Mishearing

Arthur_Connelly

Arthur_Connelly

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When I'm having a chapter from Character A's viewpoint and Character B says something that Character A mishears is it proper to put down what Character A believes he heard? I think it is - I'm using third-person limited so any information received is filtered through the character - but I need a second opinion.

example:

Character B: "I just bought a chin chiller."

Character A: "What's a chin chiller?"

Character B: "Chinchilla."

Character A: "Sorry. Your accent's a bit thick."
 
Probably have the speaking character say what he is really saying, then the second character repeating what he believed the first said.
 
This is precisely why we should abandon English spelling in favour of the International Phonetic Alphabet.
 
I think Teresa's is on something when she mentions viewpoint. When you say from A's viewpoint, do you mean literally, as in first person? Or do you mean from a close third?

If the former, I think your example is the only way you should consider. If the latter, then... well... actually, I still think your example is right. Still, from a close third you could get away with Shane's method. In some cases, it may work better. Probably depending on whether they (and the reader) are meant to know about the mistake immediately.
 
Arthur_Connelly said:
Character B: "I just bought a chin chiller."

Character A: "What's a chin chiller?"

Character B: "Chinchilla."

Character A: "Sorry. Your accent's a bit thick."
Click to expand...


As others have said, this is technically the correct thing to do.

Shane Enochs said:
Probably have the speaking character say what he is really saying, then the second character repeating what he believed the first said.
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Yet, I think the average reader would prefer this. I certainly would. It would now look like...

Character B: "I just bought a chinchilla."

Character A: "What's a chin chiller?"

Character B: "Chinchilla."

Character A: "Sorry. Your accent's a bit thick."
Click to expand...

Sorry if I'm of little help here. Would other people prefer to read this version?
 
On balance, I prefer the original -- especially having seen the second written out. The second version (Alc's) is either a violation of A's POV, or (worse) reads as though A knows perfectly well what B means but is choosing to make a joke of it.

It also relies on A querying what he's misheard in order to make it known that he's misheard it, which he might not always do.

It might not be a good example, though. How does B know that A has heard it as "chin chiller"? Why does he not answer the question with "It's a fluffy rodent, you ignorant clod"?

In summary, I think we now know why there are so few mishearings in published fiction.
 
If I might, being one who has actually said chin chiller instead of Chinchilla, unless it's in first person point of view the first version will only just confuse the reader. Alc's is better for third person.

For example:

consider:
"I just bought a new chinchilla," A said with a deep southern accent.
"What is a chin chiller?" B asked.
"Chinchilla, you know those small fuzzy rodents with an attitude problem?"
"Oh sorry, your accent's a bit thick." for third POV

or

"I just bought a new chin chiller," A said.
Not quite sure I heard that right I asked, "What's a chin chiller?"
He looked at me like I was insane and said flatly, "Chinchilla."
"Oh," unsure if I offended him I hastily add, "your accent's a bit thick. Where're you from?" for 1st

which is better of yours or these or really any would depend on the POV because that would determine if the readers will interpret it correctly.
this is all I can add hope it helps some.
 
Arthur_Connelly said:
Character A: "What's a chin chiller?"

Character B: "Chinchilla."
Click to expand...

My personal concern is that both versions sound phonetically the same, and only look different in written form. Therefore, would character b really hear a mis-spelling?

In which case, would it not be more realistic for Character B to explain that it's a small mammal - and then Character A explain what they thought they heard?

ie:

Character B: "I just bought a chinchilla."

Character A: "What's a chinchilla?"

Character B: "A small furry mammal ..."

Character A: "Oh! Sorry. Thought you meant a chiller for your chin. Your accent's a bit thick!"
 
I think Brian's pretty much right in this instance. What has been said hasn't been misheard, it just hasn't been understood. If chinchilla had been misheard as even shin chiller there'd at least be a slight phoenetic difference and that'd be a case of mishearing.
 
Chinchilla and chin chiller are not pronounced quite the same**, at least not necessarily. So at one extreme, we would have a case of mispronunciation; at the other, a case of mishearing.

As for how it should be written, I favour:
Character B: "I just bought a chinchilla."

Character A: "What's a chin chiller?"

Character B: "Chinchilla."
​
if only because it captures what's probably been said. If the written text has character A saying "chin chiller," I, as a reader, would believe him to be trying to confuse character B.

