#word usage

when = reference to a specific one-time event or time period (ex. "when I was a child" "when the Civil War happened" "when she went to the movies" etc.)

whenever = reference to an indeterminate time period/event or something that repeated more than once.

Ex.

indeterminate time period/event - "whenever it was that she cleaned the house" or "whenever it was that she bought that thing"

repeated event - "whenever she went to school, she dressed in uniform." or "she made a list whenever she had to leave the house to remind herself what she needed to get while she was out"

People say whenever far too often and it really annoys me for some reason. I have started correcting my students and teaching them the difference and now they do it a lot less often (not every time because speech patterns are a hard habit).

Please take the time to learn the difference because these aren't the same word. They have different meanings and contexts that they fit in.

In case you are still confused about одинаковый vs такой же, here is a new video for you:

Anchor: В Советском союзе люди жили в одинаковых домах.

A Soviet guy: Это мой дом? Нет, не мой. А этот? И этот не мой. Но я живу в таком же доме! Они все одинаковые!

Quick Rule:

ТАКОЙ ЖЕ → "same as X" (always has a reference point)

Some of the commenters were like "all includes two". To me though, that's not correct. All means more than two. For example, suppose someone has two children and they say "All my children are coming home for the holidays", for me that would sound not just odd, but incorrect, just as incorrect as if they'd had only one child and said that, or if they had three children and said "both"

[Edit: I'm also not counting grammaticalized uses in certain dialects like y'all or what all]

Am I in the minority here?

reign vs. rein

reign: the period during which a sovereign rules.

rein: a long, narrow strap attached at one end to a horse's bit, typically used in pairs to guide or check a horse while riding or driving.

So, to the source of my actual annoyance:

“You don’t get free rein to nose into people’s personal business just because you’re the team leader.”

This is the correct usage. The expression is NOT “free reign.”

If you give a horse “free rein,” you are not controlling it. You are holding the reins loosely and letting it pick its own path. Usually this implies you trust the horse, and in the case of a well-behaved, experienced horse on familiar ground, this may be the best choice - especially if it’s dark or foggy out and you are not familiar with the path yourself.

So if you are, say, a manager on a technical team, and you think one of your direct-reports is ready for bigger responsibilities, you might say, “Meredith, you’re the project lead. I’m giving you free rein to make all the day-to-day decisions. Just make sure I know what’s going on and that you are able to hit the major milestones shown on the plan.”

RESTROOMS & BATHROOMS

(in The Murderbot Diaries)

In first, second and third books in The Murderbot Diaries, sometimes Murderbot refers to the “restroom”. It does this twice (n=2) in Artificial Condition; three times (n=3) in Rogue Protocol; and in Exit Strategy it mentions restrooms five times (n=5) —the word “bathroom” is never used

(see below, right at the bottom, for quotes and context)

Then, in Exit strategy we have the surprise mention of the “bathroom”, on page 60 of my e-copy (so slap bang in the middle, and also in the middle of the five restrooms (pages 9, 22, 22, 103, 120))

Up in the room, Pin-Lee was pacing slowly and trying not to grind her teeth and Ratthi had gone to the bathroom three times.

The person using the “bathroom” is Ratthi—and this language usage struck me at the time as I am British and “restroom” strikes me as far more American English, whilst “bathroom” is less so (I would note that British people tend to use other words like the (possibly less euphemistic) “toilet”: a word which Murderbot only uses once in Network Effect and goes “ugh” afterwards)—checking in the Oxford English Dictionary seems to confirm that restroom is typically American English

I was reminded that in All Systems Red, Ratthi uses the word “arseholes” rather than “assholes” (assholes being the spelling found throughout the rest of the books)—note that Ratthi doesn’t say the word “bathroom” in Exit Strategy, but the word is used about him (being Watsonian about it, perhaps Murderbot heard Ratthi say “I’m going to the bathroom—again…”?)

But, hey—could just be a one-off?

In Fugitive Telemetry there is one mention of the restroom (n=1), and zero bathrooms (see below)

But then in Network Effect there are eight restrooms (n=8) and five bathrooms (n=5)

The first six mentions are of restrooms, on the pages listed below (pages as in my e-copy of Network Effect)

78 restroom

85 restroom

85 restroom

86 restroom

88 restroom

145 restroom

👆six uses of “restroom” all but one of these are Murderbot’s narrative (the other is the first one of the two on page 85, spoken by Ras)

The last one of those (p.145) is when Murderbot has a “rage blackout” and locks itself in the restroom…again Murderbot narrative voice:

Then who should come to join it in the restroom to try and talk it out, but…Ratthi!

