Author Topic: PC149: Honing Sebastian  (Read 17371 times)

Loz

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Reply #25 on: March 28, 2011, 06:44:34 PM
It felt like Chapter One of a YA novel, after being sent back down Sebastian develops hitherto unnatural spine and returns above to burn down the tower blocks and upend the social order. At the end I just thought 'meh'. I felt there was insufficient work put in to explaining the world we were in and how everyone worked within it. Even Hammersmith at the end is an enlightened being talking with a non-enlightened being within the system that the author has created and so doesn't explain how the world works in any way that made sense to me. So the story in the end is 'boy finds sack, boy loses sack, boy goes up stairs, boy goes down stairs. With mucus.'



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Reply #26 on: March 28, 2011, 10:46:00 PM
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Also, I remembered another one that particularly bugged me, "trow" for trousers. I mean, really? Trow? If you want a one syllable word use pants. This was just trying to go that extra micro-millimeter to show that this world is different.

I haven't heard the story so maybe I'm completely misunderstanding but not only is "trow" a valid slang word for trousers, it's not even an attempt to be futuristic slang!  Am I now so old that no one has heard the expression "drop trow", or "dropping trow" before?  It's been a common slang expression since, hmmm, I'd bet WWII.



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Reply #27 on: March 29, 2011, 12:48:07 AM
Quote
Also, I remembered another one that particularly bugged me, "trow" for trousers. I mean, really? Trow? If you want a one syllable word use pants. This was just trying to go that extra micro-millimeter to show that this world is different.

I haven't heard the story so maybe I'm completely misunderstanding but not only is "trow" a valid slang word for trousers, it's not even an attempt to be futuristic slang!  Am I now so old that no one has heard the expression "drop trow", or "dropping trow" before?  It's been a common slang expression since, hmmm, I'd bet WWII.

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Reply #28 on: March 30, 2011, 01:35:10 PM
I haven't heard the story so maybe I'm completely misunderstanding but not only is "trow" a valid slang word for trousers, it's not even an attempt to be futuristic slang!  Am I now so old that no one has heard the expression "drop trow", or "dropping trow" before?  It's been a common slang expression since, hmmm, I'd bet WWII.

You're completely right.  "trow" is a current, though not oft-used, slang for trousers.  I've only ever heard it as part of the phrase "drop trow", such as one might do at the doctors office or when mooning someone.

Hammersmith explicitly said that the rents pay him rent, which goes a long way to explaining why they are called that.
Of course Wilson Fowlie has a point, and it could be both.
Also, I remembered another one that particularly bugged me, "trow" for trousers. I mean, really? Trow? If you want a one syllable word use pants. This was just trying to go that extra micro-millimeter to show that this world is different.

My parents pay rent too.  Coincidence?   :D




kibitzer

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Reply #29 on: March 31, 2011, 02:05:52 AM


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Reply #30 on: March 31, 2011, 03:43:35 PM
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drop_trou

Allegedly American slang.
I find it very hard to believe that it's an American slang. Americans (and I mean citizens of the USA) tend to use the word "pants", not "trousers" as do their friends across the Atlantic.
And don't bring proof from Wiktionary...

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Reply #31 on: March 31, 2011, 04:08:06 PM
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drop_trou

Allegedly American slang.
I find it very hard to believe that it's an American slang. Americans (and I mean citizens of the USA) tend to use the word "pants", not "trousers" as do their friends across the Atlantic.
And don't bring proof from Wiktionary...

I've heard Americans use it.  Part of the appeal of the slang is that it's based on the word "trousers" that almost no one uses anymore.



Devoted135

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Reply #32 on: March 31, 2011, 04:09:14 PM
I think it's American slang in the way that calling something "the bees' knees" is American slang. Sure, we said it back in the day, but you'd get funny looks if you used in in conversation nowadays.



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Reply #33 on: March 31, 2011, 04:45:58 PM
I think it's American slang in the way that calling something "the bees' knees" is American slang. Sure, we said it back in the day, but you'd get funny looks if you used in in conversation nowadays.

Yeah, I say "the mutt's nuts".

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Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #34 on: March 31, 2011, 06:12:43 PM
I think it's American slang in the way that calling something "the bees' knees" is American slang. Sure, we said it back in the day, but you'd get funny looks if you used in in conversation nowadays.
Actually, the only time I ever heard that phrase was from BBC Radio 4, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio drama, Quandary Phase.

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Reply #35 on: March 31, 2011, 06:15:50 PM
I always understood that drop trou was a slang from the American Military.

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kibitzer

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Reply #36 on: April 01, 2011, 01:31:11 AM
And don't bring proof from Wiktionary...

... hence the leading word, "allegedly".


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Reply #37 on: April 01, 2011, 01:56:12 PM
I think it's American slang in the way that calling something "the bees' knees" is American slang. Sure, we said it back in the day, but you'd get funny looks if you used in in conversation nowadays.

Ah, but see that's the BEST sort of slang.  Slang that goes unnoticed is boring.  I have said "the bee's knees" and "the cat's pajamas" as well as a variety of rural colloquialisms that you don't often see in modern cities, like "he's as ____ as the day is long" or "I haven't seen ____ in a coon's age".  The dumbfounded reactions are hilarious.



