h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, I've finished the last entry for the project. It's all written, though I will obviously need to proofread it. I'll let you know when that's done and I'll post here (maybe later today, I'm still sick)

As for the AV clip, it's occurred to me what while I only have a plain Midwestern accent, I've been so absorbed in dialect and linguistics this past week that I could probably fake a passable Philly or Boston accent if necessary.

Brilliant. If you're that far along with it, I could probably do it before I go away, but I promised to do someone else's and I should really prioritise that one. I'm kind of on flexitime for the next fortnight, though, so I'll have more time to spare than usual.

What do you want to do about the AV clip? Do you want to work on it at the same time as the Uni project, or leave it until afterwards? Either way I'm quite happy to help out with it as much as you want

Hope you're feeling better, and just send me a link to the project page again when you're ready.

Yeah, I'm done with the writing part, but I've only proofread the New York entry and the New England entry. Unfortunately, the New Year has brought with it irritating headaches along with my other symptoms, so I can't concentrate on much of anything right now.

What's the procedure with AV clips? From what I've seen, they're often put on the FP well after the entry itself hit. I think it would be fine to leave it until afterwards.

Oh, and the project page is here A30551672 for future reference. I'll get around to proofreading the other entries as soon as I can.

We just make the AV as and when we can; it's easier to make them after they've hit the FP, as there isn't any time pressure. When A30036962 hits the FP, it will be the first time an Entry has gone live with a clip already in place. I find that much more exciting than I should We'll think about your AV afterwards, then.

I've got another Uni project to cast my eye over first and a bit of AViating to do by the weekend, so there isn't any rush. Do yourself a favour and proofread it when you're feeling yourself again.

Yep. Okay. I've found I can extract audio from videos from my digital camera fairly easily, but in the process, I found I'm an incredibly bad mimic of other accents, so we'll have to rule that option out

Well, there's no rush for that anyway. However, if you want to join the Yahoo! group to discuss your ideas in more detail, there's a link to it from the AViators page at A13264670

Okay, I'm done proofreading. I don't mean to rush you at all, by the way, I'm patient about the process. I just wanted to finish my end as soon as possible, because I'm afraid it's one of those things I'll lose interest in and let sit for months without completion. It's happened before.

I also found out last night that I can use the built in camera in my MacBook laptop and the iMovie application to record directly onto my computer. I also discovered a time lapse feature, which I've been messing with all day

See, AV is a whole new world

To be honest, I prefer to work on entries rather than read and post endless lists of tweaks. I don't see any major issues; it all reads well and has a nice flow to it, and I can ask you for rephrases of any parts I don't understand. In fact, I'm happy to take on editing rights as soon as you're ready.

I'm ready. I may ask for a tweak or two in the Appalachian section, because I've discovered a new resource I can use, and also if Hyp reads it and scolds me for my ignorance of Hillbilly culture.

Great, I've got them now

By the way, I've just counted up the Coming Up page, and there's 81 entries there. 40 recommended, 8 with subbies, 33 returned. That'll take 40 days to work through. Maybe someone should ask the Italic(s) to up it to 3 entries a day. Taking into account greater entry flow after the holidays, and three developing Uni projects (yours, mine and the Hadrian's Wall one) I expect we could get away with increasing entry flow.

I think you're right - the winter months seem to be our most productive, and ComingUp is healthier than it's been for a long, long time. I'm not sure where the best place to suggest that would be, though.

Okay, I dunno if you're following my journal thread on this project, but broelan made a good point... so when you get to the Boston/New England entry, the second to last paragraph (under sports) should read like this-

"In basketball, Boston has an NBA team called the Celtics, the name referring to the strong Irish influence on the city of Boston. Bostonians prefer to pronounce the name like 'Sell-ticks', rather than the more correct 'Kell-ticks'. Some even whittle the name down to 'the Seltz', which does glide off the tongue a bit more easily. The Celtics play in TD Banknorth Garden, or 'the Gahhden'. Previously, they had played in the famous Boston Garden ('Bah-stin Gahh-den') and won 16 NBA championships, which is more than any other team."

