But the aim of writing novels isn't just to communicate - I've learned most
of the long words I know from working it out from their context and puzzling
about them...one of the really fun things in Harry Potter is seeing how JKR
plays with words and invents new ones, also with the Asterix books
understanding people's names - many only when I re-read them as an adult
Lesley
-----Original Message-----
From: GP-UK [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Julian Bradley
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 11:00 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Snip...
I can see the attraction, but the aim of communicating is surely to
communicate....
Why use an unusual word when a well known and unambiguous word will do?
When you want to introduce a new term it's not usually that difficult
to find a way to define it and leave the meaning unambiguous and
surely it shows that you've thought about those you're communicating with?
On the other hand perhaps it would be fun to write a whole story in
code and see who could figure it out!
Julian
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