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#24617 04/30/01 01:16 AM
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Wasn't Amontillado el Fiasco a character in Asterix in Spain?

I can't remember, but I do know that I have lnog felt that the translators of the Asterix series are literary heroes grossly underappreciated. After struggling through Astérix et Cleopatre in High School, the genius of the translators in retaining the sense, and sense of humour, in a series dependent on punning, shone through. I don't even know their names, but they were gifted, that's for sure.
Be Like the Twenty-Second Elephant with Heated Value in Space - Bark!


#24618 04/30/01 01:35 AM
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Search for fiasco
That's right! Oh, sweet Max, have we really known each other only since Aug. 12th? Time sure flies when you're having such delightful fun!


#24619 04/30/01 06:28 AM
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but I do know that I have lnog felt that the translators of the Asterix series are literary heroes grossly underappreciated.

They were/are Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge. Guess which book from the series I can't lay my hands on? And yes, they were very clever, especially since in several instances they virtually had to recast the story to make the English fit the French-inspired cartoons.



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#24620 04/30/01 09:52 AM
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Latin buttis "cask". Bottle is related. A storeroom of casks of wine was called a buterie, and that is where the U.K. English term buttery "food shop in a college" comes from

and butter is made in a churn or cask. But wait for it.. the entymology is the other way round!!. Ignore the "in reply to"
In reply to:

: butter. Middle English, from Old English butere, from Latin butyrum, from Greek boutyron, from bous cow + tyros cheese; akin to Avestan tuiri- curds -- more at COW


from Miriam-Webster via yourdic (I knew him Horatio)
Rod




#24621 04/30/01 03:02 PM
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There was one, I don't remember the title, in which the pirates were clinging to the shattered remains of their ship in a parody of Gericault's Raft of the Medusa. The old pirate, who is usually saying something pithy in Latin, remarks, "We've been framed, by Jericho!" This doesn't quite work for US'ns for whom framed in this context would mean wrongly accused/indicted for some crime. Does framed mean something else for Brits?

Also, I had had the idea that the puns in Asterix were all preprogrammed in; I have copies of Asterix the Gladiator and Asterix Gladiador and some of the puns in English seem to have been translated literally into Spanish, in which language they are not puns. Since the Spanish version, I am certain, was translated from the French I could only assume that the puns had been lying in wait in the original ready to spring out in whatever language they got translated into.

Does anyone know what the "We've been framed..." line was in the French?


#24622 04/30/01 03:27 PM
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We've been framed, by Jericho!

It means the same in British, so without seeing the picture I'm not sure what the reference is. I will have a look through my (partial) collection, some in French (and German) tonight.

I do know that many (if not most) of the puns were language specific and different in each country (don't know how much the UK/US differ). Many of the names change: Dogmatix is Ideefix in French, Christmas Bonus the centurion is something completely different.
They used to publish the French books in UK with a pamphlet inside explaining the puns to an English audience, and if you could explain one they had missed you got a free Asterix book of your choice.

Which leads me to a phrase which my wife wishes I wouldn't use so often (on a crossed thread again). When I see someone doing things in a convoluted way I tend to mutter ".. fresh in from Paris everyday" refering to Unhygenix the Fishmonger's custom of supplying his seaside fish shop from Paris.

Rod


#24623 05/10/01 07:27 AM
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"We've been framed..." spoken by the pirate captain in Asterix

Sorry, couldn't find it in my (smallish) collection. (Damn kids. Buy 'em a book and they think it's theirs!) Only thought I had was that maybe the pirate had a hatch opening round his head, so "framing" him, but I presume you would have seen that.
However the search sent me rooting through the pun notes for a French copy of "Asterix and the Gladiators" (by the way a nephew was an extra - a German tribesman - in Gladiators. The battle scene was filmed in the woods next to my in-law's house) In this it mentions that one of the songs is a parody of a kid's song "Il etait un petit navire". It also mentions that "there is a noted rude version". I have been unable to track this down. Any help please?

And while we're on the subject. Such rude songs are generally known as "Rugby Songs" in UK. Is there such a phrase in US and elsewhere, or are they just known as "dirty songs"?

Rod


#24624 05/10/01 07:53 AM
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Whenever I see a free giveaway when you purchase something (ginzu knives come to mind), I mutter to myself "... and a free fish with every antique ..." From "Mansions of the Gods", of course. Or it could be a free antique with every fish purchased.




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#24625 05/10/01 08:16 AM
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and a free fish with every antique ..." Or it could be a free antique with every fish purchased.

of course with Unhygienix the fish WAS the antique

Is there a french pun hidden in the "free fish with every antique"(or vice versa) or is it just commenting on the practice of freebies?

Rod


#24626 05/10/01 12:42 PM
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Rod asks: Is there a french pun hidden in the "free fish...

I just thought the poison/poisson connexion was funny enough, but I don't know enough French (or have enough Aterices in French) to know if they exploited it.


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