The discussion […] reminded me of when I was sixteen and embarked on a class called “Techniques of Translation.”
Although I had studied French and English and German, the translations I’d done so far were of the “I took the pen of my neighbor” variety. I thought the class would teach me to smooth out the sentence to “I took my neighbor’s pen” and that would be that.
I was wrong. Oh, it taught that also, but that was a minor portion of it. The class mostly hinged on the moral, ethical and — most of all — professional dilemmas of being a translator. I know any number of you are translators, formal or informal, but any number of you are also not. So, for the ones who are not, let me break the news with my usual gentleness:
There is no such thing as translation.
The French have a proverb “to translate is to betray a little” — or at least that’s the closest meaning in English. It’s fairly close to the true meaning, but slightly askew, of course. Every language is slightly askew to other languages.
The idea that there exists in every language a word that is exactly the equivalent of other languages is sort of like assuming that aliens will — of course — live in houses, go to school, ride buses, understand Rebecca Black’s “Friday”.
Language is how we organize our thoughts, and each word, no matter how simple, carries with it the cultural freight and experience of the specific language. Oh, “mother” will generally mean “the one who gave birth to” — except for some tribal, insular cultures where it might mean “the one who calls me by her name” or “my father’s principal wife” — but the “feel” behind it will be different, depending on the images associated with “mother” in the culture.
So, when you translate, you’re actually performing a function as a bridge. Translation is not the straightforward affair it seems to be but a dialogue between the original language and the language you translate into. If you’re lucky, you meet halfway. Sometimes that’s not possible, and you feel really guilty about “lying” to the people receiving the translation. When on top of language you need to integrate different cultures and living systems (which you do when translating anything even an ad) you feel even more guilty, because you’re going to betray, no matter how much you try. At one point, a while back, I had my dad on one phone, my husband on the other, and I was doing rapid-fire translation about a relatively straight forward matter. And even that caused me pangs in conscience, because my dad simply doesn’t understand how things are done here. I had to approach his experience and explain our experience in a way he wouldn’t think I was insane or explaining badly. That meant a thousand minor lies.
Sarah Hoyt, “Betraying A Little – A Blast From The Past From June 2011”, According to Hoyt, 2018-01-09.
April 2, 2020
QotD: “To translate is to betray a little”
March 19, 2020
“Millennial[s are] every bit as shallow, irresponsible, stupid, and smart-assed as” Baby Boomers
David Warren on the awful discovery that the kids not only aren’t all right, they’re just as bad as we are:
Unlike certain oldies, I have retained some awareness of the “young people.” Curiosity alone would drive me to this, although childbearing (not by me personally) has had the same effect. In my research, I have found the so-called Millennial generation to be every bit as shallow, irresponsible, stupid, and smart-assed as my own, and what is worse, younger. I thought we were the Peter-Pan generation that would never grow up, but the claim must now be shared with successive rounds of offspring. To be fair, the rewards for growing up have been sharply curtailed, through that part of history which anyone remembers, and those who never tried were never punished.
History itself has now so far receded — it certainly is not taught in schools — that by now the kids persist on pure theory. They do what seems necessary to them, in the absence of knowledge. I cannot reasonably blame them for lacking what they’ve never come in contact with, for no one can know about what he has never heard of. On religious questions, for example, what could “transubstantiation” mean? It was easier to explain this to a South Sea Islander, in the good old days of the missionaries, before the islanders got cell phones.
On the other hand, the Millennials are human. The instinct to be human, even when repressed, often returns. Several times I have been moved, almost to tears, by a native decency suddenly expressed, by the most unlikely subject in rings and tattoos. There will always be something to work with, there.
While Millennials appear even dumber than their elders, we must allow for the progressive slide. There are just as many smart people as there once were, and some abroad have benefited from improved nutrition. If caught young, and exposed to learning, they would learn. They simply haven’t been exposed to it yet.
