Oreb's Powers of Speech

Adam Thornton IO · 15 Sep 2010, 21:05 · from 2010-September.txt.gz

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From: adam at io.com (Adam Thornton (IO))
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:05:41 -0500
Subject: (urth) Oreb's  Powers of Speech
In-Reply-To: <4C910DB9.4030709 at gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTikhnWH_Hq_BzRA-dkfV5caK+kYJetBA02Afr3qT at mail.gmail.com>
	<4C910DB9.4030709 at gmail.com>
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On Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:17:29 -0500, James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> wrote:
> At the end of RttW Oreb says "Good Fishing".
> This statement as odd on a number of levels, of course, but one way that

> it did is that it felt like a FAIL regarding Oreb's characteristic 
> powers of speech. Only two words, fine, but THREE syllables. But  I 
> figured, well, it's Wolfe's story.
> 
> However, while rereading interviews yesterday I came across this 
> statement by Wolfe:
> 
> http://www.sfsite.com/03b/gw124.htm
> 
> Wolfe: "Of course all of us speak differently to different audiences. 
> Auk talks like I do when I'm talking to the dogs. Almost no one seems to

> notice how Oreb talks, but _Oreb can manage only two syllables_: 'Good 
> bird! Watch out! Bad boy. Iron girl. Good Silk!' "
> 
> I don't know what it signifies, but based on what Wolfe says, it ought 
> to mean something.

Quite apart from _Orphans of the Sky_, I'm pretty sure that it's the
Outsider speaking through Oreb to his Fisher of Men.


Adam

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