People who deserve to be slapped with a fish, Part 903.6 [Full Metal Wheelbarrow]

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Anyone who uses the word "drabble" to mean "any short piece of writing".

The longer the piece they use it of, the larger the fish they should be slapped with.

The thing that really irks me about this is that there are plenty of words already for short pieces of writing - short story, vignette, ficlet, to name but three - but there is no other word which means " a story of exactly one hundred words" so if the "language evolves" gang get their way, we will lose a word with an exact meaning and gain not very much at all. If anything. Grr!

Mood::

aggravated

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There are 18 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Huh, isn't that interesting? I had never encountered the word before the fan-ficcer's got to me, and so always assumed it meant 'short work of fan-fiction'. Thanks for the informative rant!

*ducks the fishies on the way out*

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Not knowing is one thing and fair enough. Knowing perfectly well and deciding to use it to mean something else anyway is cause for the trout to start swinging :-)

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Incidentally, is a rant of 100 words (or 99, unless I miscounted) classed as a drabble? Or a grrrabble?

ignore me, I copied it into word, used the word count, and got 105.

Edited Date: 2010-12-02 05:21 pm (UTC)

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I make it 102 :-)

Would have been quite clever if I'd intended to do that and succeeded, but as it happens I was just burbling on as usual :-)

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True and for really short bits, a minific, which is basically a Statler and Waldorf style skit which is usually just scriptfic style and maybe a sound effect.

I give use of Drabble a pass if it is a couple of words either side of it. I mean ninety or one hundred and five is probably excusable, but not two, or three hundred. Not fifty either, except that they must pass it to reach one hundred. One hundred is the number they must count to. I mean really, is it truly that bloody hard to do, really? I think not.

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I give use of Drabble a pass if it is a couple of words either side of it.

Well if they've aimed for a drabble and missed, without realising, that's fair enough. But I get really fed up with folk who insist on using it for stories of several hundred words. Bah!

Not fifty either, except that they must pass it to reach one hundred. One hundred is the number they must count to.

[giggle] Set the Killer Rabbit on 'em! That'll larn 'em!

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*ducks head from flying fish* I guess I used to be guilty of that - mainly because the first time I read it it was as a verb and meant "kept on talking" or something along those lines. Can't really blame people because it sounds to much like babbling.

I know, it's mostly used for 100 word stories... It might be good to have a better word for that than a pure slang word, though. Like "centaurs". No, wait, they exist already. Centuries? Centifics? Centinels? Hm....

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mainly because the first time I read it it was as a verb and meant "kept on talking" or something along those lines.

It is a verb, but a rather archaic one, with the following meanings :-

"# To draggle; make dirty, as by dragging in mud and water; wet and befoul: as, to drabble a gown or a cloak.
# To fish for barbels with a rod and a long line passed through a piece of lead." (a barbel is a type of fish in this case, not a weight lifting thing!)

It might be good to have a better word for that than a pure slang word,

Why do you consider it a pure slang word? It was made up of course, but then so were all words at one time. It seems perfectly cromulent to me, if only people wouldn't keep messing about with it.

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I wonder how people got from fishing and dirt to 100 word short stories. o_O

Of course every word was slang once. It's just the sound of it. Like "babble". Not so much how it's used. And then people mess with it, and then it changes again... some sooner some later. I think people who "misuse" it just don't know what it is supposed to mean, is all I was aiming at.

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I wonder how people got from fishing and dirt to 100 word short stories. o_O

Apparently the origin was in a Monty Python book. which might explain a bit :-)

Of course every word was slang once.

I think you and I are using "slang" to mean different things. To me, slang is words used by a small group of people, often intended to exclude outsiders. The web definitions I've found tend to support that. The fact that a word is newly coined wouldn't necessarily make it slang.

I think people who "misuse" it just don't know what it is supposed to mean, is all I was aiming at.

Many of them do (I've seen many discussions on the subject) but insist like Humpty Dumpty that it means whatever they say it means.

My objection is that it's like using "mouse" to mean "rodent". Because, while a mouse is indeed a rodent, so is a Capybara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara) and using "mouse" to mean both erodes clarity.

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You will write out "I must not abuse drabble" twenty times.

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Me miss? I dint do nuffink, miss!

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I see what you did there :)

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I hear the word 'drabble' and I immediately think of the British author, sister to A.S. Byatt among other things. I had no idea the word could be used insultingly. And now that I've drabbled on [trying out the word], I shall be sure never to use it to describe anything you've written, ever :)

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I've obviously not explained this very well - "drabble" isn't insulting, it's a term with an exact meaning which I object to being used wrongly.

"Drabble" means a storry of exactly 100 words. There are a growing number of people who are using to refer to any short work of fiction. My objection to this is that it's like using "mouse" to mean "rodent" - while a mouse is indeed a rodent, how do you then distinguish an actual mouse from a shrew or a coypu? It erodes clarity and deserves a good mackerelling.

I shall be sure never to use it to describe anything you've written, ever :)

I have actually written a drabble (carefully counted) so you don't need to worry about that :-)

And now that I've drabbled on [trying out the word]

I'm afraid that's wrong too - as a verb, it means to get muddy or to fish for barbels :-)

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It's been a source of annoyance to me for ages, but I've sorta given up on people now. It still bugs me, though, because writing within 100 words exactly isn't all that easy when you should have an opening, middle and an end within those. 300 words means you've failed at saying what you wanted within a drabble and it's become a ficlet/vignette. It doesn't mean I notice if people hit 101 or 99 words - sometimes it's a matter of how your word processor counts dashes and words etc. but yeah, if they KNOW that a drabble is 100 words, they have NO excuse for doing 500 words.

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Oh I don't suppose I shall convince the Humpty Dumpty people that they're as wrong as a very wrong thing, but sometimes I just have to blow off a bit of steam. And it's no use doing it on fanficrants, because it's been done to death there.

But I agree, that's the other thing that annoys me - writing drabbles is a discipline and quite difficult (and fun) and these folk are undermining that.

Apparently the fish I should beat them with are barbels, since "drabble" as a verb can mean to fish for those :-)

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