January 22, 2020
You – yes, you – and your “White Supremacy” issues
Antonia Senior is shocked, shocked to discover that she’s struggling with a whole bunch of internalized issues, according to a new book by Layla F. Saad:
I am a white supremacist. Who knew? I didn’t. I have, however, just read Me and White Supremacy by Layla F Saad, published next month by Quercus, which has made clear to me that I am white, therefore I am a racist. In fact, Ms Saad told me in the introduction to prepare to “become overwhelmed when you begin to discover the depths of your internalised white supremacy”.
On a similar note, a friend recently told me that my failure to recognise a vast malevolent patriarchy was as a result of “internalising your own oppression”. There seems to be a lot of internalised weirdness going on: gender victim battling it out with racist in my gut. I thought it was wind.
The publisher is pretty sure that the ranks of underpaid, bookish folk who work for them are also all white supremacists. It is distributing the tome to all the British employees of its parent company Hachette, and telling them to spend 28 days “reflecting on manifestations of white supremacy, including white privilege”.
The self-flagellation of all the white supremacists at Hachette is yet another example of how much the Woke borrow from the Church. Identity politics has become a secular religion, and “white privilege” is one of its shibboleths. Indeed Ms Saad makes the point clearly in her book, stating that “I strongly believe that anti-racism practice and social justice work are also spiritual work.”
To be woke demands faith in certain creeds, with the twins Equality and Diversity as unassailable deities. It demands a knowledge of the right language. You must believe in certain disprovable evils — like the existence of a malevolent patriarchy — and like many strict sects, it punishes its apostates most severely. The Twitter storms are fierce for those who express a non-woke view but should have known better than for those outside of the faith altogether.
Tom Holland, in his book Dominion, The making of the Western Mind, identifies the “trace elements” of Christianity in the woke world. The example he used was the intersectional feminists in the #MeToo movement offering white feminists the chance to “acknowledge their own entitlement, to confess their sins and to be granted absolution”.
December 22, 2019
QotD: Impulses and regrets
Don’t wait until you have the time to really relax and enjoy it. That will be approximately three decades from now, and it’s highly possible you won’t be able to enjoy it. I will never forgive myself for passing up a chance to go to trapeze school in my late 20s. I figured I could always do it later, little suspecting that in my early thirties my lower back would decide to take up amateur dramatics. At least somebody got to perform.
Megan McArdle, “After 45 Birthdays, Here Are ’12 Rules for Life'”, Bloomberg View, 2018-01-30.
December 17, 2019
My Wife vs. Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream Lock
LockPickingLawyer
Published 15 Dec 2018
From the comments:
Hacker Lord
4 months ago
He sounds so calm for someone who’s probably sleeping on the couch tonight lol
September 5, 2019
QotD: Fashion
[… image from Marshall Fields catalogue …]
Ponchos. Good God. Ponchos. And what’s with this blonde’s hair? How many My Little Ponys did they kill to make this wig?
[…]
God forbid our children should ever be happy. Not when they can have ATTITUDE, which is what we all really want from our kids.
[… image of sneering, posturing child models …]
Charming. Remember: Fashion means never having to say you’re happy. From Dutch supermodels to haughty tykes, the watchword from Dame Fashion is “pissed.” Now put on your poncho and radiate sullen blankness.
James Lileks, “The Bleat”, 2004-08-17 (Reposted from the old blog).
Note: Jon mentioned that he looked at the images in Lileks’ article and at first thought they were actual 1970s catalogue photos, but in that dreckful decade, the models would have been smiling. A valid point, I think, and one of the issues Lileks has with the current fashion industry. Nowadays, you can’t be a fashion model without the kind of surly attitude best expressed by thugs and angry bar patrons after last call.
August 13, 2019
How to Make Really Good Garlic Bread
America’s Test Kitchen
Published on 3 Mar 2019Keith shows Bridget how to make the absolute best garlic bread.
