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Admittedly off-topic, but why add unnecessarily ignorant asides (in the first sentence to boot): "...I lived on the grounds of an old estate down in central Vi
by rwc 10y ago
Admittedly off-topic, but why add unnecessarily ignorant asides (in the first sentence to boot):
"...I lived on the grounds of an old estate down in central Virginia, next to a town called — terrifyingly — Lynchburg..."
...when a 10-second Google search reveals the less-than-terrifying reality:
First settled in 1757, Lynchburg was named for its founder, John Lynch, who at the age of 17 started a ferry service at a ford across the James River to carry traffic to and from New London.
- ryandvm 10y agoKnowledge has never been a prerequisite to prejudice.
- andrei_says_ 10y agoSarcastic, smug and highly quotable, all in one. Wonderful.
- gph 10y agoPlus it's not like Lynchburg is some tiny unheard of town. It's actually a decent sized city, and it's fairly well known for being home to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Not to mention the history both in Lynchburg and the surrounding area from Revolutionary times to the Civil War. It's like being surprised that there's a city called Reading in England. "Must be a bunch of libraries there".
- eru 10y agoFor non-locals: Reading (town) and Reading (verb) are pronounced differently. (And don't even try to guess how Leicester is pronounced from the spelling.)
- jdmichal 10y agoFor those whose curiosity was piqued: Reading - /rɛdɪŋ/ or "red-ing" Leicester - /lɛstər/ or "less-ter" No idea how they worked out that second one, and Wikipedia isn't too helpful there.
- throwanem 10y agoProbably just elision for convenience in speech - the same reason the name of the state in which I live is usually pronounced "Merlin". Perhaps ironically, the only person I've met who pronounced the full name was an English fellow.
- CPLX 10y agoHey that's where I am from too. I call it merelan though.
- throwanem 10y agoThe second vowel sound seems to occupy a continuum of elision from "a" through "ə" to complete absence, depending on the speaker, the rate of speech, the degree of sobriety, and the phase of the moon.
- eru 10y agoMight be Schwa-deletion at work? It's a wonder we don't call the first two month Jan'ry and Feb'ry, yet.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoIt's pronounced like Worchestershire. Almost :)
- nottorp 10y agoAs a non-american, when I hear Lynchburg I do not think of lynching, but of Lynchburg Lemonade :)
- hrayr 10y agoPresumably to create mood and context for his story. He's telling a story not publishing a research paper, a little creative license is appropriate.
- asdfasdfa11112 10y agoRight, the author is priming his audience with the lens color through which they want their readers to see the rest of the story. This is more honest when it doesn't involve an unrelated (especially negative) connotation.
- mistersquid 10y agoThe suggestive adverb "terrifyingly" is not about an objective state but about Craig Mod's (author) subjective perceptions. Honesty in the sense of fidelity to the objective world is not really at stake. Presumably, Mod is being honest about his experience. Additionally, Mod is from Brooklyn and Lynchburg, Virginia, is in the South (at least for a New Yorker like Mod). If he'd never been and had been aware of Lynchburg's media reputation as home of religious conservatism, "terrifyingly" is understandable. As someone who lived in Virginia for seven years, I remember the town Lynchburg having ominous associations. I also recall stories about lynchings that had occurred in Lynchburg as well as something about a haunted building on school grounds. Not that these are things Mod was aware of. I'm only pointing out that the idea that Lynchburg is "terrifyingly" named is not about being "honest" to the historical and geographical fact of Lynchburg. EDIT: spelling
- jbscpa 10y agoThis. Yes. "but why add unnecessarily ignorant asides"
- endorphone 10y agoThe name can still carry terrifying connotations given the history of the area, regardless of its origin. And of course in this case the practice of lynching was named for one of the founder's relatives. I happened to see your comment almost directly after reading the submission "The Sound of Silence", as they sat as siblings on the front page, and it seemed oddly appropriate. A benign bit of narrative prose somehow distracted a reader enough to make outrage their primary response.
- burkaman 10y agoNot totally damning, but 10 seconds more would reveal that "lynching" is named after his younger brother: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lynch_(judge) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lynch_(judge)
- jessriedel 10y agoOK, but the younger brother moved away from the area that would be called Lynchburg even before it was named that. The town is not named after the crime and the crime is not named after the town.
- burkaman 10y agoI agree. It's not terrifying, but I probably would have changed it if I were in charge.
- coolgeek 10y ago> The town is not named after the crime and the crime is not named after the town And yet, the crime is named for the brother of the man that the town is named for. Pardon the metaphor, but you're hanging on a pretty thin thread. Also note that burkaman was pointing out the irony of an insufficiently researched (and churlish) accusation of insufficient research.