Re: French salad dressing

Mattis Fishman (mattis@argos.argoscomp.com)
Fri, 18 Jun 1999 10:36:10 -0400 (EDT) 

  Hello,

  I am sure I was not trying hold Paul responsible for any "putrid translation"
  when I wondered out loud about David Copperfield's salad as I think I
  agree with Scottie when he opines "is: '... all that David Copperfield
  slop/stew/fricassee ...' really so terrible?". Rather I was simply
  wondering if the term "salade" actually had the rather vulgar connotation
  associated with the original English. On this too, our resident psy...
  psy... psychic! has already supplied the answer that perhaps another
  similar word might have been used to greater effect.

  As usual, though, as I type this I have already changed my mind regarding
  the impact of the word "salade", or mix-up, hodge-podge, etc.. Namely,
  it seems that while they convey the sense long-winded futility associated
  with the type of background information he is not providing, they lack the
  deep disdain which the use of the obscenity in the original communicates:
  this narrator not only refuses to play by the rules by hates them as well.

  <section man> (HTML-challenged colleagues, see footnote [1] below)
  Here then is the real reason for banning the book. Not because our ears
  are offended by a word that describes an essential, if unpleasant, aspect
  of our lives, but because our most comfortable convention, that we can label
  an individual based upon his family, his past and his social situation, his
  David Copperfieldness, is dismissed as so much you-know-what.
  </section man>

  all the best,
  Mattis

  [1] When creating content for the world-wide-web in the document
  markup language known as HTML, the instructions are supplied within
  angle brackets "<>" and are know as "tags". A tag which begins with
  "/" indicates the close of a section which was previously opened with the
  corresponding same-named tag. It is a fairly common device on the
  in'ernet to use pseudo tags, such as "section man" here, to indicate
  a tone of voice, irony, etc. much as smilies are used. This particular
  instance indicates that I feel I am being pretentious and am not 100%
  serious about a point which I feel might be made by people who care about
  making points [2]

  [2] This is a tip of the hat to the missing and missed Brian Fenton[3]

  [3] This is a footnote. This notation is also seen quite a bit.[4]

  [4] They can get tiring, as you can see.