You should read Scribblingwoman more. Also, Jonathan Goodwin. Here’s a thing, courtesy of the former. [Specifically, tomorrow I want to visit Miriam’s blog and find more edifying ‘recent comments’ are available than those left by that hopeless ‘online casino’ character. Not that I blame Miriam. She just deserves better.]
{ 17 comments }
Raimo 03.27.05 at 11:06 am
I have to be missing something here – why’s the title in German, John?
(If it’s obvious, just scold me).
John Holbo 03.27.05 at 11:09 am
It’s a thing from the thing I linked. Which is in German. Both folks strike me as endearingly obsessive about intellectual landscapes. I guess that’s the connection, if any. But really I was just noodling, moved to spread the whuffie, couldn’t think of a title.
raj 03.27.05 at 12:42 pm
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”?
raj 03.27.05 at 12:47 pm
Sorry, that should be “Gebiet der bestimmten Ideen�
Raimo 03.27.05 at 1:12 pm
“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.
raj 03.27.05 at 1:57 pm
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.
joel turnipseed 03.27.05 at 2:09 pm
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?)
joel turnipseed 03.27.05 at 2:14 pm
… “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)
yabonn 03.27.05 at 3:29 pm
If you like this one, you may find the “carte du tendre” of some interest.
Raimo 03.27.05 at 3:48 pm
Where do you guys get the idea that “fix” in German means “fixed” in English?
It doesn’t.
It means “smart” or “cool”.
jholbo 03.27.05 at 8:32 pm
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.
joel turnipseed 03.27.05 at 9:23 pm
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?
jholbo 03.27.05 at 10:13 pm
Well, then I stand corrected, Joel.
joel turnipseed 03.27.05 at 10:32 pm
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.
Raimo 03.27.05 at 11:10 pm
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
joel turnipseed 03.27.05 at 11:38 pm
Raimo – very interesting. Others may also find a few pleasurable hours with Peter Turchi’s “Maps of the Imagination.”
mj 03.28.05 at 11:46 am
Don’t knock Sr. Casino; he is one of my most loyal readers.
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