Get the recipe for Really Good Garlic Bread: http://cooks.io/2I9Anbx
Buy Our Winning Rasp-Style Grater: https://cooks.io/2VrLqlUABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
http://americastestkitchen.com
August 4, 2019
Blog housekeeping notes
Sorry to anyone who tried to access the blog on Saturday morning, as it went down hard for about an hour after my WordPress statistics plug-in got holed below the waterline and had to be scuttled. I’ve been using it for several years without a problem, but somehow Saturday was the day it decided to stop working. A reader notified me on one of the social media sites that the blog wasn’t loading and I checked the dashboard to see a long list of fatal errors pop up. It looked like the initial problem was a call to a non-existent function in SQL which then caused a cascade of other uncaught errors and the blog no longer displayed for would-be readers. I switched to the troubleshooting tab and then looked at the details on the CyStats plug-in, and suddenly the answer appeared:
You may have to look really closely to see what the issue is…
I guess I’ll have to do without my old stats package now.
July 24, 2019
thoughts about writing
exurb1a
Published on 23 Jul 2019Apologies for the resolution in some places. Apologies for the words in all places.
Books I enjoyed while I was in creative pinches ►
Zen in the Art of Writing – Ray Bradbury
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1…What I Talk About When I Talk About Running – Haruki Murakami
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2…The Elements of Style – William Strunk Jr.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3…On Writing – Sol Stein
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1…The Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8…Why I Write – George Orwell
http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiwMy stuff –
The Fifth Science Paperback ► https://tinyurl.com/y5zj33s5 (you may need to change your region accordingly: .co.uk, etc)
I also make horrendous music ► https://soundcloud.com/exurbia-1
Help me to do this full-time, if you’re deranged enough ► https://www.patreon.com/exurb1r?ty=h
The rest of my books ► https://tinyurl.com/ycnl5bo3
July 14, 2019
How To Cook Perfect Eggs Every Time
Tasty
Published on 1 Oct 2017
July 8, 2019
Dicing an Onion by Chef Jean Pierre
ChefJeanPierre
Published on 5 Jan 2012Do you struggle trying to dice an onion? Chef Jean Pierre shows you the easiest way to dice an onion without shedding a tear.
June 11, 2019
My apprenticeship as a blacksmith – forging a nail
Lindybeige
Published on 16 Jan 2018Before forging my sword, I had to do an apprenticeship as a blacksmith, and make a nail. Here witness my training.
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Lindybeige
I was a guest of The Cut and Thrust Collective – four blacksmiths who have banded together in a forge that was once known as The Forge of Avalon, in Glastonbury. There I spent most of a week, and there I forged my sword – Arnander – the making of which will be the subject of further videos.
I’m quite pleased with the amount of information I got into this video about how forging is done. It shows you several details of how to use a forge to heat metal, and how to hammer shapes into metal.
Many thanks to Joseph McDonald for inviting me in the first place, acting as cameraman, and cooking lots of bacon. Thanks too to my teacher here Thom Leworthy.
The company takes commissions for blacksmithing, and runs courses so that you can go in and make your own pieces. glastonburysmith@gmail.com
Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.
▼ Follow me…
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lindybeige I may have some drivel to contribute to the Twittersphere, plus you get notice of uploads.
website: http://www.LloydianAspects.co.uk
June 5, 2019
The four equal-ish regions of Canada
On Reddit, u/the_vizir posted an interesting illustration of Canada divided into four regions of (approximately) equal population, based on the 2015 electoral map:
[Click to see full-size image]
I used this map of Canada’s Federal ridings by DrRandomFactor as a base. Then I attempted to mirror the original map’s divisions, tallying up the populations of the ridings, as based on this chart from Wikipedia.
Ultimately, the original map proved to be rather accurate in the West, but in the East it was off by quite a bit. Despite my best attempts, I could not get the entire Quebec City to Windsor corridor into two geographically contiguous regions. And so Windsor ultimately got shunted into the Great Orange North.
Interestingly, in terms of ridings, the four regions are also rather equal — which one might consider surprising given the population disparity between the largest and smallest ridings (the least populous riding, Labrador, has 27k people; while Brantford-Brant, the most populous, has 132k). However, in the end, the red region has 80 ridings, the green region 83, the purple region 86 and the orange region 89.
