I’m currently editing an album by Kirill Pokrovsky. The track list actually comes from a tool that allows you to extract the music from the game (Divine Divinity Music Extractor). It contained many typos, which I think I’ve corrected as much as possible. But I’m not 100% sure about one title: “They Whom Have Left Long Ago”
I strongly suspect that the “M” in “whom” needs to be removed in this context. Am I right?
I believe that “they who” is correct here, as there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this is functioning as an object (rather than a subject).
(Disclaimer: native English speaker but not an English major.)
3 Likes
Why would you want to fix this title if it’s printed this way on all releases?
The artist is not native English.
We are supposed to fix unintended print mistakes but not artist mistakes in their title choices.
1 Like
Whom is used to refer to the object of a verb or preposition. When in doubt, try this simple trick: If you can replace the word with he or she, use who. If you can replace it with him or her, use whom.
Language-nerdery aside, I agree with Jesus.
2 Likes
Wow, love that!
I will try to remember that!
2 Likes
I think I’d still switch it to use proper English if the only source is an internal string ripped from a game data file. If the composer or publisher wrote the title like this somewhere else that was intended for public consumption, then I’d use it as written. (Not sure which is the case here.)
2 Likes
Why would you want to fix this title if it’s printed this way on all releases?
I’d really like to keep it as original as possible, but the track listing from the extracted .OGG files is so obviously full of typos that I think that’s unintentional in this case. The song “Run, Zandalor, Run!” was written like this: “Run, Zanaldor, Run!”. The character in the game is definitely called Zandalor, not Zanaldor. Another example: “Warring Winds and Crimision Tides” I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be “crimson”. “Sorching Wind” → Scorching Wind. “An Aveune of Lost Tales” → Avenue. “Omnious Warnings” → Ominous Warnings.
4 Likes
Ah OK, it’s not an official release, I see.
1 Like
Basically it’s extracted songs from the game, but GOG is selling the incomplete soundtrack without titles, including duplicate tracks (very bad job on their side). The songs can be downloaded from the late artist’s website, but these are obviously also extracted/converted files with the same spelling mistakes.
1 Like
The source of the song titles apparently is someone named Rana Loreus. Maybe a BrainBox employee who created the extraction tool. This would clarify that the names do not come from the artist himself.
2 Likes