What to say for blanks?

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » April 12th, 2015, 2:35 pm

I am looking forward enormously to how our admirably courageous reader deals with this, the penultimate line of a poem in the 10th Anniversary Collection:

!!...???((($$$&£&£££)))---!!

Ruth

Kalilei · Post by **Kalilei** » July 24th, 2017, 10:07 am

Blanks have always been my pet peeve with the older books. Mr. S---, town of M---- etc.

They have become even more annoying now that I have started recording. The examples above are relatively simple but what to do with the following:

Mr. W---- Selstadt (name)
St------ (location)

And the one that prompted this thread: "että lähtisin lähettilään mukana ——iin."
roughly translated as " that I would go with the ambassador to ---"

All these are from the Finnish translation of Sorrows of Young Werther I am recording. Is there some kind of accepted fill-in for the blank? Do I just leave a pause?

Post by **mightyfelix** » July 24th, 2017, 10:36 am

Blanks are rather unusual. I don't treat them all the same, but look at each on a case by case basis. For the examples that you've brought up, I would read, "Mister S.", "town of M.", and "Mister W. Selstadt". I presume St means Saint, not street? So that I would read as "Saint Blank." Also, "I would go with the ambassador to Blank."

One book I'm BC'ing right now has a number of these blanks in the middle of names. The name may be given as W--y P--l, or something like that, which I would simply read as "double-yew why pee ell". Awkward and stilted, perhaps, but that's the way it goes. I've also seen ---shire ("Blankshire"), --th brigade ("Blankth brigade"), and others.

Of course, this is how I'd handle it and how I've seen it done here and there, but I'm sure there are other methods.

Kalilei · Post by **Kalilei** » July 24th, 2017, 10:57 am

I believe in St---, S and t are the two first letters of the town. So I read it as eS tee. In Finnish this problem is amplified by our use of cases. For example

"kaupunki" = "town"

"kaupunkiin" = "to town"

Additionally, "blank" doesn't have as understandable short equivalent in Finnish, or at least I don't know it. The word meaning "empty" comes closest.

These matters make reading something like "----iin" pretty clumsy. Hopefully there are not too many of these in the book.

These writers pretty brilliant people. I just wish they would have taken the effort to come up with some more names for locations and people

Carolin · Post by **Carolin** » March 1st, 2018, 12:53 pm

Bumping this thread back to the top because this question just came up again

KaelyMonahan · Post by **KaelyMonahan** » February 25th, 2019, 3:15 pm

Hi everyone,

I'm voicing a couple of chapters for The Wyvern Mystery by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. I'm stuck on a few parts where the words appear to be omitted by the author due to their "unsavory" nature. The group thread on this suggested I post my question out to the wider forum to see if anyone had suggestions on how to read these omitted words.

So the parts I'm struggling with are in Chapter 9, on page 44, the last paragraph at the bottom the character says:
"D--n ye, are ye tongue tied?...."

I'm assuming the character is saying "damn" but how should I read that? Any one have suggestions?

And there's another spot where I am unsure of what he is actually trying to say -- same chapter, page 45 in the paragraph that begins with "But ye'll not take ye're leave, sir, till I choose...." A bit further down he says "...what she is--a---and a-----." Here it's unclear to me what word the author was omitting. Clearly it's another curse word of some kind, but I don't know if he's calling her a whore or something more scandalous. And suggestions?

Here are links to the chapters I'm reading so you all can see.
https://archive.org/stream/wyvernmysteryan00fanugoog#page/n64/mode/2up
https://archive.org/stream/wyvernmysteryan00fanugoog#page/n68/mode/2up

Thanks!
Kaely Monahan

tovarisch · Post by **tovarisch** » February 25th, 2019, 3:24 pm

Kaely,

If the intention of our work is to reproduce as close to the published text as possible, then replacing censored words with uncensored is not the right way. So, I'd probably read a single phoneme in the case of "D--n" as if the word can't come out, as if it's stuck in my throat... As to the second phrase ("what she is...") simply say "blank" for the censored words. "what she is -- a blank and a blank." Only make sure to make a tiny pause just before the word and, if you try to put any emotion into direct speech, turn it (temporarily) off when saying "blank" to show that it's actually not what the personage is saying. Perhaps take it "down a notch", or slightly lower your voice... You know what I mean.

Good luck!

Post by **TriciaG** » February 25th, 2019, 5:12 pm

These happen all the time in these older books!

I'd say "d--n" as "dn". It's possible.

And I agree - insert "blank" where the blanks are: "what she is -- a blank and a blank."

Style of reading is up to you. I have no suggestions for pauses or emotion or whatever.

kayray · Post by **kayray** » February 25th, 2019, 8:56 pm

I'd say, "Blank ye, are ye tongue-tied?"

"What she is, a blank and a blank"

Carolin · Post by **Carolin** » February 26th, 2019, 1:48 am

i personally say "damn". there is no other way to read it to yourself if you see the text and any other option may sound like an error to the listener.

DACSoft · Post by **DACSoft** » February 26th, 2019, 8:29 am

Generally speaking, if the word is obvious (e.g. "d--n" - it could be "darn", but then it most likely would not be censored

), I say the word. If the censored word is a series of dashes (or other symbols), I'll say "blank" as it's not obvious what the word should/may be. To me, it's a case by case decision, mostly depending on the surrounding context.

And, IMHO, that should not be an issue under standard PL guidelines, more so as reading along in the text is not required, so the minor "difference" would not be noticed, and is otherwise well within target accuracy guidelines. For word-perfect guidelines, the answer may be different (as I haven't yet recorded under that stricter standard).

So I'd suggest that the answer is what you most feel comfortable with.

Don

Post by **TriciaG** » February 26th, 2019, 9:08 am

Part of the decision would be the context. I am listening to a book by an 1860s Southern lady, who was quoting some very uncouth individuals. In that case, I think it would be better NOT to say the words, since the Southern lady would be scandalized by them, hence she masked them.

KaelyMonahan · Post by **KaelyMonahan** » February 26th, 2019, 10:07 am

Thanks all! All the guidance is very helpful.