This article is totally off topic. In blog lingo, an off topic is when one day you write about a topic that has nothing to do with the main blog topic. Those of us who publish content sometimes need to share ideas or thoughts that are not directly related to the blog’s topic.
Today is one of those articles. In the next few lines, I’m not going to discover any photographic material or talk to you about cameras, but I’ll involve you in some of the headaches associated with working to target a community and write online.
- In my obsession with writing in the BoF and maintaining impeccable use of language with respect to the articles and publications we issue.
- There are times when I find myself at a fork where.
- Frankly.
- I don’t know how to proceed.
It’s not that you don’t know what the right use is and what the misuse is, that would have a simple solution. I would search the SAR and abroad, or consult an experienced philologist and abroad.
It’s more complicated than that
Sometimes I know the right way to say something and what the wrong way is, and I still don’t know which one I should use.
For the new section we just published titled #Fotoretum, what do I say: photoretum or photoretum?
As you may have noticed, at this point, I already have a choice, okay?Photoreto? (I’ll explain it in a moment), but the truth is that every time I come up with situations like this where, being very clear about the right choice, I feel like I have to use the wrong sense.
The twists I gave that! Let’s see: in Spanish (or Spanish) the photo is one word and the challenge is another. Photoretum does not exist in principle. It’s not a word referenced by academics. We understand what we mean by “photoretum”, but as such, the word does not exist. It is a wild monstrosity, produced by the fusion of two words: photo and challenge.
However, we cannot turn to the SAR or any other academic entity to find out how this word should be transcribed, but that does not prevent us from applying the same common rules of the Spanish language, if you look at these rules, and here I will try to shorten, the word should be transcribed as “Photoreto”. The rule is marked by the r, which if pronounced in double rr, should be transcribed in double rr if it is in the middle of the word.
Then logic says that the new weekly format I just published should be called “photoreto”. Whatever I wear, logic says “photoreto”. Like it or not, “Photoreto”.
There’s no aunt
But wait, because that’s where the fun begins.
Despite my obsession with linguistic precision, I am one of those who believe in exceptions, I am one of those who believe in the organic and living character of the language, like many other languages, Spanish is constantly evolving. What was considered false yesterday is the rule today, and vice versa, the lords of the SAR do not dictate how it is spoken and how it is written, on the contrary, apart from uses that are disseminated and popularized, from time to time they select things and elevate them to the category of accepted or correct. And if not, is there a selfie, even meatballs or?caraanchoa (don’t you believe me?, look for it).
What I will say is that language is a creature with its own life and consciousness: it grows, takes shape and evolves non-stop, of course, we need an academic reference (such as the SAR) that includes everything, that gives it an order. But this is not the Bible.
I believe that language should be at the service of the human being and not the other way around, I believe (solemnly also) that we should all speak and write according to these common rules, but words must serve the purpose for which we decide. to use them.
In this particular case, two things happen
The word photoretum is incorrect. We’re not going to discuss that, but sometimes I have to go down the less orthodox path because of the demands of the circumstances.
A few months ago, a reader wrote to me to tell me that on the blog we said open and that it was incorrect, that we had to say “opening”.
First of all, I like that some readers take the trouble to write me an email or comment and, in a testimony of respect and cordiality, report something they consider a possible error, they do so with all their best intentions. They do it because they care about BdF and I couldn’t be more grateful to those readers. Is incredible.
That said, yes, the reader was right. The opening is bad, they talk about opening a room for example, but when it comes to describing a hole, the right word is opening.
That’s the way he is. The only one, but what?Using this error (let’s say open instead of opening) is widespread. What’s more. Much more aperture than opening is used (referring to a hole).
If I’m a follower of the language (which I am), I should say openness.
But am I a communication purist, to make me understand, to simplify explanations, to help people understand me quickly?I’d rather use the opening. Yes, the wrong word.
In BdF, use? Opening? instead of? opening? wrongly, consciously and deliberately, much to my regret. When I look back, all those amateur photographers who have been around and read “aperture” more or less easily realized what we meant and finally learned how to use their cameras in manual mode. Or so I want to think.
What if I’d talked to them? And other exquisite and perfectly correct words, I do not know if we could have had a positive impact on so many readers, let us not deceive ourselves, this is not an invitation to linguistic rebellion, to write as it comes out of our noses. . It is necessary to write in the most correct way possible, but without losing sight of the final objective: to be understood.
Writing shouldn’t be an act of pedantry or narcissism, it’s not a race to see who uses the most exquisite words. Right now, a well-known phrase came to mind that was once said by a famous American writer and screenwriter (which I don’t remember) when asked something like his works couldn’t be followed by anyone. , which were made for a prepared and high-level audience.
The guy said, “Fuck the average reader?” (In some translations, it comes out like?Fuck the average spectator?).
I’m not saying any more
Good picture.