How do I say ">" in dialogue?
Posted by pjkitty@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 63 comments
Sorry if this sounds silly and/or is something obvious. I'm narrating an audiobook and I've come across a few lines I'm not sure how to read out loud. It has to do with commands on a computer, looks like what I would have seen in DOS, but that was so many years ago for me. I'm not going to say "greater than symbol", but would it be something like "right arrowhead", or "right angle bracket"?
Here are some of the lines in question:
- "Meanwhile, not all the screens were displaying video feeds from the human world. There was one that simply had a small > icon flashing in the top left corner."
- ">RUN>✱ACCESS DENIED"
- ">LOGIN>✱ACCESS DENIED"
- ">LORD SCANTHAX HAS MOLDY UNDERWEAR>✱ACCESS DENIED"
colbytron@reddit
On a completely different note, what are your rates for narrating an audiobook? I'm in the market. I think it reads well without the >.
pjkitty@reddit (OP)
I charge $150 per finished hour (audio recorded, edited and mastered). If that seems like a lot, well, just know I'm not SAG Union, which requires a $250 minimum per finished hour. However, if a book is already out in print and is selling well, I will consider royalty share.
colbytron@reddit
I'm still in the query process, and that takes a while, but the manuscript is finished and I have about half the book posted on my website if you want to check it out. $150 per finished hour is a really great rate! Have you done anything that I could check out? my website
pjkitty@reddit (OP)
Sure, I've got demos and links to my live books on my website.
vapocalypse52@reddit
The '>' in this constant is a prompt symbol. For the symbol itself, you could it a caret, a chevron or an angled bracket. Then, I think it would be better to say:
You could even add that the protagonist (I assume) types the prompt and the computer responds to it in the first line, then just the summarized version afterwards:
BenjaminGeiger@reddit
Nitpick: It's a "prompt" because it's prompting you to enter a command. So, I'd go with "Joe types the command: RUN."
vapocalypse52@reddit
True. I also think it's better this way.
wosmo@reddit
I think I'd stick with prompt. prompt just says the computer is waiting for something. so
is a prompt.
C:\>is a prompt.@BOOTis a prompt. they're all waiting for different things, but they're all waiting for something.BenjaminGeiger@reddit
That doesn't change the fact that what "Joe" types in isn't a prompt. It's (in this scenario) a command.
Kakirax@reddit
JeelyPiece@reddit
And the v = dangle
investorhalp@reddit
And ^?
JeelyPiece@reddit
(U)pangle
Chaoslordi@reddit
I would say "bigger sign" or "angle bracket to the right"
maxpowerAU@reddit
I’d use some kind of bleep, either play it from your phone into your mic or use your clicker (if you use a clicker, or just clap or something) to mark where you want to add it and bung it in later.
So you’d get
[BEEP] Run [BEEP][BOOP] Access denied
Andux@reddit
I apologise if this so covered elsewhere, but why not ask whomever commissioned you to read this audiobook, what they want?
meong-oren@reddit
this should be it, ask the author
meong-oren@reddit
at least you don't have to read linux prompt, some can be pretty wild
pjkitty@reddit (OP)
Thanks everyone for the input!!!!! I think for the one Iine, I'll say "command prompt icon", and the for all the others I'll just treat them as punctuation.
misplaced_my_pants@reddit
I might go with "NEW COMMAND".
VacuumsCantSpell@reddit
You could just explain it as an aside. "I going to to call this symbol [whatever you decide] but it's also known as [everything else suggested]."
seabutcher@reddit
As a potentially relevant aside, whether you should call it that might depend on if the character would call it that.
I don't know anything about what book this is or if you're under some sort of NDA or what, but... are you able to have a conversation with the author? (No idea if this is a case of narrating your friend's hobby project or you're linked indirectly via half a dozen intermediate agents and contacts to a bestselling hermit who has less than three human interactions a year.)
If not, I'm thinking maybe something like "input prompt icon" for a character who is meant to be well-versed in computing and knows exactly what they're looking at, but if you're narrating from the POV of someone with less of an IT background or no idea what they're doing, it might actually be better to refer to it as a greater than symbol, or just an arrowhead symbol, or whatever they'd think it is.
