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Re:Writer Neal Stephenson unveils his digital novel The Mong... by aaronbrethorst on Wednesday September 01, 2010 @12:38PM (#1653281)
It had a purpose in the context of the novel. Why did it strike you as being cheap?
Re:Writer Neal Stephenson unveils his digital novel The Mong... by gwern on Thursday September 02, 2010 @08:36AM (#1655965)
Most of them struck me as being poor riddles; 'here's this strange quasi-English quasi-Latin word which is usually a portmanteau; try to figure out from context what it means and how I derived it!' They wound up irritating me like the meaningless religious allusions and terms in _Neon Genesis Evangelion_ (and many other anime) irritate me.

Maybe there was a purpose in the novel's context beyond being a strange bit of parallel-worlds gimcrackery. I must've missed it.