Here's an example of something similar from near the end of my WiP1:
“I have received your email. The attachments contained a virus called Lodz. My system has refused them.”

“Really, sir? There can’t be. There isn’t a Lots virus. Oh, you mean Łódź.”

“Ooodzh?”

“Almost. Łódź.”
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The warning in the email has that word spelt as Łódź, but the first speaker (a German speaking in English) ignored the Polish accents, and said, "Lodz". Note that z is, in German, pronounced as "ts", which is why the second speaker (an Italian speaking in English) repeated the word as he heard it, i.e. "Lots***." He then said the word how he would, which the first speaker heard as "Ooodzh" (where the zh is pronounced the same as the s in treasure or leisure). That isn't quite right, at least in the opinion of the Italian****, so he merely repeated, "Łódź."



** - Just try saying them both out loud. When I do so, the second syllable of chinchilla is slightly shortened and there's not much emphasis on the first syllable, chin. With chin chiller, both chin and chill are emphasised approximately equally and they're of about the same duration.

*** - I'm winging this a bit. I believe that a d at the end of a word is pronounced "t", so lodz could be "lotts", in the same way as Todt is "Tot". (I'm not sure, but I think the extra consonant is there to change the length of the preceding vowel, shortening it. Which is why the vowels in Berlin - Bearleen - are long: each syllable ends with a single consonant. Possibly. :eek:)

*** - I wouldn't have dared have used a Polish character in this scene, as I've only ever heard the word, Łódź, said by an English football commentator during a Euro 2012 match at Łódź. (By the way, this exchange has been in my WiP1 for six or seven years.)
 
I said:
My personal concern is that both versions sound phonetically the same, and only look different in written form.
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How does "chin chiller" sound phonetically the same as "chinchilla"?

EDIT - Nevermind, I guess it depends on your accent. I would imagine in Australia they both would sound the same, as well as some other places.

2nd EDIT - You know, unless it's crucial that the mishearing character think he said "chin chiller", perhaps you could just have it like:

Character B: "I just bought a chinchilla."

Character A: "A what?"

Character B: "Chin-chill-a."

Character A: "Oh, sorry. Your accent's a bit thick."

That might be the easiest way to do it.
 
Having said all that - in post#12 - I'm not sure whether the same applies to first person, where not only are the narrator and the PoV character the same, the reader believes them to be so.

I tend to think that, for most intents and purposes, a very close third person narrative is the same as the PoV character narrating, but I do accept that the reader probably doesn't completely agree with me, giving me, as the author, a bit of wriggle room.
 
I said:
My personal concern is that both versions sound phonetically the same, and only look different in written form. Therefore, would character b really hear a mis-spelling?
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I'm with my fellow Americans here (Arthur and Shane). There are plenty of places where the two wouldn't be pronounced the same.

In most parts of the US, when we see an R at the end of a word, we think it's there for a reason.
 
Teresa Edgerton said:
I'm with my fellow Americans here (Arthur and Shane). There are plenty of places where the two wouldn't be pronounced the same.

In most parts of the US, when we see an R at the end of a word, we think it's there for a reason.
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And likewise when we don't see an R at the end of a word, we assume it's not there, for a reason. :D
 
Let's toss out chinchilla altogether and go for a mondegreen. Should I write what's actually said or do I write what the POV character believes they heard? A third possibility exists - tossing it out all together. And that's what I usually do in these situations.
 
What is the point of the mondegreen dialogue? Are you giving us any further information about the characters -- does one of them become irrationally angry at the mishearing, for instance? If it's just to inject a bit of humour, then I think I'd be tempted to dump the idea -- sometimes those kinds of things can fall a bit flat.
 
TheDustyZebra said:
And likewise when we don't see an R at the end of a word, we assume it's not there, for a reason. :D
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Not necessarily. :p

Having lived in about 15 or 16 different states here in the US I can attest to the fact that regional accents can vary not only from one part of the state but from widely different parts of the country! For instance I have heard the R dropped all together in the word "Car" making it "Caa" pronounced with a soft drawn out a in parts of Maine. At the same time I have heard the R inserted into words that have no R whatsoever such as "Wash". In Indianapolis I have heard a "Car Wash" refereed to as a "Car Warsh" or a washing machine as a "Warshing machine" as in marsh.

Don't get me started on what its like going along I-10 from east to west or taking I-65 south to north. In a day it will be like running into people speaking a whole different language.
 
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