1. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    R&R in dialogue

    Discussion in 'Dialogue Development' started by KaTrian, Sep 16, 2014.

    How should it be spelled in dialogue?

    "I'm gonna have some R and R next weekend."?
     
  2. Lae

    Lae Contributor Contributor

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    R&R is what most folk recognize it as i think, R and R seems a bit disjointed to me. Both would work though.

    You could use italics for it too
     
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  3. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    What is "R&R"? :confused:

    R&R reads faster and feels more like a unit to me. R and R sounds a bit more disjointed, if that makes any sense.
    Maybe R 'n' R or RnR could work as well, depending on the dialect of the speaker?
     
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  4. Lae

    Lae Contributor Contributor

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    Military talk for rest and relaxation/recuperation/recreation. Also called "rec time" or "reccy". Essentially a soldiers free time.
     
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  5. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    I'm hesitant about leaving '&' in dialogue. It looks weird, doesn't it? not looking very phonetic, that's why I wondered if it should be R and R. R'n'R sounds ok, too I suppose.

    Or would it be better to just make the character say something else?
     
  6. Lae

    Lae Contributor Contributor

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    If it looks off then yeah just remove it. Some call it liberty, navy is shore leave etc
     
  7. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    How much people do you reckon actually knows of the abbreviation? I googled it and found quite a few different meanings ("rest and recuperation", "recent and relevant", "rock and roll", etc.), so it might be confusing however you write it. Maybe...
     
  8. Lae

    Lae Contributor Contributor

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    to be honest i thought it was quite common, its a common phrase in military films etc

    also with context it should be quite obvious.
     
  9. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    Apparently not my military films... :p

    And yeah, context should make it clear. But maybe it's safer just to go without it if it's possible, though if the character is military the term should probably be kept (but maybe clarified somehow, like mentioning it as "rest and relaxation" once before abbreviating it).
     
  10. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Liberty might work, thanks. @T.Trian and I made up the mil force, so in that sense it's not tied to a specific branch, except we wouldn't want to use terms that are too specific for certain branches.

    I was also thinking along these lines:
    Would rec time make people think of recording? :D How about rack time? Too much pun? :p

    ETA: Oh, and there's no reason to be intentionally obscure, so in that sense something that is as clear as possible yet also as authentic as possible would be best, so in that sense liberty might be a good substitute, and then there'd be no need to mess around with the visual awkwardness of R&R.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2014
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  11. thirdwind

    thirdwind Member Contest Administrator Reviewer Contributor

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    You would spell it out. The only exception I can think of is if the "&" is part of a company name (i.e., "AT&T").
     
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  12. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    Maybe it's just me then...
    Probably because Sweden essentially has no military. ;)
     
  13. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Pfft, our military is equally useless. And no, it's not just you. It's a common grievance, I'd say, to anybody who's writing anything that employs acronyms, be it, say, mil sci-fi or some thriller with government agents 'cause you have to also be able to keep things clear for the reader without sacrificing realism. Usually context helps, and of course if one is used to reading the genre... Or if they can be arsed to google the term(s), but even then, as you pointed out; multiple results.
    In one novel the author kept throwing recce around. I was like, ok, so you don't say recon anymore? Has Hollywood lied to me?! I would've gotten that! But I couldn't fathom the meaning, not even from the context, and had to google it. Can't really expect the reader to do that.
     
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  14. stevesh

    stevesh Banned Contributor

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    In US military terms, R&R (rest and relaxation) usually describes a one or two week period away from a combat zone, usually in a nearby non-combat resort-ish area.

    Liberty is a term to describe time off (usually a weekend) from duties on a base to which the soldier/sailor/airman/Marine is permanently assigned. If the sailor is serving aboard a ship that is in port, it's called shore leave.

    Leave is an extended period of time away from a permanent assignment, similar to a civilian vacation. I believe US military personnel still get thirty days leave per year.

    I wouldn't use R&R at all in your example, but if I did it would be 'R and R'.
     
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  15. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Thanks. Spelling-wise the time period doesn't matter in my example, but thanks for pointing it out. It could be 'next month', the sentence isn't from the MS, but I know one of these terms will appear there. I was wondering how R&R should appear in dialogue from the editorial POV.
     
  16. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    It looks better with the ampersand, in my opinion. R&R is the abbreviation most people would recognize.
     
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  17. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    According to this page the CMoS allows ampersands in common abbreviations such as R&D, R&R and AT&T.
     
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  18. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Thanks everyone, we'll mull this over a bit. :) dialogue vs narration differences are sometimes a bit fuzzy...
     
  19. Komposten

    Komposten Insanitary pile of rotten fruit Contributor

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    Ah, does it really matter that much? Whatever you choose, someone will be there to complain. ;)
     
  20. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Yeah, basically I was just after what would an editor possibly say 'cause it seems there's less leeway. :)
     
  21. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I don't think it matters at all if it's dialogue or narration.
     
  22. cutecat22

    cutecat22 The Strange One Contributor

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    R 'n' R made me think of rock and roll. R&R sounds about right to me.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2014
  23. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    I'd just use R&R. It's common enough, and you can follow it up with a brief mention of what it would involve, like sleeping in, going away, whatever the character considers to be 'R&R'. Not everything needs to be known to the reader, they can learn something too ;)
     
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