Jump
In which the pilots conduct a ship wipe.
Clarence deciding to address Bechimo as “Chimmy” serves two purposes, one for the readers and one for the characters.
Outside the story, it lets the readers know how “Bechimo” is pronounced. I can think of at least three ways to pronounce the “ch” in “Bechimo” (and I apparently chose the wrong one the first time I read Ghost Ship), but there’s really only one way to pronounce the “ch” in “Chimmy”.
Inside the story, it’s a signal from Clarence about how he intends to interact with Bechimo, a signal which Bechimo seems to be pointedly declining to take note of. (I don’t for a moment believe that he wasn’t capable of figuring out who Clarence was talking to; pretending he didn’t get it was his own signal, and one I expect Clarence cheerfully to ignore in his turn.)
The part of the signal Bechimo’s probably objecting to is the part that says Clarence isn’t going to let him get away with being formal and high-handed. They’ve got to work as a team if it’s going to work at all, and that means every member of the team has to be open to input from the others; especially since it’s been demonstrated that even though Bechimo knows things about the ship and the Builders that the rest of the crew doesn’t, on practical matters there are times he’d do well to pay attention to the experienced pilots.
There’s another part of the signal which Bechimo maybe genuinely isn’t getting or appreciating: Clarence tends to interact with people in a casual, friendly sort of mode, the kind where nicknames are appropriate, so doing it with Bechimo shows he accepts Bechimo as a person.
(I find myself wondering whether there ever was an original Chimmy, or if that’s merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.)
You raise some excellent observations on why Clarence decided to call Bechimo Chimmy. I hadn’t thought of those reasons, and found the nickname just an odd thing to do. Now it makes perfect sense!
I do question this statement, though: “there’s really only one way to pronounce the “ch” in “Chimmy”.
The beginning consonants -ch- could be pronounced like Chicago and charade (how the authors want it spoken) or it could be pronounced like chimney and cheese. It could even get the hard sound, as in chaos and chasm. Or the guttural, as in Hebrew word chutzpah.
If the authors hadn’t told us, I would have probably gone with chimney. (But I like the feeling of shimmy, so I’m glad they told us)
So, this is weird, because I am quite certain that I have heard the authors pronounce “Bechimo” with a ‘ch’ as in chimney. (Probably on one of the Baen Radio Hour podcasts, but I don’t recall offhand which.) I am particularly certain that it wasn’t ‘ch’ as in charade, because that was the way I had been pronouncing it up to then.
Do you recall the source of your information that it is meant to be ‘ch’ as in charade?
Oh! im not sure how I came by that sense. It might have been thru audiobooks, by the way the narrator reads it. Another….in one of the books, the authors say how it should b pronounced. Maybe in a forward, or author note? I haven’t yet listened t the author podcasts so….
I will check back, and if I happen upon it, will let you know. Keep in mind, I could be all wet.
I think chapter 14 implies it is Bechimo, as in chimney and cheese. You caught that.
But I could swear I read somewhere (a blog??) that it’s Beshimo. …shhh…French style…Or maybe I’m just mixed up because that’s how the narrator pronounces it, in all three audiobooks, so the authors never corrected her, I guess. Narrator says Besh, not Betch or Beck.
My problem with pronunciation of Bechimo was not regarding the sound to give the “ch” but the sound I was giving to the “i” that follows.
From the first that I saw the name, I thought of it as pronounced like this: beh-CHEE-mo. If Clarence is calling the ship “Chimmy” that tells me I ought to be pronouncing the full name as BEHCH-ih-mo, right? Is that what the authors said? (I suppose I could stop being lazy, and just go find the podcast for myself, but it’s easier to ask here 😉 ).
So, it appears my memory has been playing tricks on me.
“Bechimo” is not one of the names included in the pronunciation guide on Splinter Universe.
So I turned to the Baen podcast about The Gathering Edge — and in that, the authors pronounce it “Beh-SHEE-mo”. (They also say that the name was inspired by the SS Baychimo, which would be more helpful if I knew how that was pronounced.)
Thanks for finding it, Paul. Now we know.
Ooo…yes! English editors and amateur linguists (i.e., me) definitely like to know these things!
But now I have to agree with Bechimo.
All this time I had thought he was being a bit oversensitive to being nicknamed “chimmy,” but if what Clarence is saying sounds like “shimmy,” an abnormal vibration in a mechanical system, then it would have seemed quite degrading to Bechimo.