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  1.  

    I don’t know how common this is outside of the Land of 500 Poisionous Spiders (Ostraya, mate!), but a common sound made in speech over here is the ‘eh’ (as in ‘hay’) sound.

    How the heck do you write it so that people will understand what I’m going on about? Because my sensibilities tell me I should write it ‘eh’. Thing is, ‘eh’ looks like the sort of thing that refined old New York men would say. Whereas its usage over here is confined to teenagers and ockers. We say it slightly different, too. More of an ‘ay’ sound than an ‘ey’ sound.

    Most people I know (who aren’t ‘writers’) write it ‘aye’. But ‘aye’ sounds like ‘eye’ when you’re being Scottish or agreeable. I usually shorten it to ‘ay’.

    But it doesn’t look right.

    I know that I have the option to just not use it, but what if I want to? What then?

  2.  

    “eh” Sounds like a drunkard.

    “ay” sounds like a child

    “aye” sounds like someone who watched too much POTC

  3.  

    Is this similar to the Candian’s “ay”?

    •  
      CommentAuthorCorsair
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2009
     
    I prefer meh, myself.
  4.  

    Meh is what you put on geek t-shirts.

    •  
      CommentAuthorMoldorm
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2009
     

    Nyeh?

  5.  

    I’d need to actually hear it.

    • CommentAuthorLccorp2
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2009
     

    The big question is, does it matter? Will people care? If you write “eh” and a hundred thousand people don’t notice for the one who does, does it matter? And even if a hundred thousand people do notice, is the verisimilitude of your work strong enough that they’re willing to forgive you this infraction, if it even is one, since everyone is an individuals and can reasonably be explained away as having this particular pronounciation? Or how are you so sure that people won’t pronounce it the way in their heads the way it wants to be pronounced?

    I’m being a bastid here, but I don’t think this is something which needs to be cared about.

    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeJul 4th 2009
     

    I think it is important. Aye and eh are two different things where I come from.

    For example: “Oh, that guy is hawt, eh?” (as in, “don’t you agree?” — pronounced, ‘a’ / ‘ay’)

    and:

    “Aye, I agree with you there.” (as in, “yes”— pronounced ‘eye’)

    •  
      CommentAuthorSpanman
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2009
     

    What Jeni said.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSMARTALIENQT
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2009 edited
     

    I always thought “eh” rhymed with “meh”, like “meth”, “Seth”, etc. It make me think of old men, as in: “Oh, yer a fiesty fellow, eh?”

    Though now that I think of it, it makes more sense as “ay”...

  6.  
    Hm, funny that! I always thought 'meh' rhymed with 'may' lol. jk.

    @ Lccorp2:

    bq. The big question is, does it matter? Will people care? If you write “eh” and a hundred thousand people don’t notice for the one who does, does it matter? And even if a hundred thousand people do notice, is the verisimilitude of your work strong enough that they’re willing to forgive you this infraction, if it even is one, since everyone is an individuals and can reasonably be explained away as having this particular pronounciation? Or how are you so sure that people won’t pronounce it the way in their heads the way it wants to be pronounced?

    1. Yes. Because it pops up all the time and it's driving me nuts.
    2. I have no idea. But I care. Surely that's enough.
    3. If it's a given that they won't notice, then no it doesn't matter.
    4. Probably, but a) the point is for it to sound as close to normal dialogue as possible, not to make excuses for the way somebody sounds (especially when I personally can't think of a single way to explain it away because I have no idea how it'll sound to people, and therefore no idea what sort of explanation I need to come up with)--dialogue is the one thing I can do on the first try without sounding stupid, and I like to keep it natural and as close to RL as possible. This is a common speech inflection here, and I don't want to write it the wrong way.
    b) I don't want readers to be dragged out of the story, even for a moment.
    5. Because I've got no idea how people pronounce it in their heads.

    bq. I’m being a bastid here, but I don’t think this is something which needs to be cared about.

    It's just a technicality, true. Be that as it may, it's driving me nuts! :P
    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeJul 5th 2009 edited
     

    I always thought “eh” rhymed with “meh”, like “meth”, “Seth”, etc. It make me think of old men, as in: “Oh, yer a fiesty fellow, eh?”

    That’s another way of pronouncing it. I do that too. XD I guess it really depends upon the context, e.g.:

    F: “What do you want to see at the cinema?”
    Me: “Eh, not bothered.”

    :O Language is complicated!

  7.  

    It really doesn’t matter. It’s like an english professor trying to find sexism in a work.

  8.  
    >>What Jeni said.

    Seconded. Since when do 'eh' and 'aye' mean the same thing?
  9.  

    Since the characters in the book use it that way.

    If the characters called airplanes “silver birds” we’ll still be forced to accept it to draw ourselves into the book.

    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeJul 6th 2009
     

    But it still might be useful to see how other people use slang in context. Slang is so common and fluid it should have just as much attention paid to it as that perfect word to describe the horse’s coat. (Why thank you, Camus. :P)

  10.  

    Shiny!

  11.  

    Even in real life people use words wrongly but it sounds like the kind of thing to do. That’s my only qualm here.

  12.  

    Yeah, but it’s the spelling I’m worried about, not the word itself.
    Because they’ll be saying the right word, I just don’t know how to spell it so that it doesn’t turn out as another word, and, worse, get pronounced the wrong way by the reader, who is left going, ‘huh?’. It is important.