Adding words

[Joseph DeMartino]

I was just reminded by another thread about an odd habit of B5 fans - adding words to titles. I can't tell you how many times I've seen references to "War Without an End", "Sleeping in the Light", "There All of the Honor Lies" or "And the Sky was Full of Stars."

This isn't simply a matter of people not remembering episode titles, or mangling them. There is this odd consistency about it. Different people get the same titles wrong over and over, and always in the same way - sticking in an extra word, almost always the same extra word. And this always seems to involve the more self-conciously "poetic" titles, or those that contain quotations from literature. Do people reject the "literary" sound of a title like "Sleeping in Light" and subconciously insert "the" to produce a more prosaic version in their memories? I'm genuinely curious, because there is such a pattern to these errors as opposed to simply misremembering a word or typing "No Retreat, No Surrender" for "No Surrender, No Retreat"

All of the titles I mention above strike my ear with such a dull thud, such fatally awkward rhythm, that they immediately strike me as "wrong", even if I don't instantly see why they're wrong. But they obviously don't seem wrong to the people who use them, and I find the difference in "hearing" interesting.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Tigara]

Is it officially "The Legend of the Rangers" or simply "Legend of the Rangers"?

PS: JoeDM with an avatar? This will take some getting used to.

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I find myself doing the opposite. I often <font color=yellow>remove</font color=yellow> articles and sometimes even prepositions from titles. It might be my less than complete English skills, or some other reason. For example, the third book of the Centauri trilogy "Out of the Darkness" tends to become "Out of Darkness" on my keyboard.

------

As for Joe using an avatar, it is not uncommon. He originally used the Morden avatar with such persistence that I started suspecting that he actually had some associates. Determined to cover up his Shadow connections, he then stopped using it. /ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif

 

[Quagmire]

Yes I notice. Yes it irks me. If I ever do it say something please. I would think anyone would reasonably want to be told when they do something like this so they don't continue to do it.

 

[Lyta]

Originally posted by Tigara:
<font color=yellow>PS: JoeDM with an avatar? This will take some getting used to.</font color=yellow>

Yes, it is quite nice ... a custom one if I am not mistaken. /ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif

Or is it?? It's been too long since I have seen the standard ones. /ubbthreads/images/icons/frown.gif

[edit] ok, so it is not custom but it is still nice. /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif [/edit]

 

[hypatia]

Lennier, in my opinion your use of English is better than many (if not most) High School graduates in the USA. /ubbthreads/images/icons/rolleyes.gif

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

I'm not sure if I've ever done that or not, but when I'm typing my hands are almost on autopilot. I have to reread my posts several times to make sure they are what I intended them to be. Many times I've read my own posts and wondered if someone else wrote them.
Thanks
Car

 

[Recoil]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
<font color=yellow>I was just reminded by another thread about an odd habit of B5 fans - adding words to titles. I can't tell you how many times I've seen references to "War Without an End", "Sleeping in the Light", "There All of the Honor Lies" or "And the Sky was Full of Stars."
</font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>
I can say that I have never seen people mix these names up, nor have I had the urge to mix them up myself. To me they make perfect sense as they are and I cant imagine them any other way. Perhaps the people making these mistakes are grammar freaks or something, or these people who HAVE to correct something, even if it makes sense as is.

 

[A_Ranger]

F***k!!!! That's 2 times in a row Explorer has frozen up on me. All I wanted to do was look at the UBB info thingy, but no, technology had to screw me over after writing a nice long post. So screw it, I'll be as brief as possible.

I used to be guilty of adding a "the" in Sleeping in Light. Why did I do it? Because it was natural. I didn't realize that there wasn't a "the." My sub-concious English mind naturally added a "the".

It's like these:

John went to the
the grocery store.

Most people will not realize that there are 2 the's. It's a crazy pyschological thing. I read about it awhile ago, but I dont' remember enough to go into detail. Basically, people don't recognize that something is or isn't there. They just do what seems natural.

 

[GaribaldisHair]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>I was just reminded by another thread about an odd habit of B5 fans - adding words to titles. ... "And the Sky was Full of Stars." <hr></blockquote>
This one is a fairly simple one to explain. In "The Gathering", when Sinclair is talking with Caroline about being on the line, he actually uses the phrase "... and the sky was full of stars, and every star an exploding ship ... one of ours.".

As for the others quoted, I would be intrigued to know which particular light they thought Sheridan was sleeping in ...

/ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/icons/eek.gif /ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
<font color=yellow>I was just reminded by another thread about an odd habit of B5 fans - adding words to titles. I can't tell you how many times I've seen references to "War Without an End", "Sleeping in the Light", "There All of the Honor Lies" or "And the Sky was Full of Stars."
</font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>

Yeah, I notice it, and it bugs the hell out of me, but then, I'm persnickety about such things. One of the things I always loved about the title was how poetic they sounded; "And the Sky full of Stars", "And all my dreams, torn asunder". They add something to the overall feel of the series.

But then, i can see why people do it, it's an easy mistake to make *shrugs*

 

[Shaal Mayan]

May I say people make mistakes I know I made mine after I posted it to the board and just haven't changed my error.Did not do it purposely of course just didn't realize it .I also did not realize I would stir up a rat's nest through one mistake

 

[gangster]

<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Shaal Mayan:
<font color=yellow>May I say people make mistakes I know I made mine after I posted it to the board and just haven't changed my error.Did not do it purposely of course just didn't realize it .I also did not realize I would stir up a rat's nest through one mistake</font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>

It is always hard for the writer to edit their own work. I know. I've gone through articles, MS, etc, I've written a dozen times and found more typos/word misure and the like every time. Main reason, as I see it, is I know what I think I wrote so that is what I see as I re-read.

 

[jnk5y]

The cool thing about some of the titles is that they are rarely mentioned in that episode. Most are mentioned in other episodes and hit you over the head when you aren't paying attention. If you never noticed i recommend going back and seeing all the episodes again /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif