English help needed

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Qwynegold
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Re: English help needed

Post by Qwynegold »

Salmoneus wrote:
Qwynegold wrote:[*]I turn on the telly and lay underneath the warm and moist duvet.
I thought telly was only used in BrE, but according to Wiktionary it can be either or. Is this true?
*screams* AAAAHHH! No! No! No!
Oh, sorry, that wasn't about the telly. That was the shiver of automatic disgust at someone laying under a moist duvet.
*takes time to shudder some more and avoid vomiting*
I'm not one of those weird people who hate the word 'moist'. But the threshold of 'moist' is way too high for non-insanitary duvets*. Is there mould growing in his duvet? Has he urinated in his bed? Is it... I don't know, dripping with semen? Even a wet duvet would somehow be better, then he'd probably have had a flooding accident or something, but 'moist'? That's just horrifying.

*Originally wrote 'sanitary duvet'. Hmm. Perhaps now. Damn you, euphemistic "sanitary towels" for ruining a perfectly good word...
ROFLMAO

My interpretation is that it's moist from sweat, because earlier in the text the main character was described as being sweaty and hot. I like Axiem's suggestion of damp, but maybe humid like Astraios said would be better?

Incidentally, there's a much grosser scene in the book where he
More: show
squeezes a pimple, spraying the bathroom mirror with white goo.
Then he goes to pee, and while peeing he feels blood running down from the pimple.
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Re: English help needed

Post by Chuma »

There are other slang expressions for TV, like "the tube" or "the idiot box", which would be a pretty obvious translation. Don't know if people actually say that - or, maybe the relevant question is, did say that in 2005.

I think the present tense is pretty unusual in Swedish too. Can't imagine there would be much of a difference there. It feels more... immediate, direct, real, less like storytelling? Much like Swedish TV, I guess. Less theatrical.

Whew, at this rate it'll take you a while to do the whole book.

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Re: English help needed

Post by mèþru »

Helps sounded better.
Also, "Food is ready" is a common idiom in English that makes sense to use in a book (especially in dialogue).
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Pole, the
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Re: English help needed

Post by Pole, the »

the judgment here is quite subjective—though I'm someone who likes using them a lot.
What irks me about the English usage of the em dash is that you keep it glued to the words at its both ends.

So, in your post, “subjective—though” looks like a phrase on its own, joined with a dash, and not as two separate words constituting two fragments of a sentence, divided by the dash — I prefer the way Polish does it so very much…
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Re: English help needed

Post by Salmoneus »

Pole, the wrote:
the judgment here is quite subjective—though I'm someone who likes using them a lot.
What irks me about the English usage of the em dash is that you keep it glued to the words at its both ends.

So, in your post, “subjective—though” looks like a phrase on its own, joined with a dash, and not as two separate words constituting two fragments of a sentence, divided by the dash — I prefer the way Polish does it so very much…
Don't worry, we don't do that in English, either. At least, over here we haven't done that for a hundred years.

EDIT: apparently Fowler et al still do that. But I've never seen it in the wild. And, for example, UCL has an extensive guide to the use of punctuation for its students and it doesn't even occur to them to mention the idea of NOT including spaces.

To me, dashes without spaces belongs to the era of always writing "&" and never "and"...
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Re: English help needed

Post by mèþru »

It's done in America all the time.
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Re: English help needed

Post by Axiem »

Qwynegold wrote:Is this odd in English language literature?
No, I've read plenty of fiction stories written in present tense. It (theoretically) gives a sense of immediacy that past tense does not, and it more closely approximates how people frequently tell stories to their friends.

I personally find it more tricky to write fiction in present tense, compared to past, but reading is no issue.
Pole, the wrote: What irks me about the English usage of the em dash is that you keep it glued to the words at its both ends.
My understanding is that you don't have to—you can include a space on either side, and I've certainly seen that plenty of times in text, though not having spaces is more common. What drives me nuts is when people put a space on just one side, or they're otherwise inconsistent. At least follow your own damn conventions!
Chuma wrote:There are other slang expressions for TV, like "the tube" or "the idiot box", which would be a pretty obvious translation. Don't know if people actually say that - or, maybe the relevant question is, did say that in 2005.
I don't think of "idiot box" as being used in general conversation; it's much more accusatory and denigrating: "Why are your kids sitting in front of the idiot box instead of outside?". "The tube" is...I guess I've heard it.

I'm also not much of a TV-watcher, so it doesn't come up as much. I'd say "TV" is the most neutral word, and if you want a reasonable slangy thing, "the tube" isn't terrible.
Qwynegold wrote: My interpretation is that it's moist from sweat, because earlier in the text the main character was described as being sweaty and hot. I like Axiem's suggestion of damp, but maybe humid like Astraios said would be better?
Humid doesn't describe objects; it describes air. If it's from sweat, then it's just a sweaty blanket.
zompist wrote: "in fall" sounds weird to me-- I'd say "in the fall". (Though there are sentences where "in fall" would be OK.) Also I'd write "of middle school" though the "at" is not wrong.
I saw this the first time, and forgot to comment :(

Though I would have recommended "I start this fall", but "in the fall" does sound a little better, now that I hear it.