But yeah- it's definitely not something worth mentioning as part of the actual text where the reader's attention isn't specifically drawn to it, unless this is a story where the exact spelling and syntax is somehow a relevant plot point. (And in that case I'd really like to know what book it is because I could genuinely fall in love with an author with such an overwhelming capacity for pedantry.)
HHH___@reddit
Thank you for doing this, as someone who listens to audio books it’s really jarring when command line style stuff gets read improperly, especially if it’s a long section
In Cryptonomicon there are examples of the narrator doing it both well and poorly
In Cuckoos nest the narrator reads terminal output in a slower more precise tone and it can make it sound odd when listening at higher speeds
So as a listener, this goes a long way!
CancerSpidey@reddit
Greater than lol
Franarky@reddit
I'm not sure you need to. If you ignore the chevrons, it still reads ok.
"Meanwhile, not all the screens were displaying video feeds from the human world. There was one that simply had a small icon flashing in the top left corner. RUN, ACCESS DENIED LOGIN, ACCESS DENIED LORD SCANTHAX HAS MOLDY UNDERWEAR, ACCESS DENIED"
Alternatively, I'd go with the meaning rather than a literal. It's a prompt or cursor. Unless what it looks like is relevant to the story, it's not worth getting into.
spookyskeletony@reddit
I agree, the syntactical meaning of “>” in this context is essentially saying “this is a new statement”. If you wouldn’t narrate the word “period” at the end of every sentence of the text, then you don’t need to name “>”.
However, for clarity to the listener, I would probably say the following:
“Meanwhile, not all the screens were displaying video feeds from the human world. There was one that simply had a small chevron icon flashing in the top left corner.”
“Command: RUN. Response: ACCESS DENIED.”
“Command: LOGIN. Response: ACCESS DENIED.”
“Command: LORD SCANTHAX HAS MOLDY UNDERWEAR. Response: ACCESS DENIED.”
zylog413@reddit
I would just narrate the response in my best robot voice
So-many-ducks@reddit
I’d just read the chevrons as beeps and boops to sound extra robotty.
Ormek_II@reddit
Sounds good to me. I wanted to opt for “prompt”, but yours is better.
d0RSI@reddit
If you don’t say Greater Than when saying it out loud, you’re a psycho lol
ccoakley@reddit
“Close alligator” for life.
Mindless-Hedgehog460@reddit
suggestion: record sawtooth waves of various pitches, and play .2 seconds or so instead of pronouncing the symbol, to make it sound robotic
Dziadzios@reddit
Beep.
calsosta@reddit
It is a greater than symbol but in this case the symbol represents a prompt. I would read it as
totes-alt@reddit
It's pronounced beep boop
thisisjoy@reddit
chevron is the proper term for that symbol. other terms are “Greater Than” or if you’re explaining it as in step you would use the word “then”. In your case though chevron it the correct usage.
But you could probably just say it had a small icon flashing in the top left corner saying xyz
SeabassDan@reddit
be me
angrynoah@reddit
it's pronounced "waka"
https://spot.colorado.edu/~sniderc/poetry/wakawaka.html
MeepleMerson@reddit
Try using "". If it sounds weird, then use a pattern like "X typed Y. The computer responed Z."
Sylphadora@reddit
Greater than
DIYnivor@reddit
I'd say "right angle bracket" for the first sentence. For the other sentences it would be awkward to say that out every time, so I would probably skip saying it.
RolandMT32@reddit
Would anyone know what "right angle bracket" actually means though? It's not a standard term. I think "greater than" (or "greater than symbol") would be best, since that's the commonly-known term for that symbol.
DIYnivor@reddit
Good point. I'm a programmer, and that's what we call them, but I often mix up what programmers know vs what the average layperson knows.
RolandMT32@reddit
I'm also a programmer, but I haven't heard anyone call it a "right angle bracket" before.
DIYnivor@reddit
I mean, it's in every description of HTML I've ever read. "HTML elements are delineated by tags, written using angle brackets."
Careful-Lecture-9846@reddit
“Greater than sign” works for me
NewPointOfView@reddit
For narrating an audio book, I think “right angle bracket” is the best option.
