Use a bit of Colloquialism

Hi

Issue # 15, February 17, 2010

In This Issue:

1. What's up, LJ?
2. Use a bit of Colloquialism
3. Spread the word

What's up, LJ?

That is probably the question on your mind. Why have I been a bit too quiet? Have I quit on writing?

Nothing can be further from the truth! I would sooner stop breathing than quit writing! There are a number of factors that have contributed to my silence. I'll let you in on some of them.

I'm back in school—that's the first reason, but not the major one. School is already getting fast-paced, but not to such an extent that I'm left with neither the time nor the energy to write. If anything, I'm labouring tirelessly on some books—Lover boy, School Trouble, and one or two secret ones. School Trouble is complete, save for the editing, and as for Lover boy, I'm remaining with about three stories to complete. I've decided to take my time, partly because I want nothing than the best, and partly because it has not come to my attention yet that someone out there is overly eager to read them.

The Lover boy short story contest was a flop but with one funny submission—a picture of some cartoon characters. I'm still thinking of how I can include that! Anyway, it seems it's all up to me to tell the rest of the story, and I am already on it.

I'm evaluating my performance over the past year or so, and I have decided to take it a bit slow. My resolutions this year are to provide you with the best ever content at whatever the cost; to coax you to submit your writing to the website and have your own pages (believe me, from the look of things, I'll have to coax you); to answer more of your questions; To offer you more free services (by the way, the offer to edit your letters free of charge stands. Until I find a way of making you pay, I'll be doing it for free. So hurry and send in those letters before LJ starts asking where the money's at!); not to burn myself out by making unreasonable deadlines; and above all, to infuse you with the passion for writing, burning it up to a conflagration if necessary.

The deeper, and more serious reason why I have been a bit silent is due to some personal emotional and spiritual blues. Someone I respect called it soul-searching. During such moments of careful consideration and analysis, I literally take a break from everything else.

Notwithstanding all this, LJ is still writing, and a lot too!

So, rest assured that this year, you will have nothing less than the best!

It will do you no harm though to check out my latest-compilation of stories:

http://www.writing-lovers.com/loverboy.html

Use a bit of Colloquialism

Colloquialism is defined as an expression that seeks to imitate informal speech.

Writers use colloquialism in their writing in an effort to reproduce slang, accent, or other informal speech forms and patterns. Colloquialism, as such, should not be used in formal writng, mostly because it would be unclear in formal contexts. The other reason is that colloquialism will literally go against the known rules of grammar.

When can you use colloquialism? In informal settings of course. Your informal letters would not be a bad place, although your use of it should be controlled by taking into consideration who you are writing to. When you are narrating a story, you can definitely use colloquialism, but it is best limited to the conversations of your characters. If you decide to use it in your narration, it is best to italicize it and then follow it up with an explanatory remark or a referencing footnote. This is because it would not be readily understood in the context.

Remembering that a colloquial expression is one that is peculiar to spoken speech will help you to use it correctly too. Sometimes, we tend to use certain words and expressions in our speech that do not conform to formal English as we know it. You could call it a corruption of English if you prefer, because that is what it is.

Here is an example. In my community, the following expression is rather common, even among the educated: "That is rather rather." A stranger may consider it a misuse of words, which it is, but in my community, one would understand it as a way of saying: "That is rather strange."

I am not here encouraging you to break the rules of grammar. Rather, I am encouraging you to use colloquialism to make your narrations more realistic to life. Let's face it, no one in life always speaks perfect English. I don't either. By golly, I've tried, but my tongue always manages to curve the wrong way (and my pen too!). Talk about embarrassing! More often than not, however, such informal speech is deliberate, for the obvious reason of spicing up speech. And by the way, no one likes a perfectionist who is always correcting them.

Talking about always correcting. Some speech which may sound incorrect is actually correct. For example, in class, a student raises up his hand and says: "I wanted to ask about the equation on the board." My lecturer usually barks: "Oh, you wanted to ask? Let's move on then, since you don't want to anymore." What my lecturer should rememember before he piously corrects his students is that there is something called the unreal past. Just thought I should mention that.

Here is a passage from my story Nancy Telesco. See how I use colloquialism in the conversations:

“Howdy son,” he grunted, pulling at his huge bowler hat.
“Hello,” he replied in a low, miserable tone, his eyes fixed on the huge glass of rum before him, as if he was contemplating downing all its contents in a single gulp.
“Had a bad day, I reckon,” Mr. Stackson chuckled.
“An extremely bad day,” he affirmed, taking a long sip at the rum.
“Humph,” Mr. Stackson grunted. “Would’ja care to tell me abou’ it?”
“I prefer not talking about it. It’s too depressing.”
“I see. I’d rather not push ya to it.” He looked at the barman and said: “I’ll have my usual, Mr. T.”

The goal with colloquialism is to simulate spoken speech, not only that, but to simulate how it is spoken. It not only makes the story more realistic, but it also paints vivid mental images of the characters and the particular setting.

Usually, when creating colloquial expressions, apostrophes are employed to substitute for missing elements. To learn how to do it, get started by reading and finding out how accomplished writers do it. But all you have to remember about colloquialism is this one important rule:

"There are no rules."

Have fun!