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Re: English help needed

Post by Qwynegold »

Thanks everyone! I've made adjustments now.
Chuma wrote:There are other slang expressions for TV, like "the tube" or "the idiot box", which would be a pretty obvious translation.
Huh, I thought tube meant the internet. But Urban Dictionary has TV as their first definition.
Chuma wrote:Whew, at this rate it'll take you a while to do the whole book.
Yeah. Apparently, professional translators only translate 1500-2000 words per day.
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Re: English help needed

Post by mèþru »

When it is plural, it means the Internet. I've never heard "the tube" referring to TV, but I have heard the idiot box (although very rarely, entirely in derogatory humour).
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Re: English help needed

Post by linguoboy »

mèþru wrote:When it is plural, it means the Internet. I've never heard "the tube" referring to TV, but I have heard the idiot box (although very rarely, entirely in derogatory humour).
"Boob tube" was more common than "idiot box" when I was younger, though both were current.

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Re: English help needed

Post by Axiem »

Qwynegold wrote: Huh, I thought tube meant the internet. But Urban Dictionary has TV as their first definition.
It pre-dates the Internet, back when TVs were made with Cathode Ray Tubes.

The use of "tubes" to refer to the Internet is an intentionally ironic thing (at least, originally) to mock a U.S. Senator whose grasp of the technology was lacking

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Re: English help needed

Post by Bristel »

Qwynegold wrote:About the dinner: I think usually lunch here in Sweden is at around 12:00, and dinner at 5-6 PM. So 3 PM is not very usual; I don't know if they've had lunch already or not. In the original text the mom yells "maten är klar!" (the food is ready). I thought that this is unidiomatic in English, so I chose dinner. :?
If you say "dinner", then yelling out "Dinner's ready!" is most close to what anyone would say in AmE. Not sure what you said you chose for the exact English phrase.

If you said "food", then "Food's ready!" parallels that.
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Re: English help needed

Post by Axiem »

IMD, just a plain "Dinner!", "Lunch!", or "Food!" is an acceptable (if extremely casual) way to let people know a meal is ready. So are "Dinner's ready!" and "Lunch's ready!"

However, to my ear, yelling "Food's ready!" sounds just a tad off, though I know I've heard it/said it. I agree that it's reasonable.

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Re: English help needed

Post by richard1631978 »

Axiem wrote:
Qwynegold wrote: Huh, I thought tube meant the internet. But Urban Dictionary has TV as their first definition.
It pre-dates the Internet, back when TVs were made with Cathode Ray Tubes.

The use of "tubes" to refer to the Internet is an intentionally ironic thing (at least, originally) to mock a U.S. Senator whose grasp of the technology was lacking
Tubes can also refer to a radio, from the vacuum tubes (valves) used before transistors. The song Nashville Cats has a good example of this in the lyrics.

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Re: English help needed

Post by Qwynegold »

Thanks for the replies everyone! I decided to decline the job offer. :/ It turned out that it would take me at least three months to translate the whole book, and the pay I was offered was not reasonable in the least. :( I hope this guy gets his business running so he can hire me for real sometime in the future.
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Re: English help needed

Post by Io »

Is there a general thread on all things English? I'll ask here:
dulcet
late Middle English doucet, from Old French doucet, diminutive of doux, from Latin dulcis ‘sweet’. The Latin form influenced the modern spelling.
Sooo, people used to write and say doucet and then suddenly someone decides to throw in an l because the Latin form has it and eventually people start saying the word with an 'L'?! Or is there an explanation that makes more sense?

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Re: English help needed

Post by Sumelic »

There are a number of other words in English that seem to require etymological restoration of /l/: fault, vault, cauldron, falcon. It doesn't seem too improbable to me, considering the more recent apparent restoration for many American English speakers of /l/ in words like psalm, palm, balm, calm. (I guess it seems possible to imagine that this was a retention, based on some minority of l-retainers who recently grew in influence, rather than a restoration, but I don't know of any evidence for this: as far as I know influence from the spelling seems the most likely cause.)

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Re: English help needed

Post by Io »

Is "bint" ever used on its own? I've only seen it in combinations such as "daft bint", "posh bint" etc, do people say something like "I saw some bint on the bus stop... [whatever]"?!

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Re: English help needed

Post by Axiem »

"Bint" is a word that I can't define at all, but associate with British English. I don't know that I've ever heard an American say it.

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Re: English help needed

Post by Nortaneous »

Salmoneus wrote:
Pole, the wrote:
the judgment here is quite subjective—though I'm someone who likes using them a lot.
What irks me about the English usage of the em dash is that you keep it glued to the words at its both ends.

So, in your post, “subjective—though” looks like a phrase on its own, joined with a dash, and not as two separate words constituting two fragments of a sentence, divided by the dash — I prefer the way Polish does it so very much…
Don't worry, we don't do that in English, either. At least, over here we haven't done that for a hundred years.

EDIT: apparently Fowler et al still do that. But I've never seen it in the wild. And, for example, UCL has an extensive guide to the use of punctuation for its students and it doesn't even occur to them to mention the idea of NOT including spaces.

To me, dashes without spaces belongs to the era of always writing "&" and never "and"...
What? If you use spaces, you use an en dash.
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