Are the Mulefa Boring?

[kaoshoneybun]

while they mite notta had a snake before,

The Mulefa did have a serpant in their own mythology who tempted a female zalif to put her claw through the hole in the seed-pod wheel.

[Philharmonic]

i think, also, too long was spent concentrating on the world of the dead. it was interesting but it dragged out a bit. like the flood in 'the day after tomorrow'. interesting, but dragged out too much.

[LadyHawke]

while they mite notta had a snake before,

The Mulefa did have a serpant in their own mythology who tempted a female zalif to put her claw through the hole in the seed-pod wheel.

Ah, yes, I forgot that. Well, that is the story, innit?

But you are right, I did forget. Thanks for the remind.



I guess I have been a fan of authors that, while very good, really did have some parts that were hard to dig thru, but necessary to the background or history. Like Anne Rice, love her work, and where it is great it is great, but you better take a shovel, cuz you are gonna have some parts to dig thru that are really hard to not wanna just skim to get back to the good parts. I thought Pullman had the perfect mix, like Tolkien and say, the Tom Bombadil part (alot of people thought 'boring' in LOR) they kept it interesting enuff for me. Every author at some point has to establish some framework or some interesting part that is essential to support the story, that mite seem to drag. Like the last book of Harry Potter, where they camped out under the invisibilty cloak for a few weeks. While plausable, and necessary to the story, it didn't keep me on the edge of my seat, that is for sure.

[MojaveByrd]

What is 'innit'?

[LadyHawke]

"Isn't it."
When I speak, because of bein uncurably southern, I tend to run words together, and I tend to type as I actually sound. I don't say 'iz-n-t it', I always say, 'innit.' Also why I don't put Gs on the ends of words that I don't actually say them on.

[MojaveByrd]

Well, I'm an English teacher. I'm not even going to begin to respond.

[LadyHawke]

Just outta curiosity, how would you feel about Lyra's frequent use of 'ent'? Or should I say Pullman's frequent use.....

[shady]

Dunno what youre saying about.Probably `coz i never read english version of the book(but i still have it as an e-book)

[LadyHawke]

Just in Pullman's trilogy (can't speak for Lyra's Oxford, STILL ain't got a copy of that one yet) he describes Lyra as saying 'ent' , her word that was synomous with 'isn't' or 'aren't'.

[waitingForDust]

'Ent' was one of the first words I grimaced at when I moved to Oxfordshire in 1969 (then Berkshire), and it came from the mouth of a 5 year old boy. It's still very 'commonly' used; pun intended...

[MojaveByrd]

To me "ent" is just a form of "ain't" and they are both just bad grammar. I wasn't used to that form of the word so I found it annoying, and the constant use of it seemed contrived to me because of that.

[LadyHawke]

I'm awful for the use of it, but alot of people seem to think I sound very 'charming'......

But I found a certain kinship with Lyra anyhow, even my own kids say that 'you musta been alot like Lyra when you were young, huh?' Even my husband has commented on similarities between us, tho I figger that is partially cuz of her tenacity and because we both have long, curly, tawny-gold hair. (I wasn't nearly as gorgeous as Dakota (from the movie), but don't tell anyone. )

[Enitharmon]

PP has Lyra saying "en't", I think, because it succinctly gets across the idea that Lyra is an Oxfordshire girl before she is a University girl. In "our" world she'd be a townie mingling with Blackbird Leys kids but there's no Blackbird Leys in L-Oxford (no internal combustion engine, therefore no big car factory) and she mingles with the rural kids. The point is, he doesn't overdo it. There's very little in all literature more irritating that those passages of D H Lawrence where he tries to replicate the Nottinghamshire dialect

A word against "spell as you speak": every so often somebody comes up with a plan for spelling reform, on the grounds that sp[elling should reflect the way "we" speak. But for which values of "we"? Blanche Dubois and Mark Renton would both claim to speak English but I doubt whether they would understand each other very well. Having a shared, reasonably consistent system of written English means that English speakers (and, indeed, people for whome Englsih is not their first language) throughout the world can understand each other.

There's a reason why there's been a tradition in the 'Pub of using standard English, and it's not because anybody is being stuffy. We are a truly international forum, and cover a wide age spectrum, and mutual comprehension is to the benefit of all.

I'm awful for the use of it, but alot of people seem to think I sound very 'charming'......

Waitstaff in American eateries were forever telling me that "I luurrrve your accent!" I suspect they were angling for tips.

[LadyHawke]

Yeah, I suspect all those callin me 'charming' were actually being superior, but that's okay, as a southerner I am used to that too.....

[Valrad]

I didn't actually find them boring, but the way the Mulefa chapters intertwined with the rest was a wee bit irritating, especially when you really wanted to see what happens with Lyra and Will and then PP throws a Mulefa chapter in and you feel like skipping in. But to revert back to the topic at hand, I honestly enjoyed the chapters with them, it's a whole different, more primitive culture that shows you a great deal of how other intelligent animals(such as humans) make their living. Not to mention the beautiful description of the landscape, and how nice it was to read the interaction between Mary and them.