Author Topic: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!  (Read 23770 times)

Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #20 on: March 10, 2009, 10:16:21 am »
Hey Sweetness!

Thanks for the detail you added-it really makes the story much more interesting. Being from opposite ends of the city mirrors the original story-being from opposite ends of the state. Or maybe more just being opposites.

I agree that dropping "g's may not be an indiction of origin and may be more of a socioeconomic indicator. I was teased mercilessly growing up for my speech because it was "proper" and I didn't talk like many of my peers. My sister and I have somewhat different pronunciations (my brother and I are quite similar) but it may be due to her being an ex-pat. There are many influences on people's speech patterns so, at this point, I wouldn't hold that against the story  :P

Hey there RouxRoux!  :-*

Last night I had a really pleasant little comment exchange with Tes about some of these questions that have come up in our thread here.  If you want to see her answers, you can find my comment (and the resulting little thread of replies) near the bottom of the second page of comments for Chapter 2.  My name at LJ is the same as it is here, but my avatar is a picture of bluebirds.

Basically, about the accent/ dropped-g's, it was done deliberately and she said it's just meant to indicate a casual style of speaking.  She said that when Jack's not at work he will occasionally speak that way too.



the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie

Offline Mikaela

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #21 on: March 10, 2009, 01:03:34 pm »
Heya Mikaela!
 
Here's a photograph of downtown Pittsburgh.  

<img src="http://www.divshare.com/img/3386061-e25.jpg" border="0" />


Thank you Amanda!  :)

I must say downtown Pittsburg looks like a very nice place. The rivers meet much more peacefully than I had envisaged, but the symbolism works at any rate. And what's that I spy at the very Point there ? A big, strategically-placed and distinctly phallic-looking fountain and/or column?  8)

Let's hope that one serves as clear foreshadowning for what's to come, too. I mean, we *are* talking slash here!  ;)

Like you I very much found Jack's boss Trudy an appealing OC. I like her a lot. Capable, no-nonsense, empatic and very decent sort of person.

I'll trot over and read your little exchange with TestaDura in the comments to the fic. I'm interested to see what she's been replying.

Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #22 on: March 10, 2009, 01:19:52 pm »

I must say downtown Pittsburg looks like a very nice place. The rivers meet much more peacefully than I had envisaged, but the symbolism works at any rate. And what's that I spy at the very Point there ? A big, strategically-placed and distinctly phallic-looking fountain and/or column?  8)


Thanks Mikaela! :)

Yes, Pittsburgh is almost always a very pleasant surprise for folks who have never visited here before.  With all the bridges, hills, and rivers... geographically speaking and in terms of the cityscape, it's really very pretty.  Because of all the hills, you get really impressive vistas from many different areas in the city.

It's very different here now compared to the city's old, industrial history and lingering reputation.  So much of the industrial landscape is completely erased... it's amazing to think about how much of the industrial structures are completely gone now.  The air and rivers are much cleaner now too, so that's a really nice thing. 

And, you're right about the fountain at the point of the Point.  It's a simple fountain and the water shoots straight up, and I'm sure is supposed to signify the spot where the 3 rivers meet.  The green part of the Point at the narrowest part of the triangle/ with the fountain, is called Point State Park.  For the 4th of July people congregate in that park and they shoot fireworks off from barges in the rivers, and it's truly spectacular.

Visually speaking, the rivers often do look very calm. But, I think they each actually have a pretty strong undercurrent.





the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie

Offline Monika

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #23 on: March 12, 2009, 10:32:36 am »
Chapter 2 is up. (the author has renamed the two previously posts Chapter 1: part 1 and part 2)

http://testa-dura.livejournal.com/31113.html?view=950153#t950153



I really like this.


Offline milomorris

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #24 on: March 13, 2009, 10:53:40 pm »
Hm, well I took a look.  It makes no sense for there to be Wyoming dialect in a story about Pittsburgh.

Writing in American dialects is a bit of an effort in futility. Part of the problem is the commonality of certain structures, but also because of cultural references.

The structural part has to do with stuff like the finite ways English has to indicate variations in vowel sounds. Another thing is that contractions, truncations, mispronunciations, and word order are also shared by multiple American regionalisms. "I'm gittin' it" could be used to spell a statement by a man or woman from Brooklyn, Atlanta, St. Louis, Riverton, or San Francisco.

Cultural reference comes into play to tell us which sounds are likely to go with those words. If you know the character is an urban black, you'll hear "I'm gittin' it" in your head one way. If you know the character is from a ranch in Wyoming, you'll hear it different.

I don't see testadura writing writing her dialogue in a Wyoming dialect. i her writing in dialect period. Knowing that Ennis & family moved up from 40 miles south of Pittsburgh, I expect them to have something closer to a West Virginia accent. Remember that geographically, southwest Pennsylvania is cradled by the "finger" and "thumb" of West Virginia. I've visited Waynesburg, PA. There's plenty of West Virginian accents of varying thickness in that town. So I hear West Virginia when I read the dialogue.
  The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Offline Monika

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Offline Luvlylittlewing

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #26 on: March 19, 2009, 11:37:57 pm »
chapter 3

http://testa-dura.livejournal.com/31306.html

Just read all three chapters, and I'm genuinely impressed.  I was drawn in from the beginning, even though it is diffcult reading about Ennis beating down poor Alma.    I can't wait for chapter 4.  I'm hooked!

Offline louisev

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #27 on: March 20, 2009, 02:06:30 pm »
I don't find a lot of use in giving two characters a dialect that I don't see related to Pennsylvania in any way, while the others talk in an uninflected fashion.  It just puts me off the story.  And it may not be a "Wyoming" dialect, but it sure hews close enough to what Annie Proulx's dialect is in "Brokeback" up to and including "warsh".

Never met a Pennsylvania native that said "warsh."
“Mr. Coyote always gets me good, boy,”  Ellery said, winking.  “Almost forgot what life was like before I got me my own personal coyote.”


Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #28 on: March 20, 2009, 02:15:38 pm »
I don't find a lot of use in giving two characters a dialect that I don't see related to Pennsylvania in any way, while the others talk in an uninflected fashion.  It just puts me off the story.  And it may not be a "Wyoming" dialect, but it sure hews close enough to what Annie Proulx's dialect is in "Brokeback" up to and including "warsh".

Never met a Pennsylvania native that said "warsh."

Well, as I posted a while back, I asked her about the use of language directly and she said it was deliberate and not meant to indicate a dialect.

the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie

Offline Testadura

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Re: Where the Allegheny Meets the Monongahela - New story by Testa Dura!
« Reply #29 on: March 20, 2009, 07:43:38 pm »
In the Ohio valley - in which I was BORN and reared - it is very very common to hear warsh.  In fact they even say warshing machine.  The closer you get to West Virginia the more you hear it.

Thanks for reading,

Tes