Writer Sanctum
Writer's Haven => Writer's Workshop [Public] => Topic started by: Neus on July 20, 2019, 10:17:05 AM
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Hello everyone,
My novel is written in American English and it's based in Asia.
There's a part where I need to mention the exact temperature, and my question is, which one shall I use, Celsius or Fahrenheit?
As an information note, only a few countries use Fahrenheit as their official scale: the United States, Belize, Palau, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands.
Another question I have is how to write it (here is an example for the Celsius case):
a) "The human body temperature shouldn't be lower than thirty-five degrees Celsius," said Maria.
b) "The human body temperature shouldn't be lower than 35ºC," said Maria.
c) "The human body temperature shouldn't be lower than thirty-five degrees," said Maria*
*case c) it's because no one says Celsius when they normally talk, so maybe it's implicit here that lower than 35 degrees would be Celsius and not Fahrenheit (as for Fahrenheit it would be 95)?
Thank you very much!!
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Are the characters American? Is it an Asian doctor talking to Americans?
I would say, "...be lower than 35 degrees, oh that's 95 Farenheit."
As an American I would ask for a translation, or pull out my phone, cause 35 degree body temperature in F is pretty obviously dead.
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If based in Asia with Asian characters (or Americans who have transitioned to living in Asia) I'd use B or C. If they are Americans who are thinking in Fahrenheit, they might blurt out "95 degrees" and if there are looks of horror, why the person is close to boiling, quickly convert to oC. If the hearer is scientifically oriented, they can convert in their heads to a good approximation.
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Are the characters American? Is it an Asian doctor talking to Americans?
I would say, "...be lower than 35 degrees, oh that's 95 Farenheit."
As an American I would ask for a translation, or pull out my phone, cause 35 degree body temperature in F is pretty obviously dead.
The characters are Asian, non-doctors.
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Are the characters American? Is it an Asian doctor talking to Americans?
I would say, "...be lower than 35 degrees, oh that's 95 Farenheit."
As an American I would ask for a translation, or pull out my phone, cause 35 degree body temperature in F is pretty obviously dead.
The characters are Asian, non-doctors.
I would go with option C then.
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I would go with c in that situation.
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Option c, for sure. If it's about human body temperature, you don't need to mention celsius, people will understand.
I mean, if I read somewhere that a person's temperature is ninety-eight degrees, I know it's F.
It's funny because I had the same issue in my last novel, but it was a Canadian girl talking to her Canadian friend. Then I found the perfect solution: since it was extreme cold, I went with "close to -40" because it's the same in C and F. I wanted -30 C, but I didn't want her saying Celsius, because it would be silly, so I went with -40.
You can find a solution, I think, to use C without having to explain it and without having to make the characters say Celsius.