JesterBL
Gastronaut
- Location
- Flyover Country, USA
- Pronouns
- he/him
There's actually a parallel debate at the other place about how a relatively novel focus on economics has killed a lot of ideas for TLs in the cradle.This genre could benefit as much from an influx of linguists as it would with people who knew economics. (Not actual economists though, those guys have weird ideas)
I personally, am all for it, mostly because I am tired of AH that treats the whole world like a Paradox game map.
I think it really comes down to what the end goal is- is it to write an engaging story set in an alternate history? If so you should err on the side of caution and use alternate terms only where they firmly give a sense of place and time. A writer who did this well (but got SO CLOSE to the line of too much) was Michael Chabon in The Yiddish Policemen's Union. Writers who do it not so well are every modern first time fantasy writer. If you're not trying to do a story, go wild. Include a glossary.Semi-related thought, if an AH has, say, a PoD in the 1600s but advances all the way to the 1900s, should the writer have his characters travel by “Aeromobiles”, “Landships” and”autogiros” or just call them cars, trucks and helicopters and get on with it
I have occasionally lost myself to etymological rivet counting and that's with a scenario where the major divergences are in the 20th century.