Well, I like to defend really good writers, so... ;)
(Yes, staunch is also listed as a variant of stanch, but why use a word with multiple meanings — of which the intended meaning is the most tenuous and least-known) when there’s a nearly-identical word that means exactly what you want and only that?)
Because it's English, and she can. And actually, because afaik, more people are actually familiar with the "staunch" spelling than the "stanch." I'd never seen the one without the "u" until this post, not that I recall.
(She also mentions ‘loading a bow’, or a ‘loaded bow’, when clearly it should have been ‘nocking an arrow’ or ‘an arrow ready on the bowstring’.)
Couldn't this simply be a colloquialism? A bit too current-slang for future Panem, perhaps, but when writing in 1st person present, wouldn't something as imprecise (not necessarily incorrect) as this get a pass?
no subject
(Yes, staunch is also listed as a variant of stanch, but why use a word with multiple meanings — of which the intended meaning is the most tenuous and least-known) when there’s a nearly-identical word that means exactly what you want and only that?)
Because it's English, and she can. And actually, because afaik, more people are actually familiar with the "staunch" spelling than the "stanch." I'd never seen the one without the "u" until this post, not that I recall.
(She also mentions ‘loading a bow’, or a ‘loaded bow’, when clearly it should have been ‘nocking an arrow’ or ‘an arrow ready on the bowstring’.)
Couldn't this simply be a colloquialism? A bit too current-slang for future Panem, perhaps, but when writing in 1st person present, wouldn't something as imprecise (not necessarily incorrect) as this get a pass?