I understand. These modern vampire-like things are quite different from the authentic vampires, and I think it might have been better to call them something else.
The speech of ancient beings
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I understand. These modern vampire-like things are quite different from the authentic vampires, and I think it might have been better to call them something else.
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The majority of these vampire-like creatures I refer to are ancient not modern. That doesn't make them vampires though.
It is my understanding that the Eastern European vampires were the models, but in the last few decades a lot of ornament has been added.
There were some real vampire stories in much earlier times, but the term may have been applied to stories that are only vaguely related.
It might be a mistake to try to restrict the term too much, but vampires have gone from be monsters to something else.
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Exactly, I wouldn't call a god or goddess who was known to drink blood a vampire.
It's also hard to be more ancient than a god.
Well, usually. Sometimes new ones are born.
But would a god use contractions?
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I did ponder this question when I wrote a paranormal romance where one of the MCs is an ~2500 year-old fae born in Campania.
I chose him to have an accent, but not one easily placed. But he's smart enough to become fluent in English. And he's old enough to have become fluent in English as it changed. So he speaks modern English well. He does tend to have an expanded vocabulary and will use less commonly used words if they're the one he wants (and at one point, gets teased about his word choices by his lover).
But he'll also use contractions, 'cause damn, the Romans did, too.
I suppose it does depend on when they learned English and how long they've been speaking it. But sheesh. If you're an old vampire and it's the 21st century, you've probably been speaking English for at least 100 years. Get over the contraction thing, already.
But yes, some ancient beings won't be speaking at all, will they?
I suppose it's just a buggaboo of mine. People's accents do soften over time. And they do get better at language. I just can't see intelligent immortals getting hung up on contractions. There are other ways to give them a different voice.
I chose him to have an accent, but not one easily placed. But he's smart enough to become fluent in English. And he's old enough to have become fluent in English as it changed. So he speaks modern English well. He does tend to have an expanded vocabulary and will use less commonly used words if they're the one he wants (and at one point, gets teased about his word choices by his lover).
But he'll also use contractions, 'cause damn, the Romans did, too.
I suppose it does depend on when they learned English and how long they've been speaking it. But sheesh. If you're an old vampire and it's the 21st century, you've probably been speaking English for at least 100 years. Get over the contraction thing, already.
But yes, some ancient beings won't be speaking at all, will they?
I suppose it's just a buggaboo of mine. People's accents do soften over time. And they do get better at language. I just can't see intelligent immortals getting hung up on contractions. There are other ways to give them a different voice.
I thought that one reason why they had accents was a different shape of the mouth and throat, so sounds just aren't quite the same.
Yes, there have been quite a few generations of Gods. The Ancient Greeks listed at least three generations, and those were just for a couple thousand years. There were generations before, and there have been some since.
But would a god use contractions?
Definitely
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No, beings like Lillith. She was said not only to strangle children but to devour them and comsume their blood. I don't consider her a vampire.
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I don't know, but it's a pet peeve of mine. It's not like contractions are a modern invention, and if you're trying to portray ancient beings speaking the way people did centuries ago, there'd be many more differences than just the presence or absence of any or all contractions anyway.
No idea, and I agree with you here also. Generally, speaking without contractions indicates that someone is being emphatic rather than formal. Or maybe they're still learning the language and aren't completely comfortable with its usage.
Someone saying, "I will not do it," conjures up a different feel than someone saying, "I won't do it."
So, what's so special about contractions in English? Why can't ancient beings (and futuristic androids) figure them out? And why are lack of contractions a code for "formal English" anyway?
(And aren't ancient beings capable of code-switching anyway?)
Anyone else bothered by this? Could be that I'm just...weird.
Nope. It just feels like lazy bad writing to me if it's simply being done to indicate formality, old-fashioned speech, or a high level of education or something like that.
I did read a novel once where the main character spoke without contractions, but she was supposed to be uncomfortable with the language. I read another where the character was autistic and not using them was one of his quirks (both were first person narratives so the lack of contractions was in the narrative too). It worked, and the writers in each case were skilled enough that I got used to it after a while. But most of the time, prolonged and persistent contractionless speech (and in more modern novels that are written in anything approaching a character pov, completely contractionless narrative as well) makes me want to chuck the book across the room.
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What?
Seriously? Human anatomy isn't changed by speaking a particular language, just like reading in the dark doesn't damage your eyes.
And I certainly hope you aren't implying that someone's race affects their ability to form sounds. If that was what you were implying, then how do you explain all the people in my city whose genetics come from China, or Europe, or India but who all speak English with exactly the same accent?
I thought that was about vampire anatomy.
I hope that was about vampire anatomy.
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Well, that would make more sense. I also hope that's what was meant.
Sorry, King Neptune, if I was having a fit over something that wasn't there.
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Vampires ain't gonna be older than the people who tell their stories, though.
Though sometimes I wonder why people try to see the vampire in any ancient story about beings remotely similar.
Can't they be their own beings? Why do we have to read vampires into everything?
Well, one trope with vampires that seems to be quite popular is that they've always been there, living in the shadows, preying on humans, and different cultures across time have come up with different stories about these beings. After all, in Bram Stoker's Dracula, the idea was that the character and his curse had been around for a long time.
I guess the idea that "real" vampires that have existed since antiquity would be closer to the Bram Stoker/modern idea about them in some way is because people are supposed to be better at describing things nowadays, or because ancient stories are incomplete or mistranslated, or that vampires have only recently revealed their true nature.
Or maybe it's just that there are a lot of folks around nowadays who love the "modern" version of vampires and want to stick them in Ancient China, or the European Renaissance, or South/Central America (where the bats that were named for the mythic creature actually live).
I was a bit bored with vampires, actually, even before they started to sparkle. I actually enjoy some of the older myths and legends and think it would be fun if the stories take the twist that it's the modern version on some popular monster that's inaccurate or fanciful.
Or maybe there really are just lots of different kinds of vampires.