If I see one more thread throwing a tantrum about direct translation

[eyepaddle]

and slang I'm going to blow a fuse.

Seriously, if you want to show how erudite you are, write something meaningful and illuminating as opposed to crowbarring references to your pet areas of history or mastery of other languages, into a vaguely insulting and self-congratulatory post.

If somebody wants to describe the Sierra Nevada Mountains, order a sandwich with au jus, or simply attach a foreign word as a prefix to create a new word or meaning, I may sigh, but I will move on. Once it has a well established and consistently understood meaning, it is a new word.

Sometimes it's good to leave things in the original language and not think too deeply about it. An example here is would you rather gaze into the night sky and watch a comet, or a hairy star?

Now I need to go find some other pointless shit to obsess about.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. You forgot a comma, and have one where it shouldn't be.

:evilgrin:

isn't it fun to obsess about pointless shit? That's pretty much all I do any more, and it's made me a happier person.

Probably because obsessing about the important stuff while republicans are in office is just a path to a stroke, so it's not even worth the bother, leaving us only with little shit to obsess about.

[eyepaddle]

3. Talking about comma use is a good way to start a brawl!

I like my writing to have a very, conversational flair, shall we say? That includes pauses and occasionally EXTRA emphasis (not to mention parenthetical asides) and might not want to hear about how an elipsis indicates an omitted portion of the...conversation. :evilgrin:

You are the master--except of course fr negativpostive, nobody can top him!

[Lochloosa]

22. Uh...shouldn't it be "anymore" not any more?

:evilgrin:

[ET Awful]

2. Something else to obsess about . . . . how about

How to prevent shrinkage when kayaking in winter. :evilgrin:

[LaraMN]

5. Oh! Oh! I know:

They're not just for hands, anymore!

[ET Awful]

15. LMAO

But are they waterproof?

BUAHAHAHAHA :rofl: :spray:

[eyepaddle]

6. There is no prevention

:cry:

There is only treatment!

The weather yesterday was kinda shitty, nontheless a good time was had by all.

[anarch]

4. direct translation, eh?

How about this:

Иногда хорошо оставить вещи в первоначально язык и не подумать слишком глубоки о ем. Пример здесь вы довольно gaze в небо ночи и наблюдал бы комету, или волосатую звезду?

And I'll translate it back for you...

It leaves the fact that it will sleep from time to time initially with language two, what will not think it and it eats and it is a o which is deep too much. Here it will see and you sky of night it is sufficient and the comet which it watches, or will observe the hairy star theyn the place?

...

Hmmm. You may be right about that "leaving things in the original language" sentiment.

:evilgrin:

[eyepaddle]

8. See, that proves it,

I am always correct, though generally too polite to mention it.

Never quibble with me again. ;)

[ZombieNixon]

7. Actually, I believe a better word in place of "erudite"

would be "sagacious."

:evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

9. Totally inappopriate. I suggest "au fait" instead.

Much better.

[ZombieNixon]

11. Oh, please...

now you're just inserting foreign idioms in place of native adjectives. Why not just say "with au fait" or "to au fait" and be done with it. :eyes:

[eyepaddle]

12. !

:rofl:

[Rabrrrrrr]

18. Why not just go watch American Idol, you plebeian?

What a déclassé opinion you offer us.

:eyes:

[ZombieNixon]

21. Perhaps I will, garçon.

In formalized educated circles, you will find that American Idol is regarded as the highest form of parodic satire, caricaturing that certain je ne sais quoi that drives members of the greater American public toward fame and fortune.

If you weren't such an intellectual neophyte, your own apperceptions might have processed this. :eyes:

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. Perhaps if you were less jejune, you would cease making a mockery

of our inherited lingua franca, and offer a less ignorant denouement.

[ZombieNixon]

31. Antiquis temporibus, nati tibi simile in rupibus ventosissimis

exponebantur ad necem.

If there is to be an atavistic lingua franca, it should at least be a langue d'élite comme Latin.

[Rabrrrrrr]

32. Yeah, well, my Dale Earnhardt NASCAR talking beer mug says different!

So take that to your banc.

[ZombieNixon]

33. I grow tired of your inkhorn ramblings, prole.

Leave me. }(

[eyepaddle]

10. Okay, I'm gonna have to keep my eye on you,

:evilfrown:

;)

[ZombieNixon]

13. Yes. Yes you will.

Call your friends, too, because the more people paying attention to me, the better a place the world becomes. :D

[AnarchoFreeThinker]

14. Hast du einen Vogel?

[eyepaddle]

17. Check with Ladyhawk

;)

[ghostsofgiants]

16. You're clearly referring to the reichwing thread...

The thing is it's more than about direct translation. It's about using incorrect words to try and make some clever political point about how Republicans are like Nazis, which just drags down discourse and is an insult to those who actually lived through (and died during) the Nazi reign in Germany.

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. Oh, you're no fun anymore

[eyepaddle]

20. That wass one of 'em

but there are others referenced (and they've even been addressed by those thread authors).

My point is a semantic tantrum doesn't really accomplish much, if you dislike an analogypoint out its flaws. I personally don't think I've EVER used the term reichwing or BusHitler--but there certainly are many parallels between 2006 America and early Nazi Germany (see the oft talked about 14 points defintion of fascism).

Personally I tend to frown upon most uses of rhetorical excess, but not really because of some linguistic finery.

[billyskank]

24. Can I object to the term "reichwing" on the grounds then

that it's a really shit pun? :P

[eyepaddle]

28. Hmmm, lemme think on that for a bit....

I'd say it depends on who makes the pun! :P

[tigereye]

23. what irks me at times

is not poor or inaccurate use of language ( the linguists and deconstructionists would probably say there is either no precise meaning for language or worse, no meaning, at all ;) ), but the sketchy grip some posters seem to have on history and world events.

[eyepaddle]

26. I'll agree to that,

I'd frankly like to see a lot more discussion of history, here on the DU and in life in general. However there is so much of it nobody can be an expert everywhere. I'd like it if people brought it up more frequently, and maybe even proactively so we can all learn things.

Sadly for me, for some unknown reason Naval history is what I find most interesting and NOBODY wants to talk about that! :cry:

[tigereye]

35. I'm sure you can find someone around here or elsewhere

who shares your passion for that, eyepaddle.

I just started The Shipping News - fascinating info about fisherman in NOva Scotia and how to tie different knots. ;)


here's a cool ship we saw in SF this summer - great museum if you are ever out that way.








http://www.nps.gov/safr/local/balc.html

[ghostsofgiants]

36. Isn't The Shipping News based in Newfoundland, not Nova Scotia?

[tigereye]

37. whoops

showing how all coastal provinces of Canada are essentially the same to tired and unaware residents of the US, Primate. Thanks for tweaking my tired brain. ;) :hi:

[Rabrrrrrr]

27. Hey, when the Nazis bombed Pearl Harbor, that gave us the right

to use Reichwing!

[eyepaddle]

29. Rabrrrrrr, you are clearly a man of letters,

did you perhaps graduate from Faber college?

Would you like to be addressed as Senator Blutarsky? :D

[Benfea]

30. Don't you mean "pedantic" rather than "erudite"?

And yes, I'm being very pedantic right now, so.... NEENER! :evilgrin:

[eyepaddle]

34. I was actually referrng to a bunch of spleen filled

posts I've seen over the ages and they weren't all being pedantic, but by defintion they are kind of show-offy.

Was that pedantic? I think I might need practice! ;)