Talk:Why Don't You Dance?

Latest comment: 22 days ago by Οἶδα in topic Final sentence of summary

“Before quitting her wondering altogether”

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I really didn’t interpret it that way. It says she stopped trying to explain it to people. Not that she stopped thinking about it. 68.100.125.222 (talk) 06:04, 9 October 2024 (UTC)Reply

  Done — Apologies. I did not write the original plot summary. The exact quote from Carver's story is: "There was more to it, and she was trying to get it talked out. After a time, she quit trying." I have revised the existing language to more accurately reflect what is communicated. Οἶδα (talk) 07:23, 9 October 2024 (UTC)Reply

Final sentence of summary

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@Οἶδα How about "She repeatedly tries to make sense of the encounter by talking about it with others, before eventually giving up."? The current wording seems a bit stilted to me. "Talking to everyone" and "quits trying after a while" echo wording from the story, but don't really fit a plot synopsis tone. Also, after re-reading, I think a bit of vagueness regarding what exactly she is trying to talk out might be good. Thoughts? UnlikelyEvent (talk) 18:04, 23 October 2024 (UTC)Reply

Your suggestion reintroduces a level of ambiguity which the earlier discussion attempted to correct. I had settled on the current wording because it more precisely mirrored the original wording and was unambigous as to what was being "tried" and that she "quit trying". Carver's language could allow for some level of ambiguity, so if you feel that the current wording should accommodate that then go ahead and change it. I just think that might invite editors to continuously refactor the language to skew more into one direction than the other. The "stilted" language avoids that. Given the context and order of Carver's language, I believe the current wording reflects what is immediately understood by readers rather than what may be further analyzed. Οἶδα (talk) 05:13, 24 October 2024 (UTC)Reply