The 25 most populous urban areas within that large, orange region include:
- Halifax, NS — 404k
- Windsor, ON — 392k
- St. John’s, NL — 205k
- Barrie, ON — 197k
- Sudbury, ON — 165k
- Saguenay, PQ — 161k
- Moncton, NB — 145k
- Saint John, NB — 126k
- Thunder Bay, ON –121k
- Chatham-Kent, ON — 102k
- Fredericton, NB –102k
- Cape Breton, NS — 99k
- Sarnia, ON – 96k
- Prince George, BC — 86k
- Sault Ste. Marie, ON — 78k
- Fort McMurray. AB — 73k
- North Bay, ON — 70k
- Charlottetown, PE — 69k
- Grande Prairie, AB — 63k
- Rimouski, PQ — 55k
- Shawinigan, PQ — 54k
- Leamington, ON — 49k
- Truro, NS — 46k
- Prince Albert, SK — 44k
- Rouyn-Noranda, PQ — 42k
Somewhat surprisingly, even on this list, no communities in the Territories make the cut. The largest urban area in the North, Whitehorse, is still only 39th on this list, between Fort St. John, BC and Baie-Comeau, PQ. Yellowknife is 48th, between North Battleford, SK and Yorkton, SK.
The smallest riding in the orange area is Charlottetown at 46 sq. km, followed by Windsor West at 83 sq. km and Dartmouth-Cole Harbour at 102 sq. km. The largest riding in one of the other regions is Cypress Hills-Grasslands at 77,822 sq. km, followed by Kootenay-Columbia at 60,405 sq. km and Souris-Moose Mountain at 43,184 sq. km. All of these were in the purple region and were, unfortunately, necessary to bridge Winnipeg to the Calgary-Edmonton corridor, and then the Calgary-Edmonton corridor to the Lower Mainland.
(To those just looking for random facts: the smallest riding of them all is Toronto Centre, at 6 sq. km, followed by Papineau at 10 sq. km and both Laurier-Sainte-Marie and Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie at 11 sq. km each. The largest ones are Nunavut at 2,093,190 sq. km, Northwest Territories at 1,346,106 sq. km and Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou at 854,754 sq. km. And no, that last one doesn’t have the longest riding name. That would be Leeds-Grenville-Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, coming in at 49 characters and beating out the previous champion, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country).
H/T to halls of macademia for the link.
May 17, 2019
Convincing Children That Airfix Is Still Fun | James May’s Toy Stories | Spark
Spark
Published on 6 Apr 2019James May subjects traditional toys to spectacular, supersize challenges. Children have taken their attention by video games and mobile phones since they became heavily accesible, can they be convinced that outdated Airfix’s models are still fun?
Subscribe to Spark for more amazing science, tech and engineering videos – https://goo.gl/LIrlur
Content licensed from Plum Pictures to Little Dot Studios. Any queries, please contact us at: owned-enquiries@littledotstudios.com
#toys #Airfix #JamesMay #spark #sparkdocumentary #sciencedocumentary
May 8, 2019
How To Ferment And Make Your Own Hot Sauce, Easily
Joshua Weissman
Published on 5 Apr 2019Hot sauce has a very special place in my heart … And no I’m not talking about heartburn. We can make our own hot sauce at home with any peppers we want. That means that we now have full control over the flavor. The end result? The perfect hot sauce for you. Happy Fermentation Fridays Folks!
Kitchen Organization Video: https://youtu.be/NW6fgAu4h40
FOLLOW ME:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealweissman
Website: http://joshuaweissman.com/—————————————————————
Ingredients you’ll need:
Fermented peppers-
1.25lbs (540g) red fresno peppers
1.25qt (1163g) water
3.5 tablespoons (51g) fine sea saltHot Sauce:
8 cloves garlic
1/2 cup (118ml) neutral oil (canola)
1# (456g) fermented peppers (you can leave the seeds on or off)
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150ml) white distilled vinegar
3 tablespoons (42ml) brine
salt to taste
