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Q. Pheevr
q_pheevr
24 Februar 2004 @ 11:52
Found in translation  

So, you wanna know the real reason I've actually started posting stuff here? It's because I couldn't create a blog called "A Roguish Chrestomathy" and leave it empty. The name is just too good to go to waste. But it requires, I think, a bit of explanation.

Roguish Chrestomathy FUQ

Q: Is roguish chrestomathy a Googlewhack?

A: No.

Q: Is roguish like roguelike?

A: No.

Q: So where did this splendid name come from?

Warning: Unicode ahead

A: The inspiration actually came from a Czech literature course I took as an undergrad. We were reading (and translating) a story by Milan Kundera, and I came across the phrase uliční výbor. Now, what this really means is sort of a Communist version of "neighbourhood watch"—a group of people expected to rat one another out to the government for any apparent counter-revolutionary activities.

But I didn't know this, and so I valiantly tried to translate it word-by word. Now, uliční is an adjective derived from the noun ulice ('street'), and výbor in this context means 'committee.' But uliční wasn't in my trusty little Czech-English dictionary, so I took a guess and decided it must be related to uličník, which means 'rogue.' And then výbor can refer either to a collection of people ('committee') or to a collection of writings ('anthology, chrestomathy'). Neither one entirely made sense to me in the context, so I flipped a coin and went with the latter. Hence "roguish chrestomathy."

The prof was, at least, amused.

 
 
Nuværende humør: dorky
Nuværende musik: Lerner Moguilevsky Dúo, "Sobreviviente"
 
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Les[info]tenacious_snail on 24. Februar, 2004 10:01 (UTC)
Ha!
You blogged! Couldn't just let it rest, having an LJ account and making comments. Nope, you did it.

(and I got a good chuckle out of it, because I, too, have made some translation choices that later turned out humorously.)
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Q. Pheevr[info]q_pheevr on 24. Februar, 2004 10:34 (UTC)
Re: Ha!
You got me. I confess it.

But see, the other thing that's making me post—besides the title—is the fact that if I write stuff here, (a few) people actually read it. Quite startling.
Tishie[info]wahooweena on 24. Februar, 2004 11:06 (UTC)
Check me out!
I googlewhacked on my first try! (senatorially pristine)

I like mine better than most of the others, because it is a meaningful phrase, not just two random words. Granted, it's probably not a phrase that could ever be uttered in seriousness, but it has meaning nonetheless.
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Q. Pheevr[info]q_pheevr on 24. Februar, 2004 11:50 (UTC)
Senatorially pristine
Cool! Well whacked!
Les[info]tenacious_snail on 24. Februar, 2004 15:46 (UTC)
Re: Senatorially pristine
I went through a "bored at work" phase that included lots and lots of googlewhacking. I discovered that alliterative pairs will always return lots of dictionary-like hits. I no longer remember any of the good ones :-(