Dropped 'G' and punctuation

Ambri

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So, I have a character who uses some slang, including "darlin'" with a dropped g. Of course, sometimes it's at the end of a sentence, so I'm trying to figure out the punctuation. Is it:

"What's wrong, darlin'?"
"Come here, darlin',"
"Sweet, sweet darlin'."

Or:

"What's wrong, darlin?'"
Etc etc

I think it's the first version, but I think it just looks kinda odd, either way. If I had access to my well-worn copy of Strunk and White I could probably answer this myself, but it's packed away in some far recess of the dark and dreaded closet. :tongue









Hmm, that thread title sounds oddly like a band name . . .
 

Jamesaritchie

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Your first three examples are correct. Punctuation doesn't change because you replace a letter with an apostrophe.
 

Chase

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"What's wrong, darlin'?"
"Come here, darlin',"
"Sweet, sweet darlin'."

As James said, the apostrophe at the end of darlin' shouldn't be confused with a single end quote mark. Although they look the same, they have different functions.

Your versions above are correct.
 

Castle Pokemetroid

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This has answered my own question. The ' replaces a letter and is treated as one.

I got it.
 

JayMan

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In On Writing, Stephen King wrote an example in which he gave an example of something or other, and wrote some of the dialogue without an apostrophe at the end of words. For example, "I don't know why you keep askin me about it." (it's on pg 132)

He mentioned that you could discuss a lot of things about the passage, such as "the decision not to use the apostrophe where the speaker has dropped a g," but he doesn't go on to actually explain that point.

Although I'm firmly in the "use an apostrophe" camp, does anybody know what the justification might be for not using one? I always figured it was a matter of grammar/punctuation and not style.
 

Chase

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Although I'm firmly in the "use an apostrophe" camp, does anybody know what the justification might be for not using one?

I was introduced to King's dropped final apostrophe in a contraction by a beta reader who encouraged the same with evangelical fervor. We parted ways because I went right on with the conventional darlin' and somethin' in dialog and first person.

An ardent reader of all King's works, I note he carries out the practice in later books but so far has left internal apostrophes alone. The quirk is a puzzle to me, too.
 

jdm

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Just be careful. I did a lengthy work in which most of my characters dropped their g on the ing words. Problem was, by the time I got finished with the bazillion final edits and re-reads, I was dropping the g in my own speech. lol. Has anyone else ever found themselves starting to talk like the characters they have nurtured for so long? Sort of like actors who stay in character even when they are not acting. I may post this as a separate thread somewhere just to see if other people are as whacky about that type of thing as i am.
 

Jamesaritchie

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In On Writing, Stephen King wrote an example in which he gave an example of something or other, and wrote some of the dialogue without an apostrophe at the end of words. For example, "I don't know why you keep askin me about it." (it's on pg 132)

He mentioned that you could discuss a lot of things about the passage, such as "the decision not to use the apostrophe where the speaker has dropped a g," but he doesn't go on to actually explain that point.

Although I'm firmly in the "use an apostrophe" camp, does anybody know what the justification might be for not using one? I always figured it was a matter of grammar/punctuation and not style.

Some just think the apostrophe isn't needed, and looks bad. Trouble is, if you do this, you need to be careful about which Gs you drop.

I know from editing that even words that shouldn't can sometimes throw you. I remember reading the word "somethin" in a manuscript, and had to read it a second time for context before I realized it was supposed to be "something", rather than some thin.

If I have to read anything twice, the writer loses me.

It makes no more sense to drop an apostrophe with a dropped G that it does to remove the apostrophe from any contraction.
 

Chase

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I remember reading the word "somethin" in a manuscript, and had to read it a second time for context before I realized it was supposed to be "something", rather than some thin.

It makes no more sense to drop an apostrophe with a dropped G that it does to remove the apostrophe from any contraction.

The slippery slope becomes even more treacherous when, as James implies, interior apostrophes are dropped.

I'll becomes ill, the it's-its confusion worsens, won't (will not) becomes wont (a habit or mannerism), and so on.

L'ets not even get started on the fun of misplaced or curiously added apostrophe's.
 

Nick Blaze

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The slippery slope becomes even more treacherous when, as James implies, interior apostrophes are dropped.

I'll becomes ill, the it's-its confusion worsens, won't (will not) becomes wont (a habit or mannerism), and so on.

L'ets not even get started on the fun of misplaced or curiously added apostrophe's.
The latter reminds of terrible Japanese Visual Kei bands that like their names to have no grammatical sense. 'It just looks cool,' they say. Examples: Aliene Ma'riage, Zi:Kill, La'cryma Christi, D'erlanger, D=Out, just to name some. Oh, Japan.

