First, a word on words. (No, not what you are thinking.) How can you take the following sentence seriously: “Captain Allistoun could be seen on the poop, watching the sky . . .”? (p. 233)[1] If you are familiar with archaic nautical terminology, you know that the term “poop” means the section of elevated deck at the stern of a sailing ship where the compass and the wheel are located. Nowadays, of course, it means “shit,” but even worse, it’s got an annoying baby-talk quality about it. And of course it comes up over and over again, destroying the mood of every sentence it appears in. If I were going to bowdlerize this book, “poop” is the word I would change. (more…)
Counter-Currents