#either i dont want to get hit by the blue shell of online slang OR the blue shell has to be a frequent and beloved FEATURE

[spockandawe]

Translation.... is a fantastically complicated, demanding, and difficult task. And it feels like it's sometimes gotta be pretty unrewarding, because no matter what you choose, someone will be mad at you for doing it wrong. And I'm no purist, I skew hard towards preferring a translation to capture vibes (a subjective and squirrelly thing) over a literal one-to-one, I appreciate an artistic use of best judgment even if I ultimately disagree with the decision made. I've got so much respect for translators!

BUT.

That being said.

I feel like especially, especially in the context of something like a dramatic high fantasy novel, tone and register are so important! No modern terminally online transmigrators to muddy the waters! I'll make an exception for something hilarious, and I don't have a highbrow sense of humor, 'absolute unit' still makes me cackle. Something like "yea" (not 'yea, verily,' this is 'yeah,' said often, always without the h) may set my teeth on edge, but I can understand why someone might do that to me. "Tho" is more infuriating, but I can still.... logically understand how we got here.

But why on earth would you interrupt the build to a dramatic, tragic, intense scene by having our main character angrily call a crowd "newbs." I'm no longer in the moment, I'm staring into the middle distance and wondering why not just use the full n00b if it was going to go there. Sure, he's not talking elegantly, I get that. He was raised uneducated, not on 4chan. And the moment last night when I was reading and a character in ancient fantasy china proclaimed "Jeebus," I was filled with such incandescent rage that I immediately knew it was time to put the computer down and go to bed.

Jeebus.