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Jan. 16th, 2012 04:44 pmGah, I can't take it anymore. I read SGA fic by a lot of different kinds of authors. And, while often the pieces are very good, the details make the fic, and a few details always bug me and are very common. First, everyone in the military is not a 'soldier'; soldiers are in the Army. The correct general reference for someone in the Air Force is 'airman'. Marines are either 'marines', 'jarheads' (so named for the haircut they give you in basic), and Navy are 'sailors' or 'squids'.
Second, not all officers went to a service academy. In fact, a very small percentage of military officers went to the service academies. Most did ROTC in college. As a corollary, all officers in the military have at least a bachelor's degree, and many, like pilots, have advanced degrees. These are not stupid people. Also, as a completely unrelated thing, not everyone from the South has a drawl or doesn't use correct grammar.
Third, fraternization regs only apply to two military personnel in the same chain of command. They do not apply to civilians at all.
Fourth, and this is Stargate specific, the Ancients' ban on interference was only for ascended beings. I see this in a lot of fics, so I know a lot of people don't remember this. The non-intervention policy does not apply to corporeal, mortal Ancients.
Okay, I'm glad I got that off my chest. I know people don't intend to make these mistakes, and a lot of them aren't aware that they are mistakes. I think there's an LJ comm that is specifically for people who have questions about military matters; don't remember the name of it, but it's there. Wikipedia is also rather helpful for these things. Don't take offense at this, okay? Just, these things have bothered me for quite a while, and I felt the need to get it off my chest. We'll save the rant on how people don't know colloquialisms because they only ever hear them rather than seeing them printed for another day (except, it's worse comes to worst; it means if something that's already bad gets worse--you can't have worse come to worst. 'Comes' in this instance elides the 'to pass' that should be there as in 'comes to pass').
(Also, 'should of' etc. doesn't exist; what you're looking for is the contraction of 'should have' which is 'should've'. And you can't pluralise something by adding 's to it; that makes it possessive. And if something already ends in 's' you pluralise it by adding 'es', as in Jones becomes Joneses. To make Jones possessive you just add an apostrophe, Jones'.)
Okay, I lied about the lack of a grammar rant. Sorry.
Second, not all officers went to a service academy. In fact, a very small percentage of military officers went to the service academies. Most did ROTC in college. As a corollary, all officers in the military have at least a bachelor's degree, and many, like pilots, have advanced degrees. These are not stupid people. Also, as a completely unrelated thing, not everyone from the South has a drawl or doesn't use correct grammar.
Third, fraternization regs only apply to two military personnel in the same chain of command. They do not apply to civilians at all.
Fourth, and this is Stargate specific, the Ancients' ban on interference was only for ascended beings. I see this in a lot of fics, so I know a lot of people don't remember this. The non-intervention policy does not apply to corporeal, mortal Ancients.
Okay, I'm glad I got that off my chest. I know people don't intend to make these mistakes, and a lot of them aren't aware that they are mistakes. I think there's an LJ comm that is specifically for people who have questions about military matters; don't remember the name of it, but it's there. Wikipedia is also rather helpful for these things. Don't take offense at this, okay? Just, these things have bothered me for quite a while, and I felt the need to get it off my chest. We'll save the rant on how people don't know colloquialisms because they only ever hear them rather than seeing them printed for another day (except, it's worse comes to worst; it means if something that's already bad gets worse--you can't have worse come to worst. 'Comes' in this instance elides the 'to pass' that should be there as in 'comes to pass').
(Also, 'should of' etc. doesn't exist; what you're looking for is the contraction of 'should have' which is 'should've'. And you can't pluralise something by adding 's to it; that makes it possessive. And if something already ends in 's' you pluralise it by adding 'es', as in Jones becomes Joneses. To make Jones possessive you just add an apostrophe, Jones'.)
Okay, I lied about the lack of a grammar rant. Sorry.
