Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

[Interference]

I actually thought that as I typed it So, not just you, then

 

[mosaix]

Thanks for the 'black and white' answers, everyone.

 

[Arthur_Connelly]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ursa major]

I juggled with the double-quotes and italicised versions but neither is really satisfactory. I'm afraid that what's needed, I think, is a bit of description:

"Thank you, Mortimer," said Mortimer with undisguised satire, "you are truly kind to me."

Just to be a bit picky....

In your various examples, you seem to be joining two sentences with a comma. A full stop is probably your best option, e.g.:

"Thank you, Mortimer," said Mortimer with undisguised satire. "You are truly kind to me."

 

[luci2also]

Just to be a bit picky....

In your various examples, you seem to be joining two sentences with a comma. A full stop is probably your best option, e.g.:

Damn those stringing sentences, you try so hard, they just keep happening, you don't know how, you don't know why, but they are always there to bite you; oh and nice recovery on those spelling errors.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Gumboot]

Didn't they also have a different definition in heraldry (he says, knowing this may be of interest to historical and/or fantasy writers)?

Yes, and in heraldry black is a colour but white isn't!

Heraldry varies a bit from place to place and time to time but the core of traditional heraldry is two metals and five colours. Colours cannot be placed on colours, and metals cannot be placed on metals.

Metals:
Or - Gold
Argent - Silver

Colours:
Gules - Red
Azure - Blue
Vert - Green
Purpure - Purple
Sable - Black

Yellow and White would act as substitute for Gold and Silver where using actual gold and silver wasn't an option (such as painting a shield).

There were also furs (ermine and vair), stains (murrey, sanguine, tenné) and irregulars (bleu celeste, carnation, cendrée, orange) which could be treated as a separate group, as colours, or as metals.

Interestingly, the rules of tincture (how colours and metals could be placed on top of each other) are still widely used today, most notably on road signs.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

Interestingly, the rules of tincture (how colours and metals could be placed on top of each other) are still widely used today, most notably on road signs.

I'm now imagining a knight with an octagonal shield. On a field of gures, in argent script across his shield is an ancient challenge in a dead language: "STOP".

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I get confused with this:

He looked around and saw the still bodies in the park

or

He looked round and saw the still bodies in the park

or does it matter. In this case the pov is in an outdoor space with bodies all around him. When should you use one or the other?

 

[Mouse]

Springs, I asked the exact same question a while ago (not in this thread) and now I can't find where it is at all, sorry. I possibly started a thread on it, but I can't find it.

I can't remember the answer either so really, I'm no help at all.

I think one's more commonly American than the other. Perhaps.

 

[Venusian Broon]

On first look, the first sentence tells me

He looked (in all directions from the place he was in) and saw still bodies...

The second tells me:

He seemed spherical and saw still bodies...

Round however does seem to have many, many meanings so perhaps might fit in some sense.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I'm in good company then, Mouse.

At the moment I have around, cos the bodies are surrounding him, but I hadn't considered the corpulent considerations, VB. That's probably settled for me, I'll never be able to read the sentence that way, anyhow.

 

[Vertigo]

Here Springs:

Round works virtually anywhere around would work. The reverse is not true, as round has a number of definitions it doesn’t share with around. For example, it wouldn’t work to say that the edge of a circle is around, and I wouldn’t invite you to play an around of golf. But, even though round works as a breezier alternative to around, round tends to create a casual tone, so around is usually safer in serious or formal writing.
British writers in particular are wont to use round in place of around. This substitution does occur in American English, but much less often.
Examples

Here are a few instances where the shorter round is used where around would also work:

He does admit there was the occasional cross word when his children were young and running round the house . . . [BBC News]
Early in the second half a man ran towards Lennon and attempted to punch and grab him round the neck. [Guardian]
The defendant then reached 60 miles per hour on a road with a 30 mile per hour limit and went round another roundabout in the wrong direction. [Birmingham Mail]
​

Taken from http://grammarist.com/usage/around-round/

 

[Venusian Broon]

I think you'd have to have:​

He looked round the park and saw the still bodies. ​

Which makes sense as you can do that to a park! Around I suppose technically means 'revolving' about the spot you/he/she is at without reference to what's out there...

I see Vertigo has come to the rescue.

Thinking about it a bit more, Around has quite a few other definitions, so it's making my head throb a little. I'll get my coat...​

 

[Jo Zebedee]

hmm mine too, see I'm now thinking looked around indicates he moves, where round doesn't so much. Definitely a headache.
@Vertigo, this is a great link, ty.

 

[The Judge]

Springs, I asked the exact same question a while ago (not in this thread) and now I can't find where it is at all, sorry. I possibly started a thread on it, but I can't find it.

Superior searching skills to the rescue... http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/526670-around-round.html

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Ty TJ, looks like I'm sticking with around. A good thread that one.

 

[Mouse]

Definitely superior searching skills! Thanks TJ.

 

[Warren_Paul]

Using the word "round" instead of "around" always comes across as a bit like slang to me. I'd reserve it for it's proper use like:

She rounded on him
Round of golf
The ball was round

 

[David Evil Overlord]

She rounded on him when she caught him playing around.

 

[Vertigo]

Using the word "round" instead of "around" always comes across as a bit like slang to me. I'd reserve it for it's proper use like:

She rounded on him
Round of golf
The ball was round

As so often with these things it seems to depend so much on location. Here in the UK we definitely use round in place of around an awful lot. And from looking (a)round on the web as well as from the dictionary quote in the other thread, it would appear that this is considered to be grammatically correct usage rather than just colloquial usage.

An interesting thing I saw when I was looking for this was this:

But is it round really a contraction of around? Maybe not. Around is a fairly recent addition to the language. The OED lists around as 'rare before 1600', and notes that it doesn't occur in the works of Shakespeare. Round goes back further, and Shakespeare used it in places where I would have said around

End of the day, I would say we should rejoice in it. Pick whichever one fits the rythm of your sentence best!