“greater than sign/symbol” would be most universally understandable, and “Right angle bracket” is about equal in understandability in my opinion.
In an audiobook context, the vibe of “right angle bracket” feels most appropriate. In a precise conversation with my coworkers, I’d use “greater than symbol” for the total unambiguity even though there’s a little silliness to it.
“Right arrow head” would be confusing in my opinion. unless the whole context is about command line stuff them the following line would not work for me:
RolandMT32@reddit
I'm not sure.. As a non-standard term, would many people know what "right angle bracket" actually is? I think "Greater than symbol" (or just "greater than") makes the most sense, as that's fairly widely known.
Nixxen@reddit
I am assuming the symbols are not relevant for the story. In this context, pronouncing the symbol is not the best option. Try to convey the intent of the text.
One option could be "PROMPT, run... OUTPUT, access denied" With a slight variation in how you style the words. The prompt and output are strong, monotone, direct pronunciations. The input text and actual response has some flair to it.
Play around with it and see what feels best when trying to convey the meaning and intent of the text.
RolandMT32@reddit
I think "greater than" is okay. I don't think "right angle bracket" sounds correct. And if you use terms like "right arrowhead" or "right angle bracket", I doubt many people would know what you're talking about, whereas "greater than" is a fairly widely known thing.
zrice03@reddit
I think the first one you should say "greater than", since it's followed by the word "icon" and will make it clear which symbol it's supposed to be.
The rest I think you can just omit. Like "Run...access denied." "Login...access denied".
Raioc2436@reddit
I would just ignore that. It’s not different from other forms of punctuation in writing that you just don’t say out loud.
Saying “terminal icon” is a good alternative if you want to draw special attention to it sometimes, but I wouldn’t overuse it.
I think you should talk to the author or your dubbing director. Those are more stylistic choices than hard truths.
CyberWeirdo420@reddit
IMO calling it a chevron will work best in your case or right arrow.
The_Shryk@reddit
For the first bullet, probably something like
“Meanwhile, not all the screens were displaying video feeds from the human world. There was one that simply had a small [prompt symbol] icon flashing in the top left corner.”
You could even remove “icon” and just say prompt symbol. Or even just Prompt.
[Shell] Prompt
[Shell] Prompt icon
[Shell] Prompt symbol
All of those would be accurate, but Prompt is the most accurate. Describing it as an angle bracket doesn’t really mean much semantically as far as I’m concerned as a reader and definitely doesn’t make sense as a knower of the terminal.
As for the rest I’d probably just say it as a question or say “enter”. Examples
Run? pause for effect denied.
Or
Run? Enter paise for effect denied.
Spoken I’d expect it to be something like “Character name typed RUN and pressed enter… access denied… Login? character pecks into the keyboard… access denied… Lord Scanthax has moldy underwear? character jovially gallops on the keyboard … access denied.
wiriux@reddit
Triangulito pa la derecha
tcpukl@reddit
It is the greater than symbol. But in context I would say is in angled brackets.
civil_peace2022@reddit
Can you record a couple variations and ask the author?
when described as a symbol like the first example i would use chevron over angle bracket.
And for the rest, where its used more as visual formatting flavor, I would treat as something like punctuation. We don't usually pronounce comma, its a slight pause. Its more of a clue usually that some sort of "system" is interacting with a character and should be read in the system voice.
As a side note, I always find it terrible unfortunate in audio books when the stat blocks get read out at the end of almost every damn chapter. Like listening to the phone book being whispered in your ear.
NSNick@reddit
In this context? I would read "> icon" as "terminal prompt".
Updatebjarni@reddit
Everybody I have ever heard has said "greater than", without the "symbol" in running text.
davvblack@reddit
"greater than RUN. greater than ACCESS DENIED" is definitely the wrong way to read this text out loud.
3-stroke-engine@reddit
Other commenters have brought up good options already, but my idea is this: Maybe you can just replace the > by something that reads better, like dot, slash or colon.
"Dot Run Dot Denied" still sounds computer-sciwncy enough.
bahcodad@reddit
Left/right angle bracket
An1nterestingName@reddit
personally, I say right angular bracket, or when it's needed as a comparison, I use less than, but right arrow is also something that I'd understand