The word of the day for March 29, 2007 is“diachronic” — adjective : of, relating to, or dealing with phenomena (as of language or culture) as they occur or change over a period of time.
I do love historical romances, especially those set in Regency England. The latest one I have read—Miss Marcie’s Mischief, by Lindsay Randall (Zebra Books, 1995)—is fairly poor in the research department. For one thing, the hero, going incognito as “Cole Coachman,” is referred to more than once as “nè Marquess of Sherringham.” That’s not so bad, he might have been born posthumously, therefore entitled to the name from birth. However, the author lovingly describes his two older brothers, whose successive deaths lead to his “ascension” to the title.
This is not the worst example of research poverty I have seen. I always liked the one pointed out by my sister involving a woman trekking from Wales to Scotland in the 1100’s by herself, eating “wild potatoes” as she went. Wild onions I can accept. Potatoes didn’t show up in Britain until after Columbus made his famous voyage nearly 400 years later. Not only that but my sister reminded me that potatoes do not grow wild anywhere. Which is probably a good thing, because feral potatoes in Europe would have been something like kudzu, only tastier.
The quote for today is from Oscar Wilde(1854–1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. Gilbert, in “The Critic as Artist,” pt. 1, Intentions (1891):
Whatever, in fact, is modern in our life we owe to the Greeks. Whatever
is an anachronism is due to mediaevalism.
;^) Jan
I do love historical romances, especially those set in Regency England. The latest one I have read—Miss Marcie’s Mischief, by Lindsay Randall (Zebra Books, 1995)—is fairly poor in the research department. For one thing, the hero, going incognito as “Cole Coachman,” is referred to more than once as “nè Marquess of Sherringham.” That’s not so bad, he might have been born posthumously, therefore entitled to the name from birth. However, the author lovingly describes his two older brothers, whose successive deaths lead to his “ascension” to the title.
This is not the worst example of research poverty I have seen. I always liked the one pointed out by my sister involving a woman trekking from Wales to Scotland in the 1100’s by herself, eating “wild potatoes” as she went. Wild onions I can accept. Potatoes didn’t show up in Britain until after Columbus made his famous voyage nearly 400 years later. Not only that but my sister reminded me that potatoes do not grow wild anywhere. Which is probably a good thing, because feral potatoes in Europe would have been something like kudzu, only tastier.
The quote for today is from Oscar Wilde(1854–1900), Anglo-Irish playwright, author. Gilbert, in “The Critic as Artist,” pt. 1, Intentions (1891):
Whatever, in fact, is modern in our life we owe to the Greeks. Whatever
is an anachronism is due to mediaevalism.
;^) Jan
1 comment:
'Whatever, in fact, is modern in our life we owe to the Greeks. Whatever
is an anachronism is due to mediaevalism.'
To someone like yourself who is a lover of words it must rankle when you see such missplaced anachronisms when reading an historical novel.
I have found the odd one myself in books I have read over the years. I found that it stopped my pleasure in reading the rest of the story because of the incongruity of the thought that the wrongly chosen word invoked. Mind you.... I am no saint and I have been guilty of similar malaprops and anachronisms myself when proof reading something I have written next day etc... Lol! Jeanie
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