Chapter 3 | Page 81
Do you suppose it’s a coincidence that the Allosaurus from The Land of The Lost was named Alice?
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Do you suppose it’s a coincidence that the Allosaurus from The Land of The Lost was named Alice?
Next … shish kebab for the whole expedition?
Unearth On A Stick™
Don’t give (m)Alice any ideas!
Like Ms Alice, only with nicer teeth.
Um… and possibly there should be another ‘e’ on the end of fiance. Or, in these modern times, perhaps not.
Current English usage omits the extra ‘e’, but a convincing argument could sway me to change it… and present the advocate with a “Proof Reader” award 🙂
Below, copy-pasted from etymology online. I didn’t know this either, but apparently the single-e version refers to the man, and the double-e version refers to the woman. Unfortunately, Philo appears to be a bit ahead of his time in using the term at all. It seems he should be saying “betrothed”.
fiance (n.) “man to whom one is betrothed,” 1864 (by 1826 as a French word in English), from French fiancé, past participle of fiancer “to betroth” (see fiancee). Borrowed earlier in Middle English as “confidence, trust; word of honor.”
fiancee (n.) “woman to whom one is betrothed,” 1844 (1837 as a French word in English), from French fiancée, fem. of fiancé, past participle of fiancer “to betroth,” from fiance “a promise, trust,” from fier “to trust,” from Vulgar Latin *fidare “to trust,” from Latin fidus “faithful” from the same root as fides “faith” (from PIE root *bheidh- “to trust, confide, persuade”). It has all but expelled native betrothed. The English verb fiance, now obsolete, was used c. 1450-1600 for “to engage to be married.”
Incidentally, the word “blonde”, strictly speaking, refers only to a woman; if it’s a man, he’s “blond”.
Concise argument. You’re in the running for the Proof Reader Award, Wyvern.
Thus implying that somebody else failed to be concise, hmmmm? 😛
Everybody’s in the running… including you, Number 6, I just wanted to give more people a chance to weigh-in before I made the text fix 😉
Oooh, I didn’t even realize that The Rules allowed for receiving a Proofreader Award and a Facepalm Award for the same comment. I don’t think even Thorin has achieved that distinction yet!
It’s not for lack of trying. The problem is, with every Facepalm you earn, the bar is raised in order to receive another. This is of course, using the same algorithm found in Mario Kart, where the most impressive power ups are awarded to the drivers in last place, allowing them a chance to catch up. The reason for the programming is of course rooted in Japanese Culture where it is never a good thing to outstrip your rivals and cause them to lose face, thereby making your own victory one bereft of honor. It’s nice that our author has incorporated this into our own little online culture, thus giving a nice international flavor to a comic experience that is otherwise pretty much European. (and Lizardian, i suppose…)
At the same time, “blond” isn’t the masculine of “blonde”. So while you can know for sure that if someone is called a “blonde” the person being referenced is a female, you can’t necessarily assume that a “blond” is a man.
Also, am I the only one who now has Julie Brown’s “I’m a Blonde” stuck in their head…or am I just dating myself. (Yeah, yeah, yeah!)
Ah, so both Thorin and I receive the highly coveted dual-facepalm-proofreader-award simultaneously. I will assert that, as I got my facepalm first, I win the tiebreaker. In case Guiness or any major news organizations call to inquire about it. Which seems likely.
That is an unnecessarily hurtful comparison, Philo. You know, dinosaurs have feelings too!
*dinosaur runs away crying*
And what has happened to our beloved Classic Prologue? ‘Tis nowhere to be found?! Egads! 😮
The Original Prologue (and comments) are archived for future generations.
Meanwhile:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/unearth-prologue-14034620
I did notice that the Patreon would have a “New Coke” version, but you know how that turned out. 😉
I mean, blue color in the classic graveyard scene?! Gasp! That’s like colorizing Casablanca, or Citizen Kane, or The Godfather! Or something like that.
Of course I was mostly concerned about the preservation of the priceless comments. I don’t think civilization could survive that loss.
Does this mean that a prized Paper Copy of Unearth Prologue Classic is out of date now and worthless, or does it become a priceless relic since it can no longer be found in electronic form? Hmmmm….
Priceless relic for sure! 🙂
I’m certainly keeping mine bagged and boarded for posterity.
Incidentally, if you purchased the physical book Amazon lets you also download the Kindle version for free, so that you have a backup copy in case of emergencies. Or in case you want to read it without removing the original from its helium-filled vacuum-sealed case inside the sub-sub-basement vault.
Poor non-Patreon newbies. Not seeing Alice’s admission that she doesn’t know what an adult kiss is.
Not to worry. Google Analytics apparently assures us that nobody is interested in intricate character-developing world-building Prologues. They want Action! And Explosions! And Dinosaurs! And Preferably Exploding Dinosaurs!!!!
😉
(Which, of course, will just make this dinosaur seem even more like Alice, who also tends to explode randomly for no reason.)
Well, but this is still Victorian, after all. And rather than sharks with lasers or dinosaurs with lasers (which I think the modern populace wants more than merely exploding dinosaurs), the Victorian lad of the penny paper would likely want dinosaurs with steam powered canons, or some such.
Reminds him of her, but still not as scary, methinks. So, maybe like a lizard reminds of a dinos…ah.
And yes, in this case the dinosaur is the lizard in this simile.
So, is there a general consensus that teenage girls are scarier than ravenous monsters? Or is it just Alice?
Oh my comments are about Alice. Let others make they’re own billings.
I don’t know about scarier, but i do believe that your average dino is far less confusing than a teenage girl. I should know, i somehow managed to raise two of them.
2 daughters, Thorin? That explains soooo much! (BTW, Just like you and Mrs. Wollstone, I have 2 daughters too.)
You raised two dinosaurs? Man, you must have a HUGE backyard.
Fred there reminds me of a cat.