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beat the chances
lade porter
Feb 12, 2014 18:02
10 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term

She's spatial

English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Thriller Fiction
The characters from Brilliance by Marcus Sakey are talking about the most popular high-end designer. The man doesn't know her. So the woman says like this.

"Her style have reinvented the fashion industry The way she see things-she's spatial-changed everything"

I don't know how Adjective "spatial" can describe a person??

Please help me, great linguists!
Responses
4 +5 able to visualize objects from different angles and space
4 +1 spacey/original/not run-of-the-mill
3 +1 she has spatial-changed everything
3 she's special, she (has) changed everything

Discussion

Arabic & More Feb 15, 2014:
I found the sentence in question on-line here (on a site where the full text of the book can be viewed):

http://www.rulit.net/books/brilliance-read-298542-48.html

Here, the grammatical errors do not appear as posted by janejira:

"Jesus, Cooper, pick up a magazine. Her styles have reinvented the fashion industry. The way she sees things-she's spatial-changed everything. Her clothes are fetishized by socialite women. And those rich women are fetishized by middle-class suburban chicks, who want to be like the socialites, but can't afford original Lucy Veronica. So what do they do to get the next best thing to couture designed by a brilliant? They buy a knockoff sewn by a brilliant. In a sweatshop."
Arabic & More Feb 14, 2014:
I agree that the book looks interesting. Will have to check it out myself.
Arabic & More Feb 14, 2014:
@Gallagy Do you mean that the following are style choices and not grammatical errors?

"Her style have"
"The way she see things"

This is what I was referring to, so I just wanted to make sure no one thought I was saying that the word "spatial" itself is an error.

Anything is possible, especially in dialogue.
Yvonne Gallagher Feb 13, 2014:
@ Amel These are not grammatical errors at all but a deliberately chosen style. And yes, there is probably a slight pun intended. I read a bit of this story so I could answer the previous question which is why I believe a slang register has to be retained.Here are some reviews of the book
http://marcussakey.com/bk_brilliance.php

and I've added more links to my answer...these gifted people inspired by Autistic-type "Brilliants"...it seems good...Will read it when I get time.
Arabic & More Feb 13, 2014:
If the author is Marcus Sakey, which is what I understood the asker to be saying, then this is an American writer and native speaker of English. I haven't personally read his work, but he is a respected writer who would probably not make these types of grammatical errors. It is possible that the source text was copied incorrectly, and perhaps janejira can clarify this for us. As a native speaker of US English myself, I do believe the pronunciations are close enough to result in a clever play on words. There is, of course, a marked difference in both pronunciation and meaning, but the implication is clearly there. This is only my opinion, however, and others may disagree.
B D Finch Feb 13, 2014:
English This is complicated by the fact that the use of English indicates that the speaker is not a native speaker: basic grammatical errors such as "style have" and "she see". Therefore, even though a native English speaker would not have used "spatial" to imply "special" (we would be too sensitive to the difference in pronounciation of the vowels to connect the two words), a non-native might.

Does the text really have " ... things-she's spatial-changed ", or is it "... things - she's spatial - changed"? If "spatial-changed" is hyphenated in the source, then it should be "spatially changed" (no hyphen).
Arabic & More Feb 13, 2014:
I agree with Mikhail's answer and also think the writer purposely chose this word because the pronunciation is close to "special." When you read the sentence, you understand that she is a visual thinker, and you also understand that the writer is telling you this is something special or unique...but not because the meaning of the word "spatial" is actually "special." It is basically a play on words.

Responses

+5
8 mins
Selected

able to visualize objects from different angles and space

Please see this Wiki article for more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spatial_intelligence_(psycholog...
Peer comment(s):
agree Mark Nathan
8 mins
agree jccantrell : This is how I understood it. From the latest studies, not a strong capability of most women.
1 hr
agree Charles Davis : Strong support here: http://snohomishobserver.com/2013/07/16/spatial/
4 hrs
agree acetran
9 hrs
agree Arabic & More
12 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
9 mins

she has spatial-changed everything

her design changed the concept, the perception of space, it is revolutionary
Peer comment(s):
agree Alexandra Schneeuhr : I like 'changing the perception of space' idea
12 mins
Thanks!
Something went wrong...
7 hrs

she's special, she (has) changed everything

judging by the surrounding "English" and punctuation, this could be an option.
Something went wrong...
+1
19 mins

spacey/original/not run-of-the-mill


http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=spatial

wired, not boring

thinks outside the box

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Note added at 22 mins (2014-02-12 18:25:45 GMT)
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right out there/right up there. I think you need to keep a slang register.

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Note added at 15 hrs (2014-02-13 09:14:16 GMT)
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Of course the meaning is derived from the word "spatial" =seeing things from different angles as Mikhail suggests but I suggest these other words because of the type of text this is.

She is obviously creative and has original, non-humdrum ideas. She goes beyond the obvious...and yes, in this way she could also be seen as "special" . We say "she's an original" (making "original" a noun for people like this or, "she is just so creative " or as suggested already, "she really thinks outside the box, her ideas are SO original"...

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2014-02-13 19:21:54 GMT)
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some reviews of the book

http://marcussakey.com/bk_brilliance.php

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2014-02-13 19:23:02 GMT)
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http://screenrant.com/brilliance-novel-marcus-sakey-intervie...

...The book takes place in an alternate reality where 1% of the population is genetically gifted and it deals with the dramatic impact that these so-called “Brilliants” have on the world..."

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Note added at 1 day1 hr (2014-02-13 19:29:16 GMT)
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http://www.jensbookthoughts.com/2013/07/brilliance-marcus-sa...
Sakey blurs the genre lines of science fiction and crime fiction in the story of Nick Cooper, an agent with the Department of Analysis and Response (DAR). The government agency was created as a reaction to the proliferation of children born with "exceptional abilities," a.k.a. "brilliants," a.k.a. "abnorms," a.k.a. "twists." One such individual shut down the entire stock exchange because of his ability with numbers and data. But all brilliants don't have the same talents or the same level of talents."

http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/story-behind-brilliance-b...
I found myself imagining a world where the 1 in 110 children born with autism have advantages, but not challenges. And what if the abilities were more pronounced—say they could see patterns in the stock market, or read a person’s darkest secrets from their body language. What would happen when those children grew up?
Bam! There it was, a capital-I Idea, delivered with a bow on it. Only one problem—I shouldn’t write it.
The novel would have to be speculative fiction..."


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Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2014-02-13 22:25:12 GMT)
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One more thing that was raised in the Disc box, the punctuation! I I read this as

The way she see things-she's spatial-changed everything"
=(It's) the way she sees things that has changed everything, she's so "spatial" (whatever you decide to use for that, maybe keep "spatial" or use "gifted or highly-original in her spatial vision")

She's "spatial", so it's the (particular) way she sees things that has changed everything

Also, the fact the author has said tthe book was inspired by Autistic people there is lots on Google about the visual or spatial thinking of these people e.g
http://www.grandin.com/inc/visual.thinking.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_thinking

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Note added at 3 days20 hrs (2014-02-16 14:12:28 GMT)
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and just noticed the lines immediately preceding are

Hmm...and the lines that come just before:

"Those clothes were knockoffs of Lucy Veronica's new line. You know her stuff?"

"I know her name. She's gifted, right?"

so, since the book is about gifted brilliant people it ties in completely with their visual thinking...
Note from asker:
Wow, that helps me so much! Thank you 1,000 times! Gallagy. You are super
Peer comment(s):
agree Dr. Ellen Yutzy Glebe : This is along the lines of my gut response, too.
37 mins
Many thanks:-)
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