Forbidden Planet

In the not-productive-but-sidetrack-distraction-of-the-moment I spent some time (please don't ask how much) translating two sentences from Tacitus' Agricola from Latin into English using an online Latin-English dictionary and what Latin roots I can glean out of English words. It wasn't a completely blind translation since I already had a translation for the above line: To ravage, to slaughter, to usurp under false titles, they call empire; and where they make a desert, they call it peace. . However, I wasn't completely captivated by the English and it didn't quite seem to match the Latin. After some searches for alternate translations, I came up with a fuller quote, Raptores orbis, postquam cuncta vastantibus defuere terrae, mare scrutantur: si locuples hostis est, avari, si pauper, ambitiosi, quos non Oriens, non Occidens satiaverit: soli omnium opes atque inopiam pari adfectu concupiscunt. Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi sol...

For those who don't know, Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec (located in that northern country known as Canada). Quebec is a French province and Montreal is mostly French as well. On Sunday, as the kids and I were walking downtown, we passed a man begging with a sign. As we passed, Tania asked me, "Why does he say he's ugly?" I asked what she meant and she said, "His sign says, 'Je suis laid'" . She further explained that laid means ugly. I had seen the sign but did not understand the first part since I didn't know what laid meant and I assumed (incorrectly) the kids didn't either. The rest of the sign (which I did understand) said ... help me out and I can get a facial. (ok, it said it in French not English). The word came up again last night as Jason was reading to me Les Trois Boucs : "... un ogre tres laid et très méchant ..." ("... a very ugly and very mean ogre ...") . It is pronounced the s...

adj : very cold, icy. From the Latin gelidus which is from gelu meaning frost. I came across this word last night in Stephen King's short story I am the Doorway : ... the flesh was soft and gelid, like the flesh of an apple gone rotten ... . From the context, I guessed wrong at the meaning. My impression was it meant something akin to gelatinous - I was wrong. From a writing perspective, I wonder if the adjectives and the simile are both necessary. The simile amplifies the adjectives and repetition or amplification can be a good thing - it can also be wordy "... the flesh was soft and cold ..." "... the flesh was like an apple gone rotten ..." But who am I to tinker? Has anyone ever seen this word (and knew what it meant) before today? [As an aside, I notice I haven't been receiving e-mail notifications from blogger for the past few days, so I failed to notice that there were new comments. Yes, yes, I know, I can always check my own blog, rather than che...

Discovered over the weekend that le pingouin is not a penguin, but a type of auk known as a Razorbill . The French translation for penguin is manchot . Apparently, this is a common error. Not surprising since many languages clearly have some sort of agreement on penguin: pingüinos (Spanish), pinguine (German), pikkewyn (Afrikaans), pinguino (Italian), pingwiny (Polish), pingvinfélék (Hungarian), pingüim (Portugese). Images nabbed from here and here .

Four clips from my favourite Marx Brother's movie, Animal Crackers .

Tania did poorly on an English test last week and Sofia is quite upset. On the other hand, I completely empathize with Tania because she interpreted the test instructions the way I would have. The test was divided into a number of sections, with each section consisting of a number of multiple choice questions. The instructions were to select only one answer . Which she did - selecting one multiple choice answer in each section. Unfortunately, she was supposed to select one answer per multiple choice question, consequently, most questions went unanswered. To me, her response was correct. She was given a precise instruction which she followed. It didn't make sense to her, but then again people rarely make any sort of sense. The world is filled with all sorts of arbitrary rules and inconsistent behaviours and positions that this one was hardly worth batting an eye at. Hopefully, she will add this to her repertoire of possible exceptions to the inconsistencies of the world and request ...

I have noticed that Google translation is much better than it was in the past, surpassing BabelFish in capability. As evidence I present the following translations from Jules Verne's Five Weeks in a Ballooon . Original text Il y avait une grande affluence d’auditeurs, le 14 janvier 1862, à la séance de la Société royale géographique de Londres, Waterloo place, 3. Le président, sir Francis M..., faisait à ses honorables collègues une importante communication dans un discours fréquemment interrompu par les applaudissements. Ce rare morceau d’éloquence se terminait enfin par quelques phrases ronflantes dans lesquelles le patriotisme se déversait à pleines périodes: Google translation: There was a large crowd of listeners, January 14, 1862, at the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Waterloo place, 3. The chairman, Sir Francis M. .., made his honorable colleagues an important communication in a speech frequently interrupted by applause. This rare piece of eloquence fin...

If you enjoy languages and the beauty of the written word, I suggest you take a peek at Omniglot: writing systems and languages of the world . I could easily spend hours poring over the scripts. Dhives Akuru Mongolian Both images are taken from the website. [Update 27-July-2007 @ 00:13 to add better sample of Dhives Akuru script.]