Things in literature they really annoy you?

[changing47]

For me, it’s when characters are referred to as the X girl or the Y boy by characters who are perfectly aware of their names.

Dumbledore in Harry Potter referring to the ‘Malloy boy’. He knows his name is Draco. Just say it. In Game of Thrones Lyanna is referred to as the Stark girl by people who know her name is Lyanna Stark. It drives me mad.

But people do talk like that IRL and it conveys a message about the speaker thinks of the person

dumbledore doesn’t like the Malloy boy or his family . If he called him his name it would be giving different information - it wouldn’t make his dislike clear.

Isn't it Malfoy?

That’s it!

I read a fair bit. For me the most annoying factor, and I had this with the last Peter James "Roy Grace" book,it says "empty bottle of coke". You can't have an empty bottle of anything. You can have an empty coke bottle. I had the same thing with my last book, only it was milk!

Exactly. And, while I’ve never read GoT, or watched the arc adaptation. I imagine it’s a world where family and lineage is key, and where women may be as or more important for their blood connection links than for their individual selves. Referring to a woman or girl by her surname says something about how she’s regarded by the speaker.

I have never heard anyone in real life ever refer to someone whose name they knew as the Smith boy or Jones girl. I don’t think Dumbedore dislikes Draco at all. There is nothing to suggest anything other than pity and concern. And he does, on other occasions, call him by his name.

Yeah it’s just a predictive text error. Quite obviously.

Yes, annoying! And when they have characters say ‘would you like Frosties for breakfast, my eldest sister who recently divorced?’

I don’t understand why editors don’t intervene to stop the shoehorning information into dialogue in such an unrealistic and annoying way.

If you haven’t read it then it doesn’t really contribute to the thread to guess.

You can take examples from a million classic/popular books. The Gatsby boy, the Radley boy, the Proctor boy, the Everdeen girl, the Baggins boy. It is a trope and it irritates the life out of me. No one in real life refers to someone whose name they are well aware of as the family boy or girl.

Is this not in a large private school?

very normal if so

“Irritates the life out of me”

woah!!

just because it bothers you, doesn’t mean that it bothers the majority of readers

just becuase you haven’t come across people talking that way doesn’t mean it isn’t fairly common

especially among teachers after a few drinks on a Friday night

I mean, it’s a magical school. Regardless, it is the literary trope I’m discussing.

In real life people do that all the time.

Honestly, if you’ve got nothing to add, feel free to stop replying 😂😵‍💫

But it isn’t a “literary troupe”

Very common in schools amongst teachers

Do they? If I know someone I use their name. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t. It would seem incredibly rude in real life to talk about 59 year old David Colegate who you’ve known for years as the Colegate boy.

Okay 🙄

I agree, people do it all the time. Not sure how you have never come across it before IRL.

"The most charming girl I've seen in all my 37 years."

I love you, Georgette Heyer, but that's such a stupid way to crowbar information into dialogue.

I have no idea why these people who do it all the time don’t just say ‘I’m asking John Smith if he fancies a pint tonight’, instead of ‘I’m asking the Smith boy if he fancies a pint tonight’. I don’t believe anyone is doing this in real life.

I have no idea why these people who do it all the time don’t just say ‘I’m asking John Smith if he fancies a pint tonight’, instead of ‘I’m asking the Smith boy if he fancies a pint tonight’. I don’t believe anyone is doing this in real life.

Yes!

Also when someone arrives somewhere and frantically explains that they have something important to say, and the other person brushes them off because they need to do something else as a matter of urgency. In reality, you’d be concerned and stop everything else is someone explained they had something important to tell you.