One of the tricky aspects of writing about a certain historical period is the use of language in dialogue. You want your characters to sound natural to the modern ear, but not out of place within the context of the era they’re living in. The word choices you make are important, because the wrong ones can really jar the reader.
In my new historical romance, The Art of Love, for example, most of the action takes place between 1896 and 1903. Men who lived in that era might have used the expression “Jumpin’ Jehosaphat!” to show surprise or incredulity—that slang phrase entered the lexicon around mid century. They could have easily described a pretty woman as “a huckleberry above a persimmon.” Or, if depressed about a major setback, they might have said, “I was catawamptiously chewed up.”
But come on, if the hero used those words, we’d be smirking at his “country bumpkin” persona, and I for one, would have already crossed him off my “sexiest guy in the room” list. Okay, I’m shallow, but I want my leading man to be cool!
The same problem occurs if the character sounds too modern. Would you believe it if the hero of a story set in the 19th century said things like, “Dude, that’s awesome” or “Don’t freak out on me.” (hmm, those phrases sound outdated even now!).
Some terms sound like they could work, but if you’re being true to the time period, they really won’t. Case in point: I wanted my hero, Gus, to use the term “For Chrissakes,” but my editor pointed out that that phrase didn’t enter the language until after my story took place. She’s right, at least according to the Oxford Dictionary. “Chrissakes” didn’t begin to show up until the 1920’s (I still feel it could have sneaked under the wire, but….)
Fortunately, there are a lot of words and phrases that straddle the divide between then and now. Words like “all-fired up,” “bad egg,” “old biddy” (meaning an annoying older lady), “conniption fit,” critter,” “dead meat,” etc. convey a sense of the time without sounding terribly out of place. And there are the classic terms and expressions that never seem to go out of style, like “hell,” “Damn,” “damn it,” and all those other “expressions of intense feeling” we know and love.
So, if you’re reading a historical novel and the language sounds too quaint, it’s probably accurate to the time period. If it sounds too modern, then look up the phrase’s etymology (word origin) and see if your hunch was correct. You could also just get let it go and keep reading. Hopefully the story’s intriguing enough to pull you along despite the jarring word or two. Try it with The Art of Love and let me know what you think.