(plus whatever corrections you might have, of course )

Best post any additions here, just in case. Sometimes I'm not sure what's chatting and what's important...

Okay, in that case, as broe pointed out... in the Philly/Pittsburgh entry, when you get to it, I accidentally referred to a Philly cheese*steak* as a Philly cheese*cake*

I'm sorry to bother you again, but I talked to Jimi X (F18505?thread=4956232) about the Pennsylvania entry A30501721. He liked it, but suggested a small addition, so I wrote this up, for placement after the first paragraph, but before the first header.

"Caught up in the middle of this, central Pennsylvania is influenced by the two dialects to varying degrees based on geographical proximity. German settlers known as the 'Pennsylvania Dutch' settled large portions of Pennsylvania and have been linguistically influential especially in the middle part of the state. The few of their kind still remaining speak a somewhat bizarre form of English, with odd Dutchie words and an unusual syntax formulation."

Could you add that in whenever you get to that entry?

Sorry to intrude - but it's not just their 'kind' who speak 'Dutchie' but it's more of a subregional dialect that is found in pockets of Pennsylvania Dutch settlements.

You don't need to be Pennsylvania Dutch as my Puerto Rican mother-in-law who lives in the boondocks of Lancaster County demonstrates to great comedic effect!

Noted - I'll sort those when I come to them

Queries:

You mention 'English English'. Do you mean British English, in which case it should say 'English spoken in the United Kingdom' or do you mean English as spoken by the English, and not the Scots, Irish or Welsh? I *think* you must mean the former, because English accents themselves are just as diverse as the others. Geordie, Cornish and Cockney accents are probably as different as you can get in such a small area.

'Unfortunately, many local accents are being flattened or absorbed by regional accents due to increased communication and migration between areas of the United States that used to be (or seem) very distant from each other.' I see what you're saying, and you almost say it very cleverly. I think changing 'distant' to 'remote' removes the need for the '(or seem)'. What do you think?

I believe 'dialect' and 'accent' are fairly interchangeable. Is there any pattern to the way you're using them? Compare:

'many local accents are being flattened or absorbed by regional accents'

to

'many local dialects are being flattened or absorbed by regional accents'

If they are interchangeable, there are a few places where it would flow more nicely if I changed one of the instances of the words.

'These Entries will also avoid using the international phonetic alphabet, because barely anyone is fluent in that.' -

'Throughout most of the midwest, from Western Pennsylvania, through the Midwest, to Oregon...' Is the repeated 'midwest' deliberate?


All other changes made were very minor, and not worth troubling you with

Thanks Jimi. I'll have to work on the Pennsylvania Dutch thing. I don't have time just now to look into it further.

"You mention 'English English'. Do you mean British English, in which case it should say 'English spoken in the United Kingdom' or do you mean English as spoken by the English, and not the Scots, Irish or Welsh? I *think* you must mean the former, because English accents themselves are just as diverse as the others. Geordie, Cornish and Cockney accents are probably as different as you can get in such a small area."

I really meant the family of British English, in general. Looking closely at that sentence, I see I missed another mistake on my proofread

"America's popularly spoken language is sometimes called 'American', because the difference between English English (that is, English spoken in England and the United Kingdom) is vastly different from American English. "

That doesn't really make any sense. The point I was trying to make is that the differences between the dialects of American English pale in comparison to the differences between British and American English. That sentence doesn't really say much of anything right now. How about-

"America's popularly spoken language is sometimes called 'American', because the difference between English English (that is, English spoken in England and the United Kingdom) and American English is vast. The differences in pronunciation and vocabulary between the various American dialects is small compared to the divide between the Americans and the British."

"I think changing 'distant' to 'remote' removes the need for the '(or seem)'. What do you think?"

What's the difference between remote and distant?

"I believe 'dialect' and 'accent' are fairly interchangeable. Is there any pattern to the way you're using them?"

Not really. I looked up the definition of "dialect" and it seems to include vocabulary as well as pronunciation, while "accent" is more focused on pronunciation. I just used them interchangeably when possible, to keep from repeating the same word over and over.

"Is the repeated 'midwest' deliberate?"

No, that was just me, being stupid