Forum: Author Hangout

Your assumptions as to the complete versions of the abbreviations are correct. The apostrophe denotes a missing letter or letters.

In other words, you can't use "I punched 'em in the jaw" in written dialogue, but can use "Put 'em up, put 'em up!"

That's going to curtail a LOT of kid-on-kid literary brawls (playground brawls, not literary discussion inside the classroom). :(

So now I've gotta ask, how many single pronoun uses of 'em can anyone find in their private/online libraries. I'd like to know how others handle it (using "'em" or the more formal "them")?

Thanks, graybyrd, that was actually more of what I was looking for, not the standard English usage, but how other authors would approach it (i.e. use the speech as spoken, give up on the phasing altogether or rephrase it entirely to avoid the dilemma).

As far as reading it aloud, it actually sounds (to me) more natural using the 'em, though I'll probably go with the 'im to keep the meaning clear and circumvent all the corrections from readers.

I never expected to find much help from the dictionaries, but I was hoping to find a little guidance somewhere online.

Okay, this is probably just how my mind works. To me, 'em can be used interchangeably, but 'im I would only use when trying to get across a British (Cockney) accent. (Pardon the horribly campy dialog to follow.)

"Put 'em up, I says... Put 'em up or I'll plug youse where you stand." It was clear to everyone, Mugsy wasn't playing games!

"Do 'im Mugsy!" Toothless said, his accent much more pronounced when he was excited... or drunk. "Give 'im a third eye wot's all leaky-loike." he cackled, rubbing his hands together.

To my U.S. ear, "'em" is plural; "'im" is singular and closely emulates informal rural speech. Gawd only knows how they talk in the cities; I try to avoid those places. And there's not much voice given "and" which tends to come out like "'n'" when run together with surrounding speech.

In this case, aside from using several big words, Paul is definitely a transplanted suburban kid himself (as the talk about gang initiates reveals—Manhattan 'ain't Chi-town, after all). Thus his speech patterns are kinda all over the place. But I like how your mind works, as you advice sounds solid, and your examples work nicely.

In my case, I typically use "an'" for a concatenated "and".

But New York is an odd mix, with Manhattanites speaking like college professors, Those in Brookly and the Bronx having their own speech patterns, plus those brought in from those commuting from Jersey.

Paul tries to sound like he's from Manhattan, but whenever he gets excited, his speech lips into a mix of his native speech (?) and Brooklynese.

Nope. No Cockney, as these are two American kids, one a transplant to New York after running away from home, and the others nieve small-community suburban kids.

Them is one of those odd words that can be used in a gender neutral way and will cover single as well as multiple people except where it's blatantly clear after having already spoken about a single person by direct reference.

…

If you start talking about Fred you can't then switch to using them to refer to him. However, if you start talking about an unknown person you can use them to refer to the person as a single person or multiple people.

No, in my case, the readers will immediately know who he's referring to, as it's the start of fight, but again, though I couldn't find any online usages of "'em", I may stick with it anyway as a common usage utterance, just 'cause "'im" is so far out in left field.

So, in your opinion, which would be better to use in spoken dialogue: "'em" or "'im"?

Just to clarify, here's a short passage, to help put the example in context:

"No? I'll tell you what, I'll give you the first punch, and then all bets are off," Paul challenged.

However, the kid hesitated, either questioning whether he could win or suspecting a trap. Paul shrugged, started to turn, then spun around, throwing a punch that seemed wide of the mark. However, the kid stumbled back, gasping, before he collapsed, clutching his throat, coughing and chocking. His two supporters immediately backed up.

"Anyone else?"

"I thought you were giving him the first shot?"

"I got bored waiting for 'im. Bullies are all talk, but we're from the mean streets of New York. I've seen beatings on the street, gang initiations, police shootings up close and personal, and dead bodies galore."

…

"Man, that was so neat! Did you plan that?"

"No one's ever stood up to Bud before. It was great seeing you whoop his ass!"

"Can you show us how to do that?"

"Do what," Paul chuckled. "He slipped and fell. I never touched him."

The kids again glanced at each other, gauging each other's reasons.

"You're right, I didn't see a thing."

"You never laid a hand on 'im. He was backing up so fast, he fell hard."

"Is what he said true?" Peg whispered.

So, in your opinion, which would be better to use in spoken dialogue: "'em" or "'im"?

If it's blatantly clear you're referring to a singular male then 'im would be acceptable, but my personal usage would be to use him unless it's part of a particular dialect in use.

If it's blatantly clear you're referring to a singular male then 'im would be acceptable, but my personal usage would be to use him unless it's part of a particular dialect in use.

On the advice of graybyrd, I dropped the "for 'im" entirely, making it short and sweet with "I got bored waiting." It's more in keeping with Paul's 'tough thug' image he's trying to sell. Though I kept it for the other kid, as it seems more 'Midwestern' somehow.