Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Nope. Fictional literature is not allowed to have fictional characters speak words whose origins can be traced to the names of fictional characters from other fictional literature. It's quantum stuff. I'm frankly surprised the page the sentence was on wasn't sucked into a black hole immediately after I read it.  |
In which case all authors of fictional literature must learn to use a much smaller vocabulary if they want to keep you happy. According this
this site Shakespeare invented over 1700 of our common words. Some of the examples given include: hint, generous and gloomy.
More seriously, I agree with your sentiment. If I still strongly associate a word or phrase with some other fiction that has no right to be known in this new universe ("beam me up, Scotty!") then I will definitely be disturbed in my reading. But the impact is going to vary widely from reader to reader. For example I probably wouldn't have complained about "quixotic" unless I sat back and thought about it. ... And that's largely the point. A good book/story can get away with more than slow/bad one. The more time the reader spends distracted or bored or skimming the more critical they will be of the details.