Poll on understanding of terminology.

[a_cubed]

If you came across the phrase “hikikomori shut-in” in a short story, would you understand what it meant or would it jar you out of the reading zone and maybe necessitate you looking it up? It’s a bit of verbiage, I know (all hikikomori are shut-ins), but I like the idea that the term hikikomori could enter English more thoroughly than it has, but as it hasn’t entered it fully yet adding the “shut-in” verbiage seems like a reasonable compromise for a near-future story. I could just use “shut-in” but that has a broader meaning anyway and doesn’t necessarily include the cutting off of physical contact with others, just an inability to leave one’s home due to physical mobility of psychological issues. Please comment on LJ or a-cubed.info as to whether you would find it distracting in a short story.

Originally published at blog.a-cubed.info

Comments

[tobyaw]

It's not a work I'd heard of. I'd normally look things up in a dictionary/Wikipedia if the meaning isn't apparent from the context.

Use of words I don't know isn't distracting if they are important to the story. If, on the other hand, the author is just showing off that they own a dictionary and know some obscure words, I would react with irritation.

In this case, it looks like hikikomori is a distinct cultural phenomena, so using that word adds useful depth to the description.

[a-cubed.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Useful point of view.

[meepfrog.livejournal.com]

I would agree with Toby.

[a-cubed.livejournal.com]

THanks for the input.