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starwatcher.
Before I started writing, Inever seldom noticed these little idiocies...
On the Sleuth channel, Simon and Simon is on from 5 - 6 AM (my time). I tape it, so that I can watch from 6 - 7 while I get ready for work.
So -- S & S just saved some high mucky-muck in a spectacular fashion. It's being reported on the evening news. The newscaster says (about the HMM), "I spoke with ... although he had no comment, his voice was choked with emotion."
:::snort::: I wonder how one recognizes a 'voice choked with emotion' when nothing has been said?
I must say, I wouldn't let one of "my" writers get away with that; sloppy, very sloppy. :::StarWatcher tsks in annoyance::: You'd think all the professionals involved would have noticed, somewhere along the line. More and more, I have to watch TV with increasingly large doses of suspended disbelief.
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Before I started writing, I
On the Sleuth channel, Simon and Simon is on from 5 - 6 AM (my time). I tape it, so that I can watch from 6 - 7 while I get ready for work.
So -- S & S just saved some high mucky-muck in a spectacular fashion. It's being reported on the evening news. The newscaster says (about the HMM), "I spoke with ... although he had no comment, his voice was choked with emotion."
:::snort::: I wonder how one recognizes a 'voice choked with emotion' when nothing has been said?
I must say, I wouldn't let one of "my" writers get away with that; sloppy, very sloppy. :::StarWatcher tsks in annoyance::: You'd think all the professionals involved would have noticed, somewhere along the line. More and more, I have to watch TV with increasingly large doses of suspended disbelief.
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(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:34 pm (UTC)True, and thanks for catching that. I still think it could have been phrased better. As Morgan suggested, maybe, "Although he had no official comment..." Some of these fixes take so little effort.
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(no subject)
Date: Jan. 24th, 2007 02:37 am (UTC)Man, I'm having flashbacks to doing editing for the school papers.
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:24 pm (UTC)But yeah. Sloppy...
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:36 pm (UTC)"had no comment" isn't the same as "said nothing".
Great point. But yeah, sloppy, and jarring, and so easy to fix.
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(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:28 pm (UTC)But I understand what you are saying. My sis and I get lots of laughs over the procedures (and the impractical ways the women dress) in the CSI shows. :-) Have you ever noticed how the no-name stars in the labs dress practically but the stars, who are theoretically out in the field and doing lots of icky, dirty work, dress in low-cut fitted clothing, high heels, and have flowing locks of perfectly styled hair draging across the scene compromising the evidence? What's with that?!? Oh, never mind! I know exactly what is with that. ;-) I've actually seen the hair touch the dead body on some eps!
(And why do they say 'dead body'? Generally, the context is so clear that it makes 'dead' redundant. Just once I'd like to see them all standing around the crime scene talking and have someone say 'Where's the dead body?' and have the reply be 'Oh, there's no dead body yet. But it's only a matter of time ... we're just waiting.')
debraC
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:44 pm (UTC)And they should (or could) have been clearer, but wouldn't they mean 'no [official] comment' for the newscast, not that they hadn't said anything?
Quite likely, as others have mentioned. Guess I'm getting (ha!) crochety in my old age. *g*
My sis and I get lots of laughs over the procedures (and the impractical ways the women dress) in the CSI shows.
I've never watched CSI, but I know exactly what you mean. I just can't believe the outfits they think "professional" women would wear, in almost every show on the tube.
Just once I'd like to see them all standing around the crime scene talking and have someone say 'Where's the dead body?' and have the reply be 'Oh, there's no dead body yet. But it's only a matter of time ... we're just waiting.'
Oh, I'd pay to see that! Sounds like that might be a good idea for a crack!fic...
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(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:36 pm (UTC)Not quite in the same vein, but I was watching a DIY show the other day in which a man had constructed a small roller coaster in his back yard. He said, "I have approximately 12 grandchildren." Did he lose count? Are some of them part-time grandchildren? Are some in utero? The guy's an engineer, which (I think) explains the technicalese.
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:48 pm (UTC)Well, off-the-cuff remarks are, by definition, not well-planned, and we all fall into habits of speaking. But I would expect (yeah, dream on!) a script to be more carefully edited. Oh, well.
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(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 04:29 pm (UTC)One thing I notice in old movies is when someone begins an utterance with an exclamation or interjection like, "Say!" Did people really say "say" in the olden days?
Likewise, in fiction, fan or otherwise, characters engaged in dialogue use each other's names much more frequently than I do, or than I notice other people doing, in real life. I understand this to be a writing device to make clear who is speaking and there's a fine line that's not always easy to maintain.
Sorry, this is just my little stream of consciousness blathering.
(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 05:47 pm (UTC)They were going for sensational instead of sensical.
Which, of course, is the problem in a nutshell. Everyone knows that TV isn't "real", so many don't even try to make is "marginally realistic".
Did people really say "say" in the olden days?
I think it's a combination of two things.
1) We have so many regional speaking differences in America. In some specific areas, using "say" might have been commonplace.
2) Certain habits become the TV/movie version of fanon. Someone picked up that characters in an "olden days" movie used "Say!" as an interjection, thought it sounded good, and wrote it into his movie. Other people heard it, thought it was "normal", and started adding it to what they were writing. And so the ripples spread.
Likewise, in fiction, fan or otherwise, characters engaged in dialogue use each other's names much more frequently than I do, or than I notice other people doing, in real life.
Hee! I've noticed this, too, in my own writing. But the writer is caught between three problems --
a. Using 'said' too much.
b. Having the speaking character use the other's name so we're sure who's speaking, but can avoid using 'said' or its variants.
c. Having large amounts of back-and-forth dialogue with no attribution can be deadly dull, as well as confusing.
Hopefully, we manage to strike a balance that isn't too obvious.
I understand this to be a writing device to make clear who is speaking and there's a fine line that's not always easy to maintain.
Exactly.
Sorry, this is just my little stream of consciousness blathering.
Not a problem. Sometimes stream-of-consciousness is easier to answer; doesn't require as much deep thought! *g*
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(no subject)
Date: Jan. 23rd, 2007 02:45 pm (UTC)"I have approximately 12 grandchildren." Did he lose count? Are some of them part-time grandchildren? Are some in utero?
Oh, that's priceless! Thanks for passing that on.
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