I thought it was clever in a vaguely self-deprecating way. “I obviously have no way of knowing what that thing is, but I can be funny about it.” This could probably be conveyed through tone—deadpan may be what you’re looking for?
That is a good writing suggestion. I will take it. Thank you.
EDIT: This isn’t working when I try it:
“So,” Harry said, “you know those really simple Artificial Intelligence programs like ELIZA that are programmed to use words in syntactic English sentences only they don’t contain any understanding of what the words mean?”
“Of course,” the witch said, her expression deadpan. “I have a dozen of them in my trunk.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure my understanding of girls is somewhere around that level.”
Makes it fall a bit flat for me compared to the original. Suggested rewrite? Or is it just me?
Sometimes I use “deadpan” as a verb. “Of course,” the witch deadpanned. “I have a dozen of them. In my trunk.” (I think splitting the sentence may help.)
I think you need to rewrite it; I still don’t see how it is clever, rather than insulting. (If you’re uncertain, I suggest private messaging a few random Redditors and asking them to summarize what they think that exchange meant.)
And since you have kindly self-selected to volunteer your reaction, you are no longer meaningfully informative about how people see it—hence my suggestion for messaging random Redditors.
EDIT: which, by the way Eliezer, also applies to the comment you left. Geez. All you’re going to get is more self-selection like David_Gerard’s, where people with unusual reactions volunteer their cleverness.
My initial reaction was one of surprise that Harry would even attempt to bring up ELIZA in a conversation with a non-muggleborn NPC. Even Hermione would probably take a second to access the relevant data item. He seems to be better at judging his audience than this.
If he wants to convey the chatterbot idea, he could use a relevant local example, like some talking magical item, or some magical creature known for mindlessly parroting human speech. Maybe Binn’s ghost, or something.
I interpreted that as a self-describing insult/conversation: “Do you know of ?” “Of course! ”.
(I really hope Brienna or whomever didn’t donate or anything to get that cameo. I would be completely mortified.)
Michelle Morgan was mine! D:
It was meant to be a clever rejoinder by Brienne. I may need to rewrite if people are interpreting it this way.
I thought it was clever in a vaguely self-deprecating way. “I obviously have no way of knowing what that thing is, but I can be funny about it.” This could probably be conveyed through tone—deadpan may be what you’re looking for?
That is a good writing suggestion. I will take it. Thank you.
EDIT: This isn’t working when I try it:
Makes it fall a bit flat for me compared to the original. Suggested rewrite? Or is it just me?
Sometimes I use “deadpan” as a verb. “Of course,” the witch deadpanned. “I have a dozen of them. In my trunk.” (I think splitting the sentence may help.)
I tried that one too. The problem I felt while reading it is that it… breaks up the humor? Like a THIS IS A JOKE sign?
Well, if people keep getting lost on the way to the joke, a sign might be useful.
If you do rewrite it, “said sensibly” might work better than “deadpanned”.
(This revision is meant more as a suggested direction than a suggested destination.)
Just you, I think. My inner wordiness-filter is complaining that you only really need “said, deadpan,” but aside from that it reads better to me.
I think you need to rewrite it; I still don’t see how it is clever, rather than insulting. (If you’re uncertain, I suggest private messaging a few random Redditors and asking them to summarize what they think that exchange meant.)
Wasn’t my reaction.
(Above, we see a third reaction: that she’s being sarcastic. Below, a fourth.)
Whoosh.
And since you have kindly self-selected to volunteer your reaction, you are no longer meaningfully informative about how people see it—hence my suggestion for messaging random Redditors.
EDIT: which, by the way Eliezer, also applies to the comment you left. Geez. All you’re going to get is more self-selection like David_Gerard’s, where people with unusual reactions volunteer their cleverness.
My initial reaction was one of surprise that Harry would even attempt to bring up ELIZA in a conversation with a non-muggleborn NPC. Even Hermione would probably take a second to access the relevant data item. He seems to be better at judging his audience than this.
If he wants to convey the chatterbot idea, he could use a relevant local example, like some talking magical item, or some magical creature known for mindlessly parroting human speech. Maybe Binn’s ghost, or something.