Devoted135

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Reply #38 on: April 01, 2011, 02:16:32 PM
I think it's American slang in the way that calling something "the bees' knees" is American slang. Sure, we said it back in the day, but you'd get funny looks if you used in in conversation nowadays.

Ah, but see that's the BEST sort of slang.  Slang that goes unnoticed is boring.  I have said "the bee's knees" and "the cat's pajamas" as well as a variety of rural colloquialisms that you don't often see in modern cities, like "he's as ____ as the day is long" or "I haven't seen ____ in a coon's age".  The dumbfounded reactions are hilarious.

ha! that's awesome :D I don't think I've ever heard "the cat's pajamas" before! I did however find this link (however much or little it's worth) when googling around and it seems apropos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Illuminatedwax/List_of_Outdated_English_Slang



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Reply #39 on: April 01, 2011, 05:15:49 PM
I think it's American slang in the way that calling something "the bees' knees" is American slang. Sure, we said it back in the day, but you'd get funny looks if you used in in conversation nowadays.

Ah, but see that's the BEST sort of slang.  Slang that goes unnoticed is boring.  I have said "the bee's knees" and "the cat's pajamas" as well as a variety of rural colloquialisms that you don't often see in modern cities, like "he's as ____ as the day is long" or "I haven't seen ____ in a coon's age".  The dumbfounded reactions are hilarious.

ha! that's awesome :D I don't think I've ever heard "the cat's pajamas" before! I did however find this link (however much or little it's worth) when googling around and it seems apropos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Illuminatedwax/List_of_Outdated_English_Slang


Ooh, that's a fun list.
--Drugstore Cowboy-I hadn't heard about the actual usage, but that was the title of a Matt Dillon film in which he'd rob pharmacies to steal their drugs.

Some of those aren't particularly outdated, like "shiv", which I've seen on prison shows rather frequently.  I don't see a lot of rural colloquialisms there which are my favorite.



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Reply #40 on: April 13, 2011, 05:28:24 AM
I just finished the story and it goes well with the dystopian mood I have found myself in. Funny really, I just got back from Room 101 and all I have to say is..."O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! I have won the victory over myself. I love Big Brother."

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Reply #41 on: April 28, 2011, 03:08:49 AM
Its funny that all the posts seem to reference the slang used or 1984. I think in a longer story, when we have more of a chance to be accustomed to a certain speech mode or slang, its easier to get past it and into the characters' lives. In a short story rife with slong, its just a bit hard to get a grip on what is going on.
I was more reminded of Dicken's Oliver Twist and a little bit Gibson's Neuromancer for some reason. Perhaps I'd better dust off 1984 to see what y'all are talkin' about.

My family always uses the saying, "If it was a snake, then you'd be dead." (Describing an object close at hand that the other person can't find) I really never realized how unusual it was until I said it one day at work.  :-\

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Reply #42 on: April 29, 2011, 04:58:35 PM
I thought this story was pretty good, though the slang didn't really do much for me. It was interesting though, that the 'rents' had an alternate meaning other than parents, and thinking on the duality of it made the story a little darker. That and the head guy's line, "The best thing you can do about your dreams is to make your reality your dream."

::thinks of all the school drama happening over the country::  ::gets very depressed::

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Reply #43 on: January 24, 2012, 05:53:50 AM
This was a great idea, with a amazing way to build the setting it drew me right in, but over all it was forgettable. It
is almost sad for it's own sake. But much more like catch 22, you get the futility in the first chapter or two, and then it goes
on forever. I thought it could have ended about half way through when his "paper" was stolen. I honestly will not be
reccommending this one.



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Reply #44 on: January 24, 2012, 03:51:47 PM
This was a great idea, with a amazing way to build the setting it drew me right in, but over all it was forgettable. It
is almost sad for it's own sake. But much more like catch 22, you get the futility in the first chapter or two, and then it goes
on forever. I thought it could have ended about half way through when his "paper" was stolen. I honestly will not be
reccommending this one.

I just read Catch-22 a few months ago, and I totally agree with you on that book.  Really, I'd have been happy if I just read the first 1-2 chapters, plus the chapter titled "Major Major Major Major".



Fenrix

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Reply #45 on: May 01, 2012, 01:58:47 AM
This was a great idea, with a amazing way to build the setting it drew me right in, but over all it was forgettable. It
is almost sad for it's own sake. But much more like catch 22, you get the futility in the first chapter or two, and then it goes
on forever. I thought it could have ended about half way through when his "paper" was stolen. I honestly will not be
reccommending this one.

I just read Catch-22 a few months ago, and I totally agree with you on that book.  Really, I'd have been happy if I just read the first 1-2 chapters, plus the chapter titled "Major Major Major Major".


I'll only agree that this story is like Catch 22 if you completely skip the first handful of chapters. The first few chapters have almost all the delightful absurdist humor. After that I agree. I'll tell you about the rest of the story, but only if you let me put these crabapples in my cheeks.

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