CP3S said:
Pennsylvania Jones said:
CP3S said:
Pennsylvania Jones said:
I'm not the biggest fan of the prince calling him an ass EVERY SINGLE TIME HE REFERS TO HIM!!!
I know! The Prince is such as jerk, how dare he call the animal what it is...
I have a funny feeling that if Puzzle was a duck, and the prince constantly referred to him as "duck" every single time, it wouldn't bother you in the slightest, would it?
Ass is considered a cuss word. Duck isn't. And neither is donkey.
This isn't going to turn into a fight, is it? I'm not in the mood to start a forum war. >:(
C-3PS edited:
In other words, I assume your problem doesn't stem from the prince not taking the time to learn Puzzle's name, or his lack of creativity apparent by failing to call him a wider variety of names, but from the fact that in American English "ass" also happens to be a dirty word and you are uncomfortable with reading it in a children's book.
Yes, that is the problem. And I don't want to get into a damn fight!
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! I'm not picking any fights here! You can remove your hand from your sword hilt!
I think you need to know that:
Ass: A donkey
Arse: What you sit with
To the writer and his original audience, he was not using a cuss word or trying to be "cute" by using a word with a double meaning. I have heard far too many Americans complain about Lewis being a bit too vulgar at times, or roll their eyes at his sense of humor in disguising this dirty word to make it seem legit so he could have a good chuckle. You'll find the word "ass" in the KJV Bible too. What were the translators thinking!?!
They were thinking that an ass is an animal, and not only that, but the more commonly used name for that particular animal. Same thing Lewis was thinking when he wrote The Last Battle.
You can't blame either of them for the Americans trying to simplify things by decided that the two words (with two separate etymologies at that!) should be spelled exactly the same way, which, unsurprisingly caused people to eventually shy away from calling an ass an ass to avoid confusion with the mildly vulgar arse they turned into ass. So now it is called a donkey.
So, C. S. Lewis and other British children's author who have used that word in their books cannot be blamed for the crimes of the language butchers across the ocean.
I appreciate your intent, and I appreciate the explanation. I will "Remove my hand from my sword hilt."