About fifty pages in, PSS feels like Neal Stephenson with a generally better style and imagination, and less sense of humor. He’s still a rat bastard (no pun intended) for stealing the title of the Best Novel Ever, but he’s great. Thanks again.
Oh no, I genuinely intend to launch a global crusade against Cockney slang. I was challenged, after all, wasn’t I? “Whether you like it or not is irrelevant.” Indeed…?! That’s a glove to the face if ever there was one. We’ll see how irrelevant my opinion is, when Cockney slang lies smoldering in ruin!
I’m not sure I understand the “histrionics” accusation, as I feel this is a perfectly reasoned and proportionate response. I didn’t even attempt to quote Ricardo Montalban. I have no intention of overreacting-- I merely wish to see Cockney slang drink deep the bitter quaff of defeat for such insolence. Once Cockney slang lies broken and humbled at my feet, its once-proud domain a crumbled wasteland of ash to the very horizon, I shall freely consider the debt paid in full. I don’t hold a grudge.
Join me, Left Hand of Dorkness. Together we can rule Cockney slang as father and son.
Step Two: subconsiously undermine Cockney slang-users by promoting popular phrases with singularly obvious and transparent rhymes.
Anyway… sorry for the hijack. Please, be sure to purchase books by China Mieville from your local bookseller, such as the fine London establishment of Croakal Snooksmeller.
Terrifel, you wrote, “This frankly seems like a lot of work just for slang. Is there some sort of centralized Cockney Slang Bureau that administrates these expressions? Otherwise it seems like there’s rather a lot of room for individual interpretation.” This sounded to me like you objected to the existence of slang that didn’t fit your ideas of how slang worked. Slang frequently is a lot of work. It’s often a code by which less powerful groups can speak among themselves without being understood by the more powerful groups. In the case of Cockney rhyming slang, it’s poorer Londoners creating terms not understood by richer ones.
Of course, the more popular a Cockney rhyming slang word becomes, the less it serves its purpose of hiding its meaning from outsiders. So there have to constantly be new terms generated to replace the old ones that have become too common. There are cases I’ve read about where a piece of rhyming slang will become a very well known term for a word it replaces. It’s now too common, so a new rhyming slang will replace it. The second rhyming slang will not rhyme with the original word but with the first rhyming slang word. Then the second rhyming slang word will become too common. In turn, it will be replaced by a third rhyming slang word. The third rhyming slang word will rhyme not with the original word or the first rhyming slang word but with the second rhyming slang word. Unfortunately, I don’t know of any examples of this off the top of my head. Is anyone more familiar with this than me who can give some examples.
Here’s another website on Cockney rhyming slang:
I did say “civilized dialect”.
I don’t think I’d enjoy his writing, but he’s definitely worth looking at!
Finished it. The book was a thing of beauty, only moderately stained by the politics and some unwieldy, bloated action scenes. I’ve never seen that much cruelty directed at the sympathetic characters.
For the love of all that is holy, don’t pick this up shortly before exams. Only GRRM ever threatened my study ethic to a greater degree.
Yeah–isn’t it awesome?
I’m amused by the Google ads for “Perdido Beach Condos” and “Adult Fantasy Resort.” Mmm, vacationing in New Crobuzon, now THERE’s something I want to do.
Daniel
Wait a minute -
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You’ve read George R.R. Martin, and yet you claim to never have seen such cruelty directed against sympathetic characters?
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Mieville has sympathetic characters?