> Curtis Shenton said:
> What was wrong with the transliteration discussion?
> As I recall someone felt it wasn't using the same transliteration scheme as GURPS Japan.
Actually, that's what it led to, but the initial message was along the lines of "There's no such spelling in Japanese," with implied overtones of "you must have made it up instead of doing proper research, you amateur punk".
It took a couple levels of responses for someone to point out that my sources used a different -- but equally valid -- transliteration schema than GURPS Japan.
> Assuming I'm not misremembering what's the harm in that?
The harm was the initial message, not the ultimate result. That snotty arrogance... grrrr.
> Seems like an easy thing to change and that way the publisher maintains consistency between books.
Oh, that part's not a problem. I had, in fact, chosen the alternate transliteration to hide the fact that I'd lifted the character's name from a pair of girls in an anime I like. (The two Mitsukis in Parallel Trouble Adventure Dual, in case anyone wonders.) I don't own Japan -- as I recall, it's out of print and impossible to find, and there's nothing in the warehouse to hand out as writer comp copies -- and there's no indication anywhere else that there's a "preferred" schema. I have no problem with changing the transliteration. It's just that the arrogant sumbitch going "there ain't no such spelling" really, really pissed me off. Worse yet, every one of those "error of fact" postings nails me right in my self-confidence, because I do make mistakes, I do get sloppy, and I worked my damned butt off for two years to keep that from happening with this book -- and every time there's something like that, I feel like saying "what's the use? No matter what I do, it's still crap, no matter how hard I work." Even if it the posting isn't justified.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
> What was wrong with the transliteration discussion?
> As I recall someone felt it wasn't using the same transliteration scheme as GURPS Japan.
Actually, that's what it led to, but the initial message was along the lines of "There's no such spelling in Japanese," with implied overtones of "you must have made it up instead of doing proper research, you amateur punk".
It took a couple levels of responses for someone to point out that my sources used a different -- but equally valid -- transliteration schema than GURPS Japan.
> Assuming I'm not misremembering what's the harm in that?
The harm was the initial message, not the ultimate result. That snotty arrogance... grrrr.
> Seems like an easy thing to change and that way the publisher maintains consistency between books.
Oh, that part's not a problem. I had, in fact, chosen the alternate transliteration to hide the fact that I'd lifted the character's name from a pair of girls in an anime I like. (The two Mitsukis in Parallel Trouble Adventure Dual, in case anyone wonders.) I don't own Japan -- as I recall, it's out of print and impossible to find, and there's nothing in the warehouse to hand out as writer comp copies -- and there's no indication anywhere else that there's a "preferred" schema. I have no problem with changing the transliteration. It's just that the arrogant sumbitch going "there ain't no such spelling" really, really pissed me off. Worse yet, every one of those "error of fact" postings nails me right in my self-confidence, because I do make mistakes, I do get sloppy, and I worked my damned butt off for two years to keep that from happening with this book -- and every time there's something like that, I feel like saying "what's the use? No matter what I do, it's still crap, no matter how hard I work." Even if it the posting isn't justified.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.