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Meh, language changes. 21st-century books will be edited by 22nd century people, that's for sure. And verbatim copies will be free to reprint as they fall out o
by acadapter 3y ago
Meh, language changes. 21st-century books will be edited by 22nd century people, that's for sure. And verbatim copies will be free to reprint as they fall out of copyright.
Politically motivated changes might sometimes be ridiculous, but there's also the real need to update forgotten words, or words that have drastically changed their meaning.
At least it's not done with the same level of fanaticism as Iceland's war against foreign loanwords, for example.
The example with "fat" Augustus Gloop becoming "enormous" - that's actually a good thing, regardless of the politics involved! The causes of obesity were poorly understood back then, partially due to the sugar industry's lobbying. There's no need to propagate this misunderstanding to the next generation in a book for young people.
Edit: Wow - this is a downvote magnet! Go and try reading Beowulf in the original Old English, or something.
- Georgelemental 3y ago> And verbatim copies will be free to reprint as they fall out of copyright. Far from guaranteed, with today's ever-lengthening copyright terms, and DMCA making it a felony to keep original versions around.
- tetromino_ 3y ago> The causes of obesity were poorly understood back then, partially due to the sugar industry's lobbying. I am fat, and the sugar industry has nothing to do with it. I don't like sugar, or sweet food in general; I eat healthy, old-fashioned home-cooked meals prepared from zero-sugar raw ingredients - they just happen to be consistently bigger meals than a stressed out software engineer with a low physical activity level ought to be eating. So the weight increases. There is a sane medium to be found somewhere between the "fat person = greedy and evil person" trope of 20th century fiction, and today's "fat person = innocent, agency-less victim of the Big Sugar conspiracy" trope.
- quacked 3y agoDid you ever find yourself offended by Augustus Gloop?
- tetromino_ 3y agoNo. My weight is not central to my identity. If a book had an idiot villain character who was portrayed as a villain for something that is very central to my identity, I think maybe that could make me offended. I haven't seen one yet.