It's nothing important but I thought last night when I read another instance of it "I wonder why they do that?" and as it's pretty hard to know what search term to use...

I've noticed before in 18th and 19th Century literature, that there's a strong use of ________ instead of people/place names.

Like in Pride and Prejudice, Austen will refer to "______shire" or "Colonel ______." for example. It's like she's used the lines in place of a name. I'm pretty sure I've noticed it in Poe too.

I'm just wondering why they did it? Was it to save coming up with a name for a character or place? Or is it something that was done at the publishing stage by the editor? :confused:

Like I say, it's not hugely important and doesn't detract from the book at all, I'm just interested. :D

<edit> Sorry, just realised this should probably be in Literature and not Writing but I'm not sure how to change it...

Hi, Kohoutek!

Did you post what is above, because it's an assignment that you have?

Thanks!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Clough

Hi, Kohoutek!

Did you post what is above, because it's an assignment that you have?

Thanks!

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No, I'm just interested - I do a lot of reading and it's something I've come across a few times. It's just for my own interest really. Because it's quite tricky to Google search for, I thought I'd ask on here. :)

It was to disguise the identity of the person they were writing about. It was very common to have utterly salicious gossip in newspapers, but they would not give actual names, just Lady A________ or Lord __________ People would know, but it made it harder for the victims to complain.