31/05/2010

Dirty washing

I have just lost the post I wrote on Greece and ferries... blogger refused to save it because it had a meta link in it...

Got my knickers in a bit of a twist.

Translating sometimes feels a bit like ferrying meaning from one language to another. I frequently fall in the water in more ways than one.

When I came across the words "lingerie sale" on a website I was shocked to see what I thought was "dirty underwear" and then I realised it was "reduced in price"

speaking of underwear, thong in cheek:

French English
string thong
tongs/tongues flipflops

I can't get my mind round the way sanction means both punishment and approval…

And now for something completely different - Nougaro

3 commentaires:

Patricia said...

I've seen "dirty" clothes for sale before, too. *grin*
And have I ever told you about how, in my earlier days of speaking English, I once asked for "raped cheese"?
;-)

Vita Brevis said...

are they clothes you wear for "dirty dancing" ???

Edward Gauvin said...

Patricia Claxton (from Translator’s Foreword to Nicole Brossard’s French Kiss):"The modern Bible scholar and translator Eugene Nida has compared solving a stubborn translation problem with crossing a turbulent river, when, in order to reach one’s destination directly opposite on the other side, one needs to search some distance up- or down-stream to find a fording place..."

When I first came to live in France, I barely spoke French. Life was hard for a bit, and every evening I'd line up at the bakery for my daily bread, or dose of pain: a brief and awkward interaction at the register.