The thing that bothers me is a perceived tone to some of your responses. They can seem condescending and rude. this just seems like endless bickering using reworded arguments. I participated, so im just as guilty as the rest, but there's no point to it anymore.
It is probably due to my lack of contractions and abbreviation. I have a deeply ingrained fear that if I start writing in conversational styles in places such as this, I will start doing so in my written work, as well. Some people, I have found, tend to perceive it as condescension or pompousness when others write with some small measure of formality. Why, I do not know.
On the other hand, a bit of nerve or edge is always a way to make a discussion more interesting, as one of the moral chieftains of this board, Ookla, also knows very well. If I use this board as a pulpit, I am certainly not the only one. I seem to remember him rather provocatively saying something quite categorical about "buying into the lies of present-day society", or some such. There is a lot of essentialism and axiological load in those few words.
As to the literary work in question here, I certainly think Elend with some advantage could have noticed the shape of one of Vin's body parts in a chapter where he was not doing anything perilous. Again, it seems like an oversight not to have Elend - or Vin, for that matter - reflect on these things in a work that spans more than fifteen hundred pages. I guess Elend does at times think to himself that Vin looks "stunning" in one of her dresses, and that is something. We all know what is meant by it, but the way it is expressed in the books seems to innocent and "young adult" to me.
Still, it is good to see that themes such as these are more prevalent in other works by Mr. Sanderson. I feared for some time that this sanitation was somehow related to his personal beliefs, to some idea that it was sinful (what do I know?) to put such things on paper for others to read. I hope he knows that internal observations about various people's calves, bosoms and shoulders is an important part of Robert Jordan's narrative style.