Worse is when people start adding umlauts to words.
 

absitinvidia

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In On Writing, Stephen King wrote an example in which he gave an example of something or other, and wrote some of the dialogue without an apostrophe at the end of words. For example, "I don't know why you keep askin me about it." (it's on pg 132)

He mentioned that you could discuss a lot of things about the passage, such as "the decision not to use the apostrophe where the speaker has dropped a g," but he doesn't go on to actually explain that point.

Although I'm firmly in the "use an apostrophe" camp, does anybody know what the justification might be for not using one? I always figured it was a matter of grammar/punctuation and not style.


I've edited books in which the decision was taken to omit the apostrophe simply because there were so many of them, and it was difficult to read the dialogue. Unfortunately this isn't one of those cases where you can describe the speech pattern and use normal spelling (as you could say someone speaks with a thick Scottish accent and then use standard spelling in the dialogue, rather than rendering it phonetically).
 

JayMan

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Ah, all the things noted in the posts above make sense. Reading this thread, I can feel my brain expanding. Or maybe that's the encephalitis. Either way, I feel more knowledgeable.

Worse is when people start adding umlauts to words.
Unless you're in a heavy metal band. In that case, the more, the better.
 

Nick Blaze

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Ah, all the things noted in the posts above make sense. Reading this thread, I can feel my brain expanding. Or maybe that's the encephalitis. Either way, I feel more knowledgeable.


Unless you're in a heavy metal band. In that case, the more, the better.
To be honest, as an avid metal listener, I can't think of a single one with an umlaut... unless they're German. Hahaha! :p
 

Fallen

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I was introduced to King's dropped final apostrophe in a contraction by a beta reader who encouraged the same with evangelical fervor. We parted ways because I went right on with the conventional darlin' and somethin' in dialog and first person.

An ardent reader of all King's works, I note he carries out the practice in later books but so far has left internal apostrophes alone. The quirk is a puzzle to me, too.

When you get paid as much as King does, you can leave a book blank and say it's the latest quirk and get away without getting a slap. The rest of us mere mortals ware red cheeks.

Hell, he'll be promoting phonetic spelling in schools next (crap, that's already been tried by one writer).

But I think it's just due phonetics. If someone says darlin, why stick an apostrophe on the end to show the author knows how to spell properly?

Grrrrrrrrr
 

poetinahat

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And Mötley Crüe

But hmmm, both of those bands have been around for a quarter of a century or more.
 

Nick Blaze

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Motley Crue is considered glam metal!
Yup, just as Slipknot is considered nu-metal. But a dragonfly is neither a dragon nor a fly; nu-metal nor glam metal are metal. Just different kinds of hard rock.
 

JayMan

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I'd have to disagree. "Metal" and "heavy metal" themselves are just types of rock, and they tend to be heavier than "hard rock". You could also say that there are no metal bands, period, just different kinds of rock, but that wouldn't help very much in drawing genre boundaries (which tend to overlap as it is). Glam metal is also metal because it's heavier than hard rock, generally, but it's also distinct from other types of metal (like speed, thrash, death, etc). One need only compare Crue to traditional hard rock outfits like AC/DC or Aerosmith to see how much heavier Crue is!

Though, ultimately, genres tend to overlap a lot anyway, and bands often play music that can fit into several genres.
 

Chase

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So droppin' band names has morphed from droppin' a final "g"? Shades of ongoing gunfights in the firearms forum.

Off on yet another tangent, one aspect of the dropped "g" is mostly invisible, except for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, who seldom argue nuances of music but who need closed captions:

"Going to" is commonly shortened to "gonna." Other "sound words" show up a lot in closed captions on TV.

However, those who lip-read can tell it makes no difference if the speaker is a street urchin or an orator in the House of Lords. It's maddening when lines from Shakespeare contain "wanna" and "hafta." Or should I write that it's maddenin'?

Curiously, subtitle writers don't take such shortcuts and tend to follow the speaker's vernacular. They even include apostrophes in place of a dropped g.
 

Julie Reilly

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If I was writing a character who spoke that way all through the book, what I might do is write it a few times with the apostrophe to denote the missing g, just long enough to establish the character's accent, then I would probably continue to write it WITH the g for ease of reading. I would never write it without the g or the apostrophe, as "spinnin".

Would that be wrong?

As a Lancashire lass, I loathe it when writers attempt to write the Northern accent, e.g. "Oop North!" It's very condescending and makes me put a book down instantly. If someone uses a different word for something, i.e. a dialect word, that's one thing - but to write out the pronunciation of a normal word is annoying.

It's like me writing "barth" for "bath" or "Grarss" for "Grass" to put across that my character speaks with a Southern accent - it's unnecessary and implies that the writer's accent is the 'correct' one.

Or maybe I'm being over-sensitive - IDK.