Which went a little better than Joffrey and Sansa’s, for a while, anyway. (But, yeah, when I was reading about the Borgias a while ago and spotted reference to Gioffre marrying Sancha, my first reaction was ‘oh, clever reference, Mr Martin.’)
You just blew my mind.
For some odd reason, I happen to know that ‘ser’ is Polish for cheese. So yes, I did kinda stumble over it a few times… Otherwise, I like the use of language as indicating a world kinda like ours, but not quite.
I mentioned in another thread that GRRM’s use of the name Joffery seems to be nothing more than a joke at the expense of people who phonetically mispronounce the name Geoffrey (which is, of course, correctly pronounced Jeffrey).
“Your Grace” when addressing a king never sat well with me. Again, it’s not Europe so they don’t need to use European conventions, but this one never ceased to bug me for some reason.
I know, it still seems like an insult – you’re no better than a duke!
Are any of his spellings odder than “querky” for “quirky”?
Technically that would make him 6 (how old were you in your first year of life? Not 1 yet). Though if the convo with Jaime says 7, I’ll just assume that Railroad misunderstands the terminology, like 99% of the people who use it.
Yup, I feel that way too. It gives you some grounding but doesn’t let you get too comfortable.
I believe Henry VIII was addressed as “Your Grace,” for what it’s worth.
I’m pretty sure “Ser” is phonetic spelling for the french “sieur” which is what people would have actually used during the War of the Roses (GRRM’s strongest real-life historical inspiration). I’ve also seen it elsewhere. I’m sure he is trying to evoke that romantic, medieval ballad aesthetic. It works on me: "“Ser” is romantic and medieval, while “Sir” makes me think of Elton John.
The reader of the audiobook version of “A Distant Mirror” which can be found on Audible demonstrates this rather well. It’s “Ser/Sieur” for the french knights and Lords, and “Sir” for the english, with a very distinct and evocative difference in pronunciation
On the occasion of Jack Vance’s death, Neil Gaiman put a link to The Moon Moth in his Tumblr. GRRM also mentioned the story in his tribute to Vance. (A previous tribute: co-editing Songs of the Dying Earth–stories inspired by Vance… )
I remembered reading “The Moon Moth” in Galaxy, so long ago. So I read it again. To discover that, on that very weird world, gentlemen are addressed as “Ser.” Another tribute?
(GRRM is no Tolkien. A continent the size of Westeros should have multiple languages. He left the details of Dothraki & Valyrian to the TV show. I’ve learned to accept that & not mind the names. Except for Jaime–he doesn’t look Mexican & pronounces it wrong!)
(whoosh? You can see from the OP that Sampiro knows how “quirky” is conventionally spelled. Spelt. Whatevs.)