Eulogy 19

[The Jade Knight]

Now we're back to the argument of whether British Punctuation is okay or not.

My general policy is that if it's consistent, descritpive, and takes nothing away from the language, there's nothing wrong with it.


I'm not going to begin to pretend that my view on the matter is mainstream, however.  Maybe I've just been reading too much Middle English.

[stacer]

I'm fairly familiar with the difference between YA and Juvi, but then I worked in a public library for quite some time.

We never called juvenile literature (/books) "juveniles", though.  We'd call it Juvi Lit or Juvi books or just Juvi, but never "juveniles".

Sorry, I should have been more specific: what I meant was specific to Heinlein's juveniles. I'd call anything younger than YA "middle readers" or "children's literature."

[stacer]

I'm speaking from the standpoint of a Public Library, which may be different from the standpoint of a Children's Lit editor.

For us, YA = teen (read:  High School), and is heavily influenced by interest.  We put books there that the teens are going to want, specifically.

Besides, I read The Hobbit in like 4th or 5th grade (about the time I read Dark is Rising), and my brother read it in 2nd.  Definitely not YA for us.  =þ

I'd classify The Dark Is Rising and The Hobbit as children's (middle readers) as well, though I'd say I'd probably double up and put a copy of both in YA as well, because they're of interest to teens who may not want to look for them in the children's section. And I agree with you that YA=of interest to teens. Which is why I defined it as (generally) having teen protagonists, etc. Most of what you'd call "problem novels" are YA, though thankfully the market is demanding more complexity than it used to in that department.

[stacer]

1) I didn't say you were mad. I was addressing stacer's quote, which was very hostile toward EUOL.

Which actually referred back to previous conversations I've had with him, in which he's been quite proud of the fact that he didn't care about the difference, when there actually is a clear difference for many things, most notably Series of Unfortunate Events, which is what he is calling "YA" in the EUOLogy. I was just frustrated, and tired of repeating myself, and ... just other things.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

why does it matter that he knows the difference?

[stacer]

Because I'm picky. And because if you're referring to it as YA, it's simply wrong. If I were to come on here and start spouting off about gaming as if I were some expert, even though what I know about it comes basically from what's rubbed off on me from you all, I think I'd annoy the lot of you. Well, that's how I feel about it.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

actually, I wouldn't be bothered a single whit if what you said had absolutely nothing to do with your point. EUOL doesn't claim to be an expert on YA lit. In fact, he is distinctly proud that he is not an expert.

Plus it's possible that the corrections remind him constnatly of his ignorance and that embarasses and annoys him. Thus his defense is not to care. Did you think that maybe being lax about it might be a way to keep the issue from being an issue?

[Sigyn]

Okay, this topic was interesting two pages ago but you have all wandered away into silliness.  Can we get back on topic?  It was interesting.

[The Jade Knight]

I think we should just be generally respectful of Stacer in this case.  After all, this is her profession we're talking about.

Perhaps it would be more appropriate, rather than using the term "YA", to use the term "YP" for "Young people's" (that's actually what we called the children's branch of the library).  That way EUOL doesn't have to admit he's reading Children's Lit, Stacer doesn't have to put up with everyone putting YA and Children's into all the wrong categories, and we can use a simple, catch-all abbreviation.

Whaddyasay?

[MsFish]

I think you guys are being a bit too hostile to EUOL. It's not like someone outside of Children's Literature as a field necessarily has a reason to know the difference.
You can't expect him to care about everything you care about. And getting grouchy about it doesn't do anything but make you unhappy.

Umm...who was being hostile?  I was pointing out an error.  I wasn't being malicious for goodness sakes.  Last I checked I was allowed to point out a teeny tiny miniscule error without being labeled as hostile...

Oh wait, silly me.  I forgot.  I'm not allowed to open my MOUTH without being labeled as one of any number of derogatory things...

*Fish realizes that her post has slid into a rant about a completly unrelated frustration, and stops.  

[stacer]

Fish, I think it's mainly me being referred to as the hostile one. I've since deleted the post, since I am apparently hostile and bitter when I'm annoyed. I had pulled the "I have a master's in children's lit" card, and I apologize to all involved. Can we all just move to some other topic?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

there was a post that was deleted that I didn't know what deleted. Again, I was just trying to point out that some things shouldn't be argued.

[JP Dogberry]

Before this topic devolves anymore, I'm locking it.