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The Disambiguation Thread
This followed from a conversation with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
with_apostrophe, who pointed out (very aptly) that American fic writers don't tend to consider people from other countries when they throw cultural references into their stories. I was trying to figure out how to annotate mine in a way that wouldn't be obtrusive or annoying, and also trying to figure out just what needed to be annotated. What's obscure and what's well-known? Eventually I came up with this instead.
Here is where you post questions about my stories. It can be a reference that you didn't get, or something plotwise that didn't make sense, or why I made a particular story decision, or, heck, somewhere that I screwed up on technology or medicine or grammar. Remember:
- There are no stupid questions (no matter what Rodney McKay might claim).
- Questions that are critical of my stories are fine. I wouldn't have posted this thread if I minded being asked about something.
Ready ... set ... ask!
(Note: The word disambiguation is snurched from Wikipedia.)
with_apostrophe, who pointed out (very aptly) that American fic writers don't tend to consider people from other countries when they throw cultural references into their stories. I was trying to figure out how to annotate mine in a way that wouldn't be obtrusive or annoying, and also trying to figure out just what needed to be annotated. What's obscure and what's well-known? Eventually I came up with this instead.Here is where you post questions about my stories. It can be a reference that you didn't get, or something plotwise that didn't make sense, or why I made a particular story decision, or, heck, somewhere that I screwed up on technology or medicine or grammar. Remember:
- There are no stupid questions (no matter what Rodney McKay might claim).
- Questions that are critical of my stories are fine. I wouldn't have posted this thread if I minded being asked about something.
Ready ... set ... ask!
(Note: The word disambiguation is snurched from Wikipedia.)
In defense of astrophysicists
Hey! Astrophysicists study stuff about planets, too, that's why they're not just physicists. :) Plus we don't know what his undergrad degree was in, or really what any of his degrees were do we? Do we even know how many there actually are? You read so many different things in stories...
Anyway, the stuff in that episode wasn't anything you couldn't pick up from watching Discovery Channel.
Re: In defense of astrophysicists
LOL! I know.
Personally, when I saw that ep I explained it to myself that he watched the same BBC (but partially filmed in Vancouver) "Supervolcano" docu-drama that I did and then "geeked out" looking volcano stuff up online. (And I have a sneaking feeling that the writer did watch or work on that production because the parallels were substantial). Think I might have even said as much way back when I "reviewed" that ep, actually.
I'd seen the BBC show only a few months before and I actually predicted most of McKay's exposition dialogue - and my professional expertise is in the biological sciences!
I suppose that my point is that while it's far from impossible that Rodney would know that much about vulcanology, him suddenly being touted as a planet-saving (or not saving) expert on the subject "took me out of the moment" (I actually vocalised to myself "hey, isn't he an astrophysicist, not a vulcunologist") far more than him having geek knowledge or passion for "Buffy" would. But that just might be a personal thing about me and the way I view the character.