Quotes About Language

Don't go overboard in avoiding "said." Basically, "said" is the default for dialogue, and a good thing, too; it's an invisible word that doesn't draw attention to itself.

Mmphm," I said, sounding self-consciously Scottish.

Wat's tes-tees?" inquired a small voice. Jemmy had abandoned his rocks and was looking up at me in profound interest. "Er Ã¢â'¬Â¦Ã¢â'¬Â I said. I glanced round the room in search of aid. "That's Latin for your balls, lad," Roger said gravely, suppressing a grin.

I know why the Jews and Muslims have nine hundred names for God; one small word is not enough for love. I

Jamie replied with what I had come to think of as a "Scottish noise," that indeterminate sound made low in the throat that can be interpreted to mean almost anything. This particular noise seemed to indicate some doubt as to the likelihood of such a desirable outcome.

Jamie's viewpoint is expressed almost entirely in metaphor: If she was broken, she would slash him with her jagged edges, reckless as a drunkard with a shattered bottle. He's using physical language, but he isn't talking about the physical details of the situation. Claire alludes to her emotion and shows it by her actions, but Jamie is thinking directly in pure emotions.

This is why you use imagery when writing about sex; it's a means both of evoking immediacy and of distilling emotion.

it does not escape me that one can wield Sword or Musket only upon one Enemy at a time, while Words may be employed upon any Number.

Boxing the Jesuit?" Stephan nudged Grey with an elbow, and raised thick blond brows in puzzlement. "Cockroaches? What does this mean, please?" "Ahhh…" Having no notion of the German equivalent of this expression, Grey resorted to a briefly graphic gesture with one hand, looking over his shoulder to be sure that none of the women was watching. "Oh!" Von Namtzen looked mildly startled, but then grinned widely. "I see, yes, very good!

Aye. Fionn and the Feinn, ye ken." "Gaelic folktales

Probably from Norse roots. There's a lot of the Norse influence round here, and all the way up the coast to the West. Some of the place names are Norse, you know, not Gaelic at all.

Jamie," I said, suddenly thinking of something, "do you speak German?" "Eh? Oh, aye

He took my arm, and bowed formally. "And may I have the pleasure to present to you my wife, Claire?" he said aloud, shifting effortlessly into French. "Claire?" The Governor looked wildly at me. "Claire?" "Er, yes," I said, hoping he wasn't going to faint. He looked very much as though he might, though I had no idea why the revelation of my Christian name ought to affect him so strongly.

French, spoken by a number of people at a distance, strongly resembles the quacking conversation of ducks and geese, with its nasal elements. English, on the other hand, has a slower pace, and much less rise and fall in its intonations. Spoken at a distance where individual voices are impossible to distinguish, it has the gruff, friendly monotony of a sheepdog's barking.

shall be verra pleased when he's taken his damned cheroots

So happen back fifty years, the Mohawk took and adopted the whole tribe of the Tuscarora. Don't many tribes speak exactly the same language," Myers explained. "But some are closer than others. Tuscarora's more like the Mohawk than 'tis like the Creek or the Cherokee.

A pirate apparently also often referred to his penis as a "yard." I

Talkin' like dogs fightin'," he explained. "Grrrr! Wuff!" He growled, shaking his head in illustration like a dog worrying a rat, and I saw Fergus's shoulders shake in suppressed hilarity. "Scots for sure," I said, trying not to laugh.

When you write it down…" he said. "Does that make it—whatever it is—real again? Or does the act of putting it into words make it unreal? You know, something…separate from yourself.

I would ask the one thing of ye, lad—let it be the English. Not your ain folk.

appealing than truth and rationality. The words

Ah? Oh, it means honeylips, all right. More or less." "But—" "It's no your mouth he was referring to, Sassenach," Jamie said dryly.

I wanted to be able to write in the voice that I talk to my friends and assume that everybody would know what I was talking about.

If U.S. focuses on truth and justice, we'll realize that Israel has been there for 3,000 years - the same language, the same people, the same culture for 3,000 years - and it's always astonishing to me that we somehow now think that they're the occupiers.