erik in a frat definitely doesn't work for me, either. i used fratty to mean the type of guy who stereotypically would be in a frat, not necessarily someone who is in a frat. so big drinker/partier, a little crazy, etc. (not that i think erik is like this either.)
the perfect english thing is my phrasing, not theirs. just that he'd correct erik if he made a mistake or fix his idioms, etc. i think at the end of the day that erik would think that knowledge is knowledge, particularly since it wouldn't be his roommate sitting down and actually teaching him these things in any sort of formal way. and that erik is smart and cares about his fluency and would make a mental note of these things and not do it again.
i suppose it could happen in gymnasium, but i see erik as still fluctuating between being withdrawn and aggressive in Gymnasium, mostly as the result of shaw, whom i see him viewing as a surrogate older brother. as a result, he didn't have close friends then, certainly no one from whom he'd pick up slang. i also think that the ability to curse properly is one of the biggest distinctions between native and non-native speakers, and erik would take care to learn it.
i picture erik's roommate as some big, blond all-american type who drinks and parties and is a womanizer and likes a good time. he's not in the room that often, and he doesn't throw parties there, and he doesn't bring girls back, and he probably couch surfs a lot with friends after a night of heavy drinking. but when he does come back to the room, he kind of likes his quiet, somewhat geeky roommate and likes to shoot the shit with him. erik doesn't think about him a lot, because while they were roommates for two years, he wasn't around all that often, but he picked up a lot from him.
i think the reason they lived together for that long is for the reason that lots of guys that i know had the same roommates from freshman year on: for a lot of them, as soon as you find someone that you can live with, it's just not worth it to find someone else. so they lived together freshman and sophomore year, and then ask soon as erik was able to find a single, he moved into a single, and his roommate moved into a huge party suite with some of his friends.
Haha, as you can see, I'm really nitpicky, but I just wanted to clarify to make sure there isn't like, misunderstanding? :D?
and I'm okay with it being that way. it just didn't entirely sound like it was that way in the first mention? I can see Erik being okay with that; I couldn't really see him being okay if his roommate was just like, you speak English weird, let me teach you the right way?
properly howso? I'm just curious since my roommate was taught how/what context to swear in Germany by her German speaking friend before she could actually converse in normal conversation. then again, I swear a lot and so do most of my friends, so that could be it, too. (really, I clean up my internet conversation a lot, haha.)
I'm good with all of that, I think. I think the other thing that slightly confused me was the original phrasing about how his roommate would try to get Erik to join him a lot or something and it confused me why Erik would be friends with that guy but be annoyed at Charles being around all the time etc.
it's all :D no charles raised eyebrows of doom here!
sometimes i forget that other people don't live in my brain and automatically know what i'm thinking when i say things. words are a very imperfect medium; i'm going to have to develop telepathy. :)
oh, i don't mean properly like when it's appropriate. i mean properly like saying things like "what the fuck?" which isn't something you'd pick up in school. or "what the hell is wrong with you" or things like that. how to use curses in normal sentences, rather than just as expletives.
in terms of his roommate trying to get erik to join him, i just meant that he'd probably be like, "hey, man, come out for a beer with us tonight," and erik would make a face, and say "no, thank you," and then his roommate would mimic him and say, "no, thank you," with exactly the same intonation, and so erik would throw something at him and say, "fuck off," and the roommate would cheer and hold a hand out for a fist bump and say, "that's more like it!" and erik would roll his eyes and go back to ignoring him, and the roommate would leave.
hooray! :D I'm glad you aren't put off by how demanding I am. because sometimes I feel like I'm pretty stubborn about things, but it's just because I want our story to be the best it can be.
that could help, I suppose. :)
oh, haha, okay. that makes more sense. :D
that also makes more sense, too, w/r/t why Erik's growing frustrated with Charles during our story.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
the perfect english thing is my phrasing, not theirs. just that he'd correct erik if he made a mistake or fix his idioms, etc. i think at the end of the day that erik would think that knowledge is knowledge, particularly since it wouldn't be his roommate sitting down and actually teaching him these things in any sort of formal way. and that erik is smart and cares about his fluency and would make a mental note of these things and not do it again.
i suppose it could happen in gymnasium, but i see erik as still fluctuating between being withdrawn and aggressive in Gymnasium, mostly as the result of shaw, whom i see him viewing as a surrogate older brother. as a result, he didn't have close friends then, certainly no one from whom he'd pick up slang. i also think that the ability to curse properly is one of the biggest distinctions between native and non-native speakers, and erik would take care to learn it.
i picture erik's roommate as some big, blond all-american type who drinks and parties and is a womanizer and likes a good time. he's not in the room that often, and he doesn't throw parties there, and he doesn't bring girls back, and he probably couch surfs a lot with friends after a night of heavy drinking. but when he does come back to the room, he kind of likes his quiet, somewhat geeky roommate and likes to shoot the shit with him. erik doesn't think about him a lot, because while they were roommates for two years, he wasn't around all that often, but he picked up a lot from him.
i think the reason they lived together for that long is for the reason that lots of guys that i know had the same roommates from freshman year on: for a lot of them, as soon as you find someone that you can live with, it's just not worth it to find someone else. so they lived together freshman and sophomore year, and then ask soon as erik was able to find a single, he moved into a single, and his roommate moved into a huge party suite with some of his friends.
is any of this working better for you? :D
no subject
and I'm okay with it being that way. it just didn't entirely sound like it was that way in the first mention? I can see Erik being okay with that; I couldn't really see him being okay if his roommate was just like, you speak English weird, let me teach you the right way?
properly howso? I'm just curious since my roommate was taught how/what context to swear in Germany by her German speaking friend before she could actually converse in normal conversation. then again, I swear a lot and so do most of my friends, so that could be it, too. (really, I clean up my internet conversation a lot, haha.)
I'm good with all of that, I think. I think the other thing that slightly confused me was the original phrasing about how his roommate would try to get Erik to join him a lot or something and it confused me why Erik would be friends with that guy but be annoyed at Charles being around all the time etc.
no subject
sometimes i forget that other people don't live in my brain and automatically know what i'm thinking when i say things. words are a very imperfect medium; i'm going to have to develop telepathy. :)
oh, i don't mean properly like when it's appropriate. i mean properly like saying things like "what the fuck?" which isn't something you'd pick up in school. or "what the hell is wrong with you" or things like that. how to use curses in normal sentences, rather than just as expletives.
in terms of his roommate trying to get erik to join him, i just meant that he'd probably be like, "hey, man, come out for a beer with us tonight," and erik would make a face, and say "no, thank you," and then his roommate would mimic him and say, "no, thank you," with exactly the same intonation, and so erik would throw something at him and say, "fuck off," and the roommate would cheer and hold a hand out for a fist bump and say, "that's more like it!" and erik would roll his eyes and go back to ignoring him, and the roommate would leave.
no subject
that could help, I suppose. :)
oh, haha, okay. that makes more sense. :D
that also makes more sense, too, w/r/t why Erik's growing frustrated with Charles during our story.