rivka: (books)
rivka ([personal profile] rivka) wrote2010-10-04 08:43 am

The case for genre-specific copy-editors:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies aside, in a Regency novel, the relatives of a recently deceased English peer should not generally be concerned about an entrail.

HTH.

[identity profile] jhetley.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 12:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Ouch.

[identity profile] ratphooey.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 12:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh no they didn't!
melebeth: (Default)

[personal profile] melebeth 2010-10-04 01:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Nose, meet tea.

[identity profile] nelc.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 01:47 pm (UTC)(link)
It must be this cold, but I'm not getting it. Is it a typo? Or just inappropriate vernacular? And what's the book?

[identity profile] janetmiles.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 01:56 pm (UTC)(link)
I am not [livejournal.com profile] rivka and I don't know what book, but I suspect that in this case, "entrail" is a typo for "entail", which has something to do with inheritance laws.

[identity profile] jonquil.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a complex way of ensuring that the property goes only to male heirs. As, for instance, if Fred has only daughters, the property goes to the closest male relative. Could be Fred's brother, could be Fred's brother's sons, and on and on in distance until it could be Fred's fourth cousin.

[identity profile] nelc.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 05:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, thank you both, I wasn't twigging the context.

[identity profile] rivka.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Much like the copy-editor, indeed. Regency is a genre with a mind-bogglingly large specific technical vocabulary, most of it used to describe clothing. It's kind of unfair to bring a non-expert into it.

[identity profile] puzzlement.livejournal.com 2010-10-05 01:42 am (UTC)(link)
Also of preventing the male heirs from selling the property. (In England, only the first and not the second generation of heir could be so restrained.)

In Pride & Prejudice this is why Mr Bennet can't sell any property to provide for his five daughters: he's the middle generation of the entail.

[identity profile] jonquil.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 02:16 pm (UTC)(link)
SNERK!
kate_nepveu: book with "LEX" inscribed on it, carved in bronze (law book)

[personal profile] kate_nepveu 2010-10-04 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)
You'd think that even without knowledge of the period, the context would make that clear.

[identity profile] rivka.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I guess it depends how the peer died, doesn't it? There are situations in which one could be legitimately concerned about whether there was an entrail on the estate...

...okay, maybe not. I suspect that the copy-editor didn't know that "entail" could be a noun.
kate_nepveu: headless suit of armor (forget my own)

[personal profile] kate_nepveu 2010-10-04 04:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Surely only to the extent of instructing the staff to see that it is removed?

But no, you are undoubtedly correct.

[identity profile] wcg.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 03:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps it's a hold over from Roman Britain, involving divination using the entrails of ancestors?
carbonel: Beth wearing hat (Default)

[personal profile] carbonel 2010-10-04 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Heh. My favorite along those lines, in slash fanfic, is typoing "prostate" as "prostrate." Oddly enough, it never seems to happen in the other direction.
ext_29896: Lilacs in grandmother's vase on my piano (Default)

[identity profile] glinda-w.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
*splutter*

[identity profile] wiredferret.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 04:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh....dear.

[identity profile] kcobweb.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
*giggle*