Questions tagged [wording-choice]
Questions about a writer's precise selection of words as determined by a number of factors, including denotative and connotative meaning, specificity, level of diction, tone, and audience.
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Context of "swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow"?
I go, I go; look how I go,
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.
-- Puck, Act III Scene II, A Midsummer Night's Dream
This is a well-known line from a Shakespeare play, but did Shakespeare ...
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If Hamlet, being a prince, outranked Horatio, why did he address him as "sir"?
Hamlet Act 5 Scene 2:
HAMLET:
So much for this, sir. Now shall you see the other.
You do remember all the circumstance?
HORATIO: Remember it, my lord!
Horatio replies to Hamlet calling ...
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What does Hamlet mean when he calls Claudius a "villain"?
In Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, prince Hamlet repeatedly calls Claudius a "villain". Here is a quote from Act 2 Scene 2 :
Bloody, bawdy villain! Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, ...
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Does Joyce, in Finnegans Wake or Ulysses, link the sound form "hoe" to "whore"?
Does Joyce, in Finnegans Wake or Ulysses, link the sound form "hoe" to "whore", as in the current day "ho"?
For example, is it probable that Joyce intended the (additional) modern day pun in the ...
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Why does Mersault say "Hello image!" to his girlfriend?
I have read the novel A Happy Death by Albert Camus. In this novel Mersault (the absurd hero) at one point says to his girlfriend, "Hello, image!". I am wondering why he calls his girlfriend "image". ...
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Do word replacements in "A Clockwork Orange" affect the interpretation of the book as a whole?
Recently, I started reading "A Clockwork Orange" in English. A feature of the book that jumped out at me was that a lot of words used by the main character are adapted from Russian.
Since I am a ...
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A woman falling at a heave from the moon and the sun
In A Ted Hughes poem called "Criminal Ballad" (of the Crow collection), there's a usage of the word "heave" which I can't figure:
"A woman fell between the ship and the jetty
At a heave from the ...
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Did Edith Wharton make a mistake in her introduction to "Ethan Frome"?
I just finished reading Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton for a school assignment and upon a second review of the introduction, I noticed something odd. First, I shall give some background.
The novel ...
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Why are pronouns used in this way in Nalo Hopkinson's "Shift"?
I just read the short story "Shift" by Nalo Hopkinson, which is freely available online. It's a modern, Caribbean-themed story inspired by Shakespeare's The Tempest.
One thing which confused me on ...
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Why did Emerson choose 'hobgoblin' in his quote 'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds'?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
I understand the quote. But Wikipedia doesn't explain the origin of the following signification? It differs from the ...
user175
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A real meaning of a Bramarbas or a Holofernes?
Before long the madness of intoxication broke out; they attacked one another with fists and knives, and it looked as if they would do murder. Suddenly the Saltmaster’s son, who had stood looking on, ...
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Comparing frequency of word use across Shakespeare's plays
There are numerous concordances that list all of the words, and their frequency of use within each of Shakespeare's plays. However, I am interested in the presence and frequency of use of words across ...
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Why does Shelby Foote use the phrase "airline miles" in The Civil War: a Narrative?
In The Civil War: a Narrative, Shelby Foote periodically uses the phrase "airline miles" to mean "distance on a straight line." I can't recall offhand hearing this phrase anywhere else; why this ...
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What is the correct term for "fine words"?
Usually when writing poems or literature, the authors looks for words that can convey their ideas faithfully. The same thing happens to the readers, when suddenly they understand the problem so clear. ...
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Understanding the usage of "Philosophy" in Uncle Vanya
In "Uncle Vanya" by Chekhov, I noticed a usage of the word "philosophy" that seemed out of place.
ASTROFF. A woman can only become a man's friend after having first
been his acquaintance and then ...
user3160