Comments on: Gebiet der Fixen Ideen

By: mj

mj — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 16:46:37 +0000

Don’t knock Sr. Casino; he is one of my most loyal readers.

By: joel turnipseed

joel turnipseed — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 04:38:18 +0000

Raimo - very interesting. Others may also find a few pleasurable hours with Peter Turchi's "Maps of the Imagination."

By: Raimo

Raimo — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 04:10:09 +0000

Mitä Helvettiä, John Holbo!

Only two minutes in a sober condition, and I find out how much you’ve been amusing yourself.

http://lazarus.elte.hu/cet/publications/proc13-ormeling.htm

By: joel turnipseed

joel turnipseed — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 03:32:02 +0000

John –
It was a good post—and both sites are intriguing (and the map made my day). Indeed, one of the frustrating things about the blogosphere is how much good stuff there is out there (though much of what’s good is evanescent—it’s hard to keep up): glad to be directed to interesting places by yer compass.

I thought my first correction would leave open discussion of the sites themselves (or that MAP!), or at least engender something on vagaries of translation (my two favorites: “dovetail” coming out “pigeon’s ass” when round-tripped for QA in translation to Portuguese for tech manual && trying to explain to a Chinese friend of mine an offhand remark to a restaurant host—a college friend—that Zhang and I would just “go spank our monkeys for a while” to endure a half-hour wait—my idiomatic use of another idiom made for some comic explanation, ending in, “Oh, we just say ‘Shoot airplanes.’”). To come home from long(est?) day at in-laws in-laws (my wife and I need those little plastic crickets!) & find that we were still in “smart-ass land” was too much.

By: jholbo

jholbo — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 03:13:23 +0000

Well, then I stand corrected, Joel.

By: joel turnipseed

joel turnipseed — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 02:23:26 +0000

Honestly… I don’t know why I’m so bent out of shape over this, but “Gebiet der Fixen Ideen” is not “Gebiet” + “Fix” + “Idee,” but rather: “Gebiet” + “Idee Fixe”—or “place of obsession.” Good German dictionaries (LEO, online) show that the French phrase came over to German intact, just as in English. Moreover, if you look at the other place-names on the region, it’s obvious: sigh, dream, hope, etcetera—these are the stuff of obsession’s realm, no?

By: jholbo

jholbo — Mon, 28 Mar 2005 01:32:42 +0000

I was reasonably sure it meant ‘smartass zone’ or ‘cool zone’, and I am glad some others are confirming that reading. But I was definitely attracted by the fact that it also looks like pretend German for ‘land of fixed ideas’. These notions seem happy together.

By: Raimo

Raimo — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:48:58 +0000

Where do you guys get the idea that “fix” in German means “fixed” in English?

It doesn’t.

It means “smart” or “cool”.

By: yabonn

yabonn — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 20:29:48 +0000

If you like this one, you may find the “carte du tendre” of some interest.

By: joel turnipseed

joel turnipseed — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 19:14:00 +0000

… “my” s/be in parentheses: “The area of (my) obsession(s)” would be more accurate w/r/t use as header on blog. Now. must. go. to. in-laws-in-law. for. Easter…. (struggling)

By: joel turnipseed

joel turnipseed — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 19:09:14 +0000

LEO has an entry for “fixed idea”—just as ours, both from the French: “idee fixe.” Pretty easy to figure from the (hilarious/intriguing) Map to which John linked, and, given the blogs in question, is just: “The area of my obsessions.”

(Should CT also have a subject area: hazzards of translation?)

By: raj

raj — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:57:52 +0000

I didn’t click on the links.

Regarding the German, a couple of years ago, I bought a book entitled “Scheisse! The German You Were Never Taught In School,” by “Getrude Besserwisser http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=Dw5XwQBBW7&isbn=0452272211&itm=1 “Besserwisser” essentially means “know it all” It was a funny book, but even it was somewhat staid.

By: Raimo

Raimo — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 18:12:33 +0000

“I believe it’s trying to say something like the “region (or area) of the fixed idea””

It means “the bright ideas zone”, or for the less charitable, perhaps “the smartass’s hangout”.

But thanks to John for the links.

By: raj

raj — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 17:47:42 +0000

Sorry, that should be “Gebiet der bestimmten Ideen”?

By: raj

raj — Sun, 27 Mar 2005 17:42:23 +0000

Um, that isn’t German. I believe it’s trying to say something like the “region (or area) of the fixed idea” but it it would be a lousy translation into German. “Gebiet der bestimmten Idee”?