I am constantly reminding myself as I write that idioms change and evolve constantly. Every aspect of culture plays a part in creating our speech, year after year. I write a lot of stories that takes place in "ancient times", before many modern idioms came into being. Things we say all the time suddenly don't fit in these simpler times.
Here are some phrases and words that I tend to trip over:
"Scanning" a room
My brain was "fried"
Switching tracks
"train" of thought
Roger that
SOS
"Pause" and "Rewind"
On repeat
It makes a lot of sense in retrospect that medieval characters wouldn't know about these things, but they are engrained in my mind, seeing that I live in the twenty-first century. The two main subjects that writers should look out for are references to trains and computers. It is surprising how often those two pop up. The list is much much longer than my sample, but it is good to keep this concept in mind for the future–er–I mean, for the past.
Here are some phrases and words that I tend to trip over:
"Scanning" a room
My brain was "fried"
Switching tracks
"train" of thought
Roger that
SOS
"Pause" and "Rewind"
On repeat
It makes a lot of sense in retrospect that medieval characters wouldn't know about these things, but they are engrained in my mind, seeing that I live in the twenty-first century. The two main subjects that writers should look out for are references to trains and computers. It is surprising how often those two pop up. The list is much much longer than my sample, but it is good to keep this concept in mind for the future–er–I mean, for the past.
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