Initially he talks to it, using the word “restroom” (page 149, bringing the number of restrooms to seven)

BUT when he knows he’s successfully talked it down (out):

And Ratthi calls it, not a restroom but…a bathroom! This is on page 150.

After this there are another three bathrooms on pages

152 bathroom

154 bathroom

166 bathroom

Of these, the first is spoken by Arada (page 152) then the other two are Murderbot’s narrative voice.

Then we go back to a reference to the eighth mention of a restroom on page 173 (which is Murderbot lying grumpily to Thiago, telling him Amena is in the restroom) and then finally there’s a last bathroom—which is in a HelpMe.file…bringing the total to bathroom (n=5) and restroom (n=8)

Which, given the arsehole in All Systems Red—

This makes me think that Martha Wells imagines Ratthi (and possibly others) pronouncing or using certain words in a weirdly “British” way which may influence Murderbot, and perhaps others, around him

Rather disappointingly, for the purposes of this blog, System Collapse has just three (n=3) “restrooms” and no bathrooms (or toilets) mentioned (all are in Murderbot’s narrative voice)

How this happens in a space future with Earth itself never being mentioned is beyond the scope of this little blog—perhaps it’s like the Ninth Doctor said:

“Lots of planets have a North”

See below for context for the novellas:

Artificial Condition n=2

(Tapan had told them she was sick and was going to the shuttle’s restroom compartment. They hadn’t realized what had happened until the shuttle had cleared the port.)

I thought Tapan was getting up to go to the restroom facility, but then she settled on the pads behind me, not quite touching my back.

Rogue Protocol n=3

So I listened to them a lot and pretended to be launching major investigations into incidents like who left a cracker wrapper in the galley restroom sink.

There were no private cabins, just a couple of bunks built against the bulkheads up on the control deck next to the pilot suite, and two more in cubbies behind the cargo station, next to the emergency MedSystem and a tiny restroom cubby.

And one camera was in the central hub for the port traffic control and the other in a jury-rigged hub that was now acting as station control—the two places where if something went wrong, you needed to know right away; in other words, not the mess, restrooms, or private quarters.

Exit Strategy n=5

I’d removed the blood and fluid from my clothes back on Ship, in the cleaning unit in its passenger restroom, but there hadn’t been anything on board to fix the projectile and shrapnel holes.

I’d paid for a private cabin with an attached restroom facility and automated meal delivery.

It had a bunk with a bedding packet and a small display surface, a door leading to the tiny restroom facility, a storage cabinet for personal possessions, and a meal distribution receptacle.

It was a small ship-to-ship shuttle, with only one compartment with seating along the bulkheads, and a cubby for emergency supply storage and a restroom.

It took me a minute—and I mean a full minute, my access speed was terrible—to recognize the symbol on the closed door as an archaic sign for a restroom.

Fugitive Telemetry n=1

Hopefully Aylen was in a restroom and not dead somewhere in a corridor.

NB/PS I also checked for washroom, and there didn’t seem to be any in any of the books

The short story Home (from Mensah’s POV) has one restroom, and no bathrooms or toilets mentioned

Captal with an A and Capitol with an O are two different words. (Merrian Webster article on clarification between the two.) Capitol has a very narrow meaning (usually a specific building) while capital has several different meanings and is the more commonly used word.

I don't know exactly why Collins chose to call it the Capitol with an O, but I suspect it is to make the Capitol itself sound more important than it is. This is the place where government is done. The Districts? Nothing so important is done there! (Nevermind the food and technology and power is important!)

Also capitol with an o comes from Latin. Capitolium was the name of the temple of Jupiter at Rome on the Capitoline (see? o) hill. Thus the Capitol associates itself with Rome, the temple of the gods, and--the building I am most used to seeing called "the Capitol"-- Capitol Hill in America. (Aka "The Capitol was stormed on January 6th.")

But most people are more familiar with being taught the captials of each state. "I live in New York. The captial is Albany." So I understand why you might think the capital of Panem is the Captial, but it's not. It's the Capitol.

I have seen several fics (I don't want to call anyone out) doing this. I apologize for being pedantic but you are not being pompous and self important enough.