fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #6269 ]

[ SECRET POST #6269 ]

⌈ Secret Post #6269 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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01. https://i.imgur.com/VAzTUI0.png

For me it's "fine," but I think it's more of a translation issue. It's very common in one of my historical/fantasy fandoms to see "Are you fine?" when what they mean is "Are you okay/alright?" I would much rather see "okay."

OH why is "fine" not fine? ESL speaker here and I have no idea. *_*

Nayrt but even though it's not technically incorr5,it's just not the usual phrasing for most native English speakers in North America. "Fine" is the typical response to being asked how you doing.

Not technically incorrect, I mean.

I see! Thank you :D
I hope I never used "are you fine?" myself, but EH it's highly probable I did sometimes... orz

AYRT

It's grammatically correct, but a quirk of at least American English is that "fine" in practical use is almost always reserved for first person perspective, unless you want to say someone is sexy.

Examples:

"Damn, she's fine." to an American English speaker will mean "Damn, she's sexy." Our first thought won't be "How horrible, she's not injured."

"Are you okay?" the answer can be "Yeah, I'm fine." because it's referring to yourself and an American English speaker won't think you're answering that you're sexy.

"Are you fine?" to an American English speaker sounds like "Are you sexy?"

The only time I can think of when I wouldn't be jarred hearing fine in second person would be reassuring someone, such as after a car accident or something "You're fine, you're fine" = "you're not hurt, you're alright" but in practice it's more of a first person by proxy, since the person in the accident is in shock so the rescuer is telling them what they should be telling themselves. People in North America are more likely to say "You're okay" or "You're alright" in that kind of circumstance, but it wouldn't be jarring to say "You're fine."

Similar situation for third as well. "Is he okay?" "Yeah, he's fine." The person is answering in proxy and can use the word "fine" without it sounding like they're calling him sexy. Sometimes this is used for laughs, where the tone of "Yeah, he's fine" makes it obvious that the person answering is saying he's sexy and not actually answering whether or not he's injured. "Yeah... he is fine...Oh you meant injured!"

AYRT

OOOOH I had no idea! Thank you for this answer! Your examples were very easy to get.
I knew that fine could also mean sexy/hot, but I was not aware of the nuance when using it as a question.

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2024-03-06 01:52 (UTC) - Expand

I don't think I'd like either one for a historical/fantasy setting. Maybe "Are you well?" but honestly, that too sounds a touch anachronistic to my ears.

Eh, this particular historical fantasy setting is at least pre-700ce but has potatoes, handwritten emoticon smiley faces, and thumbs up to mean "good job". So I'm not het up about "okay".

I totally agree. 'Okay' is just...not okay sometimes.

Same!! Ngl, sometimes when it comes up in fic, if the fic is good and I wanna read it, I mentally replace it with "All right".

I'm probably guilty of that - but only because I get worried of using 'alright' too much and make an American based fic sound too British.

If it's British, it would be "all right."

So don't worry.

Thanks for correcting a British person :I

No, it'd be 'alright'.

Source: Been British for nearly 40 years.

Same. So jarring. And it just makes me feel like the writer has no sense of the characters' voices.

It's difficult when it's a historic AU and I'm like... I have to acknowledge that the author has the character's voices down pat, but they haven't done the additional layer of work to make them fit the time period they've moved them to.

I know I have to go back and make sure I'm not guilty of the same thing when I'm doing, like... regency AU for something contemporary. But when it's for something where the canon setting is historical? It's like... it just grinds everything to a halt.

For me it's "snuck," especially in historical fiction. I do understand it's a word that dates to the 19th century, but it still feels modern and North American to me. I recently encountered it in a novel about Agatha Christie's disappearance, in a chapter that was supposed to be her diary. The word does not appear in any work by Christie, where she would say someone "slipped out," not "snuck out." It was one of a number of issues that reminded me the author was North American, and made me feel like she hadn't actually read much Christie before writing a bovl about her.

I would rather "snuck" than "sneaked." I haaaaate "sneaked."

And yet sneaked is historically correct. Funny old world.

What can I say? I love irregular verbs.

AYRT-- my issue isn't so much which word I prefer, it's which word fits into the place and time in the story. I have never seen snuck used in a British mystery written in WWII or before, or in anything by Agatha Christie. So if it's used in a book from that period, or in a passage supposedly written by Christie, is jars me.

I think it's because I know when and how "O.K." came into usage so if I see it before the 1840s it's out of place.

Like, you can physically French kiss in a world without France but please don't call it that.

Doesn't everybody know how o.k. came to be?

But what if it's in a fantasy setting set outside of this world?

One of my favourite high-ish fantasy series uses 'okay', so I figure the word came out of some other origin in that particular world (there's no Europe, no America, no Asia, the places are all separate). Would you do the same, or just pick that particular word out as a 'never use'..?

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