Is it better to clarify these things or not?

[Rookieqw]

Sorry to bother, but I need your wisdom.

Here's the brief situation. We have a tribe of mutants serving an empire in a world recovering from a post-apocalypse. The mutants prefer to live apart from normal humans to maintain their way of life. They use their own terms for things (cub instead of a kid, male or female in place of man or woman. Rather than saying hand, they say paw).

Now to my doubts.

Their veterans and those who have undergone rejuvenation procedures (meaning they are often over 100 years old) adjust their speech when talking to the outsiders, so as not to confuse them. But since they were raised in their society, in their heads (during their POVs) and when speaking to the members of the tribe, they use the 'regular' terms.

The MC lived outside the tribe for some time before being thrust into it. She had picked up the terms, gotten used to them, but often mixes them up in her thoughts (using both terms such as kids and cubs and such) because she is used to both variants and doesn't see anything wrong with it.

Is it better to clarify why the veterans and the MC use both variants of words, or is it wiser to trust the readers to understand the situation? On the one hand, most people are smarter than me. On the other hand, I can't expect people to read my mind and understand what is written exactly the way I intended.

 

[LiteraryWho]

That is a question I don't truly know the answer to. I think the best you can do in that situation (asides from possibly abandoning the idea entirely) is to always make sure that, when you use a non-standard term, it is abundantly clear from context what you mean. If you're always careful enough in your usage, you can allow characters to speak however feels appropriate in context.

That said, what you really ought to do is decide what value using non-standard words actually brings to your story, and then compare that to the cost. It sounds like you're writing a sci-fi story, so there is likely to already be a significant cognitive load placed on the reader. Adding unnecessary burdens can only detract from what you're actually trying to accomplish with your work (depending, of course, on what that actually is).

 

[HisDivineShadow]

I'd like to respond as a nitpicky reader who always notices inconsistencies. It's better to lightly mention this somewhere in a conversation between characters, for expl, someone could point out her inconsistent terminology, and she could reply something like:

“Is there really such a big difference? Words are just words. We all know what they mean. Even the veterans don't worry much about the words. Why shouldn't we do the same?

Something like that... I'd do it like this.

 

[ACertainPassingUser]

Make one character in your story explain it to MC/Protagonist. As character and the world are indirect proxy of author, MC/Protagonist are indirect proxy for reader.

If your MC/Protagonist can understand what they're saying even if theyr weird, we reader can just chalk it up to being their "uniqueness" and "quirks".

You can even not explain it for the whole story, and well accept it.

You can even try to make the MC feel its "natural", or "norma", then we as reader are forced to gaslighted and believe that those were natural as well. Thats the psychology behind it, I feel.

Congratulations, you sucessfully gaslight a bunch of reader into thinking "weird ass speaking" are "normal" by making the MC/Protagonist declare them as the normal.

Thats how magic work.

I dare you author to make more weird things happen in your story and make the character point to them and recognize them, yet declare them as "normal".

 

[K_Jira]

If I can give my two cents, I think when in MC thoughts, it's fine to just use the terms she was used to before instead of the tribe's variants for smooth reading, and use tribe terms when she verbally talks. You can also make her fumble and mix her words when she talks because her subconscious still regards the things around her with her own terms.

 

[soupsabaw]

There are multiple different ways to explain something to readers without actually outright explaining it. My usual go-to is to have a character do it for you. In my book I've got a character who is a know-it-all, so he mansplains a lot for one of the characters who is a bit of an airhead. I set them up that way partly because I wanted there to be a character who could indirectly speak to the readers by speaking to another character. He's telling her, but he's also telling the audience.

The other way is just putting it out very obviously but not saying it. Like perhaps a character makes a comment about your MC's way of mixing her words. Something that tells the reader "hey this is different" without saying those words exactly.

Or you could just speak omnipresent and explain it. "MC grew up on the outskirts, picking up some of the language. Then she was suddenly thrown into an entirely different world. Her manner of speaking seemed to merge, and her words would end up being fumbled, her mind feeling complicated with too many words." Something like that. Which is fine too. I do it sometimes as well. As long as you're not overly repeating it and getting repetitive then it's perfectly good as well.