s origin… I don’t believe I ever used that word but now there’s the question of what else I’ve used that has a similar backstory!
Yes! For the sake of my sanity, I decided in the beginning that the language my characters speak would just be [name_f]English[/name_f] with a different name. And I agree, there’s no correct place to draw the line.
Personally, I wouldn’t use those words in the narrative, either, but I think that’s because of my writing style. I use deep third person, which means I follow one character at a time as close as possible without making them literally narrate the story. So I try to describe the world through their eyes and use words I think they would use.
But in other writing styles it could fit nicely or even be used for comedy! I’m thinking [name_u]Terry[/name_u] Pratchett here, who had a character wanting to say “like a fish with a bicycle” in a world without bicycles and has it come out as “like a fish with, you know, with something that doesn’t work underwater.”
I have been thinking up some more idioms and colloquialisms for the characters to say, which has been fun! I love this though lol. It actually does sound like something my MC would say so I’ll keep that concept in mind…
I would love nothing more than to build my own imaginary world, & to write some FanFiction stories too. The only problem is, I seem to be lacking in the creativity area, so I have yet to get started
