What surprised me about reading a book written in 1980 was when characters said “fucking WITH” someone to mean having sex with.
It’s still used that way sometimes, to me “fucking with someone” usually means annoying or trolling them
My favorite language evolution is "making love." In the past, it used to mean doing couple stuff together, like going for a walk. That's why whenever I'm in a bad mood, I just look at this old Popeye comic and smile.
This makes me think of the Chinese soap opera Yáng niū zài Běijīng. Google translates that as "Foreign Girls in Beijing," but Rachel DeWoskin, who acted in it, insists that it should be translated as "Foreign Babes in Beijing" based on the style of calligraphy in the titles.
There's a K-drama I rewatch occasionally. The English title is "Stranger" but the Korean title is usually translated to "Secret Forest". Thing is, in English that means that almost nobody knows about the forest. Its location or its existence are secret. But...
... what they actually mean is that there are so many secrets that they make up a forest. So "Forest of Secrets" would be a better translation, even if it's technically less accurate.
(Please note that this is half-speculation on my part. I reserve the right to be full of crap.)
This reminds me, I would dearly love to know what the decision-making process was for using the title 'The Silent Sea'. That's how the title (and dialogue) translated the English for the Korean tranlation of the Latin that English translates as 'The Sea of Tranquility'. 1/
But 'The Silent Sea' works much better for a title of a spooky show! So I wonder if they decided on purpose to not do localization for that very reason. They could have chosen a different title altogether, but it's a good title! I'm so curious about it. 2/2
(Googles) Well now. I might have to give this one a look. The neurodivergent detective thing usually irritates me, but there's a certain kind of drama that the Koreans do better than anybody.
I tried it because I'm a bit of a fan of Bae Doona, but I stayed for the drama. :)
The secrets DO kind of cascade. Every time you think you've gotten to the bottom, you find... more turtles.
It's on Netflix, in case you didn't already figure that out. 2 seasons, each a complete story.
I do like the character Hwang Si-mok. As a neurodivergent myself, I identify with him somewhat. I think he's written well and played well. Though I can't tell how good the acting is, dependent as I am on reading the subtitles.
YMMV, but I recommend at least giving it a try.
Apropos - George Carlin: Custer addressing his soldiers ....
"OK men, knock off the horse play. C'mon, knock off the horse play. YOU GUYS PLAYIN' WITH THE HORSE, WILL YA KNOCK IT OFF!?!?"
I’ve been learning Russian and it’s made me realize how often a single word in English holds so many different completely unrelated meanings.
For example, typing “spell” into translate gives you «заклинание» which is like a magic spell, not how you arrange letters to form a word
Saw one like this, but the scenario was archaeologists 2000 years in the future who discover the messages on your phone, but don't know the difference between a butt dial and a booty call.
Learned over a decade ago, so could be misremembering, but: the ancient Greek sophist tradition was this -- just means "wise"/"learned", but basically "wise man" amongst themselves, "wise guy" to their foes.
I heard a story about a German exchange student who was talking with a bunch of American high schoolers about what music they like. The German kid eventually said, "You have bad flavor."
Taste. He meant bad taste.
But Christo-extremists don’t care about accuracy. By not caring they get to claim sacred texts support everything they believe, including the patriarchy and harsh health care policies. Screw accuracy, that’s for pin headed liberals.
Alt text: black text on patterned background saying "The gulf of meaning between the terms 'horse play' and 'pony play' illustrates why expecting your culture's translation of another's ancient texts to be 100% true to their original intent is dangerous and probably not a good idea."
