random writing query

[schmerica]

lyra_sena: well, the truth is that as much as it makes us uncomfortable? the distinction is very real.

Okay, so I'm taking the above sentence completely out of context from the conversation lyra_sena and I were having earlier, because it's a perfect example of a kind of style I've been wondering about a lot lately.

Basically, that questioning intonation/statements that are not statements thing -- that's how I talk, really a lot of the time. I know quite a few people who do the same thing, even; it's not something I notice in everyday conversation.

On the other hand, though, it's something that can suddenly become *really* noticeable in writing. There's been a couple of stories I've read lately (though, dammit, I apparently cannot *locate* any of them again) that had this kind of construction in them. And for, say, Gretchen in Mean Girls it comes across as perfectly natural, whether in dialogue or narration, but for Ray Kowalski, it seems odd. It makes me think of the author, rather than the character a lot of the time.

Is this true for others?

I'm trying to think of what it is that makes it read that way to me. The first thing that comes to my mind is that is sounds "feminine" -- except that word is no end of troublesome, and even just that description kind of gets my rankles up. Especially when I try and figure out what I mean by that, and the next word I come up with is "uncertain".

Is it something along those lines? There are male characters whom I can picture such dialogue working with -- Dan Rydell, perhaps, comes to mind. Is it simpler than that -- just another matter of character voice? Am I just on crack? Am I on crack but have a point in this instance? I don't know.

Comments

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've read studies that indicate that ending declarative statements with rising intonations *is* a feminine/female thing. I mean, it might be troublesome, but I think it's actually true; women tend to do that more than men. Because women aren't supposed to be aggressive and it's less "aggressive" if you're like "Hey, I could be wrong, but I think, maybe, that's not the right way to do that...?" So, yeah. *shrug*

[pearl-o.livejournal.com]

No, yeah, there definitely is a difference in the way female and male children are socialized, and it shows up more than you expect, even, in the differences between male and female speech. *has taken classes on this! even has the books and everything!* I just don't like taking the step from "a socialized trait found in females more than males" to "feminine", because the latter implies to me a sort of forced connection, which makes me uncomfortable. And plus, as I said in the entry, I wasn't sure if it was more complicated than just the sex thing.

[zvi-likes-tv.livejournal.com]

would the word "effeminate" be more useful to you? To me, effeminate implies a more performed femininity than just feminine, which is characteristics of the female or characteristics of the lady.

I would also say that the reason the sort of digression of which you originally spoke bothers me when I see it written is that the first part of the statement is not a question, although the speaker takes a question stance. As a reader, I don't want a question mark: give me an em dash or ellipsis, damnit! On the other hand, the sarcastic digression works for me because that is a question—a rhetorical question—and I can accept that the question mark punctuation is appropriate.

But that's just my grammatical freakshow.