Bottle of port... which one?
I'm reading Ship of Magic and came upon "a bottle of port". I'm from Porto, Portugal so forgive me for overthinking this. Where is this wine from? Was this an oversight, a "wink" at the reader or there's actually an analogous "port" in this world?
Again, just a silly post, new reader so if this is actually spoiler, which I really doubt... please avoiding telling me too much.
Posted Aug 27, 2021, 9:22 PM UTC
1212
It's not an in-world thing, I think she just used port to mean that style of wine, disconnected from Portugal. This is the kind of thing some writers avoid, like using the word "china" to mean porcelain when there is no China in the world (I think Hobb might do this one too although I can't remember now if it was her or someone else I read recently), or saying something was a "herculean task" when the world doesn't have a Hercules. Others don't really care, and I guess Hobb probably figured many English language readers might not know where the term "port" came from.
Kinda feel stupid now, in my biased perspective just never thought of non-Porto port, even though I wouldn't think twice about half of those examples. Probably some France-less champagne in there as well.
I spotted a real life Country being named in one of the books I wish I could remember now but I’m sure one of fellow readers remember it.
I really want to say it was China, referring to porcelain cups or something. Someone's fine china? Maybe in Liveships?
Yeah, she refers to dishes as china at some point. It comes up from time to time because it really bothers some readers. hehe
Hobb surely uses the word "china" quite generously, especially in Ship of Magic: "The best china and her finest silver decked the table upon a cloth of heavy cream lacework" etc
I shouldn't complain, because I too get grumpy about certain anachronisms, but it is kind of silly. None of the real world etymologies make sense in a fictional world.
'Duke' comes from Latin and 'King' comes from Germanic, so did the Roman Empire and the Saxons exist in ROTE?
/rant
Another common one is “earth” referring to soil, the ground, etc.
This is especially egregious in high fantasy, as by definition it occurs in an alternate world