The writer said that she had many readers email her asking what the statement meant, and therefore believed it was a colloquialism from Australia. I was a little surprised by the example, but accepted it as one usually is surprised by what are colloquialisms. Then, in the recent challenge I see something written by someone that isn't Australian using the same line (read entry #18 of the Fear challenge).

My questions: Is "you'll keep" really a colloquialism? What is different in the meaning found in the challenge?

Are there any other experiences with colloquialisms that you have had?

Related to the second part of your question: I know of at least two English versions of the Harry Potter books - one in English English and one in American English. The former has many colloquialisms in it that American aundiences would not understand, thus the latter version has been changed so us hicks can understand it.

Hey... wait. What do you mean 18 wasn't written by an Aussie? Last I checked, I had a pretty high security level on my fear mailbox. You sneekin peeks?

Regarding that really long word that was the subject of this thread, I personally just go with what sounds neat, or fits the dialect of a character, even if it doesn't make any sense to anyone but me.

Perhaps that's what Trevor was doing?

Axe

It's interesting how some colloquialisms don't have easily explained equivalents.

That's just an example...really, it could refer to examining anything that decays or rots.

Hmm, interesting conversation. I was wondering if that phrase was a colloquialism I didn't know, which is quite possible. But in a later post I found why I didn't know it was written by an Aussie after all.

A more useful characterization of "it'll keep" is that it is a common, but not universally used *metaphor*. As such it will fall on two classes of ears: those for whom it is a *dead metaphor*, and those for whom it is a novel metaphor.

The dead metaphor camp will understand it without employing any kind of figurative imagination; it's effectively just a compound word for them. After all, we take "face" when applied to a clock as the thing itself, not some kind of allusion to a human face. We say "falling in love" without considering the rather poetic imagery that presents. "Panache" originally referred the horsehair tassel on top of a knight's helmet. Those metaphors are not only dead, they've been resurrected as words. They're undead metaphors.

Those to whom a metaphorical expression is novel will have to figure it out by context and figurative imagination. But if a passage is well written, and the metaphor is apt, almost everyone will understand it one way or another. There's always a few who manage to get left behind, of course.

So it all boils down to writing clearly and selecting apt metaphors. It's not such a dire situation after all. We can still understand Jane Austen almost effortlessly, even though both colloquial *and* formal English have changed considerably in two hundred years. We can read EE Doc Smith even though his writing is littered with colloquialisms that have no historical existence whatsoever outside his stories, because he's a terrific writer, even if his prose is deep purple.

Claudius: Yo dawg, I was down in the hood, when blam! This praetorian whips out his piece and things got hairy.

If you think about it, colloquialism is only recognized because it is semi-foreign to the reader. Isn't every metaphor infact colloquialism? "Pulling my leg" "let it keep" "cat got your tongue" "along came a spider"

We're surrounded by them and never notice them because they aren't foreign to us. So when your desired effect is to transport the reader you should have colloquialisms (which is why the roman example doesn't work...unless its comedic).

The only problem (and this has to be judged by...well good judgment) is when there isn't enough context to infer the metaphor's meaning. Take firefly for example, tons of colloquialism/metaphors. How is a situation shiny? What does full well mean? Or the made up profanity? Heck, sometimes they start speaking chinese and the audience still knows what is being said.

If you leave a little bit of a jump, people won't even notice the colloquialisms, and by the end it will almost subliminally make its way into their own vocab helping out the next writer.