I have never been to the Sistine Chapel, so have never seen The Creation of Adam in real life: I know that posters are printed of the hands of God and Adam with their fingers almost touching. I know this because someone once bought us one - and we framed it. Rather fittingly - or... Continue Reading →
Trumpets and translation
Even though we strive for – and frequently achieve – excellence, we translators are normally quite a modest lot. Except today, I received such wonderful feedback from an agency, I could not contain myself. I blew my own trumpet on Facebook, which I reserve for interaction with family and friends. In typical translator fashion, I quoted the... Continue Reading →
Old translators never die
The cadence of one of my translated sentences yesterday reminded me about the fate of old golfers, and I could not remember whether real men eat quiche or not. If the truth be told, I was not entirely sure if Kisch was involved. That advice about sounding out the word in your head in order... Continue Reading →
FlumMoxed
Of course, "flum" does not mean anything, but quite a few of us have been "Moxed". The purpose of this post is to get as many people Moxed as possible. The next mass Moxing will occur at the forthcoming TriKonf 2013 in Freiburg, Germany, 18-20 Ocober 2013, where in addition to attending some excellent workshops,... Continue Reading →
Your laundry is calling you
The other day, the poll on a translator forum asked how long we worked before taking a break. You will note that the question was not how often we take breaks. That would imply that most freelance translators stick to a rigid timetable. I, for one, cannot imagine that there are too many translators who... Continue Reading →
Pig misunderstands (again)
I grew up on a diet of similar jokes (without the drawings) from my father. If we bemoaned the lack of classical music concerts in Zimbabwe, he would say that the country had a lot of “culture” – agriculture. Then he would laugh his head off.
Allison
Today’s Pearls Before Swine:
Paris sites – parasites. If there’s a chance for Pig to misunderstand or misparse, he’ll take it. See him, for instance, on the Ottoman Empire (6/20/13) here, on word divisions (7/12/13) here, on take it as a given (7/21/13) here, on mastectomy (7/30/13) here, on man up (8/11/13) here, on clean someone’s clock (8/22/13) here, and on be expecting (8/23/13) here.
That elusive pair of jeans 