Dialect Question
I've been getting a lot of hits lately from people searching the term, "V for Vendetta dialogues." Not dialogue, but dialogues, plural. So I'm just curious...
Is this the way y'all refer to it in the UK and other parts of the world? Can any of my overseas readers help me out? I've never heard that term here in the States. We usually refer to "the dialogue" as a collective noun. Is it typical to refer to it all as dialogues?
As I said, just curious.
Tags: dialects, film+dialogue, film+dialogues
Is this the way y'all refer to it in the UK and other parts of the world? Can any of my overseas readers help me out? I've never heard that term here in the States. We usually refer to "the dialogue" as a collective noun. Is it typical to refer to it all as dialogues?
As I said, just curious.
Tags: dialects, film+dialogue, film+dialogues
posted by Fun Joel | 6:51 PM
12 Comments:
Nah, dialogue is dialogue, at least in a script. "Dialogues" is a bona fide plural, but not used in this sense. At least not in my house. But then I live alone.
To be honest, if I would search for "V for Vendetta" dialogue in general, I would search dialogues too.
I think when I want the dialogue itself I search dialogueS. On the other hand, if I want information or to learn ABOUT the dialogue of VFV I would search dialoguE.
I know I'm not clear but hope you see my point. It's just something that comes out automatic so it's hard to explain...
My guess would be that someone searching for "V for Vendetta dialogues" would be hoping to yield results related to conversations, or dialogues, about the movie. I don't think the search is intended to return dialogue in the "words spoken by characters" sense.
Just a semi-educated guess.
Alicia, that's a very logical explanation, but due to the very special dialogue of the movie I don't think that's the case this time...
I mean, isn't this special or what:
"Voila! In view humble vaudivillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vastitudes of fate. This visage no mere veneer of vanity is a restage of the vox populee now vacant, vanished. However this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venial and vedilant vermin vanguarding vice and vouch safing the violently viciously and voracious violation of volition."
See what I mean?
my monies are on lee
Yeah, and thing is, that there has been way too many such searches for it to be something like what you're suggesting Alicia. Even hard to believe it is as Lee suggests. I mean, I must have gotten at least 30 of these searches, if not more, over the past few weeks. Whatever. Just odd.
Dear Many People: "a dialogue or dialogues about V For Vendetta" is actually perfectly correct English for "conversation or discussion pertaining to V For Vendetta". And while I'm on my Colonies high horse, y'all know "eggy in a basket" isn't a real food, right?
(God, I'm sorry. I can't stand when non-Americans try to lecture Americans on the Queen's English. You don't want their tea? I don't want their tea either, man; we're all friends here).
However. I'unno, "I want a dialogue about V For Vendetta" sounds to me awfully like something a spammer would say right before they flooded your inbox. What tips me off is that they're searching for something guaranteed to yield lots of hits, and they're doing it in the kind of English that, while not incorrect, certainly isn't how anyone actually talks.
Like how, a couple years back, I made a post about a play I was directing, and was immediately bombarded with poorly-written posts all c'n'p-ing variances on the theme of, directing eh? I like your blog, now do you know about this Passion Of The Christ movie they're making? True story. Had to be there.
Homage -- We do still speak English here. I recognize that people could have dialogues about the movie. I just don't think that was what they were looking for, with SO MANY searches coming up with variations on those terms. It also seems odd that it might be spammers, since I have received no spam. I'm not even sure if I know what you mean by that. These were searches on Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc. And variations on the same phrase too.
Fun topic!
10.400 results on Y! alone for said search phrase. Only a couple of hundred of those are in French, though, what gives?
More interesting - how could the researchers end up here, when Joel "usually refer[s] to "the dialogue" as a collective noun"? Because one of the comments (from jojje) was: "The depth was in the dialogues."
Gotta love the internet-experience. How many days until we hear "I party, I blog, I dialogue"?
But you have to admit it's kinda cool they searched for "dialogues" and not "dialogs" (PM should appreciate that)... If I was talking to myself - dialogue or monologue? Prolly just too much caffein.
Good points all, AM (and who is PM?). I did wonder about the reason they hit me on a search for dialogues, but figured it was either a typo on my part or a comment. I was just too lazy to search through! ;-) Fun stuff.
Joel, that's what the "Cached" option is for - it highlights the offending term for you. ;) I thought Philip Morton (just noticed that funny looking AM/PM thing - no relation whatsoever. M is my middle initial and not my last name, oh hell, WGAFF) made a comment recently re: dialogue/dialog - but who knows if my caffeinated memory serves? Now I have to type WIRMG to prove I'm not a robot ??!?. WIRMG will do that. My comment doesn't. O-kay.
ok. I feel kinda guilty.. My english is supposed to be pretty good, but now i know that I'll have to improve my linguistic skills on some levels. The question is why so many ppl were searching using the wrong term.. at least I'm not the only one.. :P
But I don't really understand the whole deal here. One can use dialogue as in the dialogue of the movie in general, and one can say dialogues refering to the dialogue in various scenes..
And A.M. what's with the internet experience? :D
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