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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
7 is interesting. I use my left hand to scratch the left side of my head when trying to do that. I guess it comes from trying stimulate ones logical side?
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts |
Notice that a translation is given in each case.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
Michael Baker Eternal Order Near a river in the Midwest 11172 Posts |
Quote:
On 2014-01-01 10:52, Magnus Eisengrim wrote: Definitions are given, not translations.
~michael baker
The Magic Company |
mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
Quote:
On 2014-01-01 10:52, Magnus Eisengrim wrote: Not really. A definition is not a translation. I'm sure there are innumerable words that are unique to a particular language and that don't translate directly into English. That's why skilled transliteration always makes more sense than rote translation. (But I know you were only kidding.) |
Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts |
The words are translatable, but not to single words.
The great difficulty of translation is not with single words but with complex constructions. Sentences using some of these words would be much more difficult to translate.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
mastermindreader 1949 - 2017 Seattle, WA 12586 Posts |
That's the important distinction between translation and transliteration.
Doctor Bob once told me that in Moldavia they have a unique word - "dentente" - that describes the feeling of despair that comes when one loses his/her false teeth while sneezing in public. If a Moldavian said, "I'm feeling dentente," he simply means that he's somewhat bummed at being the inadvertent target of derisive laughter due to a social faux pas. He doesn't necessarily mean that he literally fired his dentures across the room or into the salad. (Faux pas isn't really directly translatable either, is it?) But this may be a bad example because Doctor Bob may be lying. :eek: |
MobilityBundle Regular user Las Vegas/Boston 120 Posts |
I once had a dream where I had to explain to aliens the difference between "sniff" and "smell." I had a surprisingly hard time, both in the dream and after I woke up. I was so amused at that, that I started to use "sniff" in places that "smell" sounded more natural. (LIke, "wow, that soup sniffs great!")
A while ago I was living in Rome. I had the great fortune of having very nice neighbors, Carlo and Stefania, who were essentially fluent in English (although their native language was Italian). I couldn't explain to them the difference between "nerd" and "geek" -- although in fairness, I'm not sure there's a general consensus on the difference even among native English speakers. Surprisingly, I also had a hard time with a good definition of "fancy," in a way that made sense for all three of, "fancy restaurant," "fancy person," and "fancy mathematics." It went the other way too. In Italian textbooks, the word for "here" is usually given as "qui." At some point, I noticed some kids playing soccer, and when one kid would call for the ball he'd shout, "Qua! Qua!" which also translates to "Here! Here!" I asked my neighbors about the difference between "qui" and "qua." A surprisingly heated and lengthy discussion ensued between Carlo and Stefania, most of which I didn't understand. But at the end, Carlo explained with some bewilderment, "In Rome, we say 'qua.' Everywhere else in Italy, 'qui.'" But I'd catch them using both "qui" and "qua" in the next few weeks. I'd always ask why they used one over the other, and they could never explain in a way that made them happy. But everyone always agreed that "qui" would usually sound strange in the places they used "qua" and vice versa. |
LobowolfXXX Inner circle La Famiglia 1196 Posts |
Quote:
On 2014-01-01 16:12, MobilityBundle wrote: Reminds me of when I was in junior high school...I described a classmate as a geek, and my 70 year old grandmother said, "What's a geek? Is that anything like a dork?" N.B. yes, y'all...I *do* know the historical denotation of both terms.
"Torture doesn't work" lol
Guess they forgot to tell Bill Buckley. "...as we reason and love, we are able to hope. And hope enables us to resist those things that would enslave us." |
Tom Cutts Staff Northern CA 5925 Posts |
Nerd --> Urkle
Geek --> Sheldon |
Magnus Eisengrim Inner circle Sulla placed heads on 1053 Posts |
My Danish grandfather, whose given name was Peder, (Peter when he moved here) loved to say "For Pete's sake" claiming that he had no idea how he could possibly translate that phrase into Danish.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity.--Yeats |
The Magic Cafe Forum Index » » Not very magical, still... » » 11 Untranslatable Words (0 Likes) |
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