So, I have a couple of questions this time around. One is completely a matter of curiosity and probably has little to no bearing on my actual writing, and one is a kind of deep question about religion and religious attitudes as they might pertain to Joel. So!
Trivial question first. There is a phrasing that you hear a lot in American TV: "I don't know from X", which I always thought was just American English, but an (American Jewish) friend of mine tells me it's Yiddish-derived. My question is: does this phrasing ever get used by British Jews, or does it sound exclusively American to your ears?
My second question is a bit long-winded.
If you were to ask Joel if he believes in God, I imagine he would say something like, "Yes. Well, most of the time, yeah. But for me it's also just about the least important part of my religion." And if the person he was talking to seemed interested, he might then talk about the parts of his religion that are more important to him - the stuff about being a good person, and about maintaining a historical and cultural connection to other Jews (even if he doesn't always do such a great job of maintaining a social connection).
My question around this is is this even vaguely plausible? (I think it would be considered a weird view, though not totally out of the question, within the Anglican Christianity I grew up with, but obviously I don't want to be unconsciously projecting Christian ideas onto a Jewish mindset.) If not, can I tweak it somehow to make it work better? I'm not sure how much the details Joel's religious convictions are going to make it into the novel, but they're an important part of his character and I'd like to get it right.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2013-10-13 06:46 pm (UTC)So, I have a couple of questions this time around. One is completely a matter of curiosity and probably has little to no bearing on my actual writing, and one is a kind of deep question about religion and religious attitudes as they might pertain to Joel. So!
Trivial question first. There is a phrasing that you hear a lot in American TV: "I don't know from X", which I always thought was just American English, but an (American Jewish) friend of mine tells me it's Yiddish-derived. My question is: does this phrasing ever get used by British Jews, or does it sound exclusively American to your ears?
My second question is a bit long-winded.
If you were to ask Joel if he believes in God, I imagine he would say something like, "Yes. Well, most of the time, yeah. But for me it's also just about the least important part of my religion." And if the person he was talking to seemed interested, he might then talk about the parts of his religion that are more important to him - the stuff about being a good person, and about maintaining a historical and cultural connection to other Jews (even if he doesn't always do such a great job of maintaining a social connection).
My question around this is is this even vaguely plausible? (I think it would be considered a weird view, though not totally out of the question, within the Anglican Christianity I grew up with, but obviously I don't want to be unconsciously projecting Christian ideas onto a Jewish mindset.) If not, can I tweak it somehow to make it work better? I'm not sure how much the details Joel's religious convictions are going to make it into the novel, but they're an important part of his character and I'd like to get it right.
Thank you again!