On Sun, 28 Feb 1999 13:50:01 EST, UnderF4331@aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 2/27/99 3:55:25 PM Eastern Standard Time,
rhialto@easynet.co.uk writes:

<< The Old English weenie strikes again! Sorry, but when people use Kunou, I
feel they *really* should get in character more. Having a book on Old
English helps... >>

	Scuse me, just a little side comment: IT'S NOT OLD ENGLISH OR MIDDLE ENGLISH!
	Trust me on this: Old and Middle English at first glance do not look much
like modern English.  What Kuno speaks, when he is translated into English, is
Shakespearian/Elisibithian English.
	Old and Middle English will read to someone who only knows Modern English
like an Oscar fic.  (I've tried reading a few bits of Old & Middle English.
More verb forms then Hellenistic Greek.)

Indeed. For a sample of what Middle English is like, read a
copy of the original Chaucer - not the translation into
modern English, but the raw language. I'll pay the "Old
English weenie" ten bucks if he can actually read a few
pages of Chaucer aloud and get the pronunciation right.

I must also dispute Ryo about Kuno. What he speaks is not
Elizabethan. I should know, because I live in one of the
last bastions of Elizabethan English in the United States. 

The language Kuno uses in the translations is highly lyrical
and quite beautiful, and is meant, as I understand it, to
act as the equivalent of archaic Japanese. What it is not is
a dialect. It's perfectly good modern English - perhaps it
borrows stylistically from the Elizabethan, but not enough
to call it a dialect.

For fanfic purposes, and in keeping with Kuno's character,
his dialog should be filled with quotes from great poets.
His mode of expression involves studying the beautiful words
written by others and then humorously misapplying them. The
Viz people decided to rely primarily on Shakespeare for
their dub quotes - some of them quite nonsensical.

Personally, I'd like to see a fic where Kuno got his hands
on some Browning and Poe, or maybe Nabokov. Nabokov wasn't a
poet, but his prose is very lyrical, appropriate, and highly
energetic.

Heehee... I could see it now: Kuno walks into class with a
copy of Lolita under his arm and gets beaten to a pulp by
every female in range. Those poor bastards in Ranma don't
know what "perversion" is.
--
-GashHound, formerly Zenii, sometimes Chaotica, formerly Drakkus.
zenii@bigfoot.com
Cult of Chaos!
--