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Syllable question -Poets please help?

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jhenn View Drop Down
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    Posted: 26 Sep 2022 at 9:29pm
(I am NOT a poet, nor a student of poetry)

My question: if I want the word "family" to be pronounced in two syllables, not three, should I spell it differently, like.... fam'ly?   

On a related note: Will the judging around spelling be slightly looser in this challenge??

thank you


Edited by jhenn - 26 Sep 2022 at 9:29pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TeeHi Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Sep 2022 at 10:23pm
I'm also not a student of poetry insofar as knowing the different styles and meters (beyond a simple, 'ABAB', 'AABB', etc), but I would think the judging would be a little more lax, in terms of grammar. And I personally think it's okay, but only provided it's in keeping with the rest of the story. You wouldn't want something so casual in an otherwise formal write, y'know? Wink

Edited by TeeHi - 27 Sep 2022 at 8:20pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote taaaylor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 27 Sep 2022 at 5:11pm
Originally posted by jhenn jhenn wrote:

(I am NOT a poet, nor a student of poetry)

My question: if I want the word "family" to be pronounced in two syllables, not three, should I spell it differently, like.... fam'ly?
No, that's mostly an 1800s-and-earlier convention, and usually done with particular words like every :) Tbh I think it's most common in most dialects of English to say "fam-lee" nowadays (sort of like how evry is the modern standard pronunciation for every)

Originally posted by jhenn jhenn wrote:

On a related note: Will the judging around spelling be slightly looser in this challenge??

I think usually spelling notes in the judging just refers to passing a standard spellcheck. It's totally okay to make stylistic misspellings/technically-not-real-words that are obviously an intentional part of the story :)

Hope that helps!!


Edited by taaaylor - 27 Sep 2022 at 5:12pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lousie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep 2022 at 7:50am
I did fam'lies in mine, but it was slightly ye olde English so it worked well enough. Family is my most hated word for rhythm, I was literally about to put a post about it 3 seconds before I noticed this post, haha! I've just gone with the rule that I want it to read and flow the best I can, and so make my decisions on what I think is less distracting to the story. Sometimes that means following traditional conventions and sometimes it means scrapping them, and its not the same for every line or verse!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lousie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep 2022 at 8:03am
Originally posted by taaaylor taaaylor wrote:

Tbh I think it's most common in most dialects of English to say "fam-lee" nowadays (sort of like how evry is the modern standard pronunciation for every)

I'm think its pretty common in UK and Australia to use fam-i-ly as well. For me (Aussie) when talking fast it turns to fam'ly but when speaking clearly I'd say fam-i-ly, as well as in my head when I read. I mostly hear US actors say fam-ly, so hopefully that's what's in the judges heads when they read and it doesn't matter!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Kaczok Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 28 Sep 2022 at 1:30pm
I’d say count the syllables as you hear them while reading your lines out loud, but write the words correctly. Giving your readers little challenges, or peppering the poem with little impertections, makes a poem far more enjoyable in my opinion. Truncating words, however, feels antiquated, and ends up looking amateurish, if not pretentious.
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