de ce monde ancien

duylinh is able to drink more than two sips of becherovka without getting splotchy. i saw the british movie "hot fuzz" and was scared to buy the tickets because the czech title is extremely long. i laughed and laughed because the mockery is so vast. a great slacker movie. untranslatability. take a line from the phantom of the opera, paraphrased:

tables, plans and maids must be laid

can any body translate that succinctly in any language?

then things that can be translated in some languages but not others. from Les mains sales:

Le plus brulant séducteur s'y gèlerait les doigts. Il te caresserait pour te réchauffer un peu et tu lui fondrais entre les mains.

can be rendered in English easily, but only because of the similar semantic realms of the concept of cold in English and French. and even then it sounds slightly awkward because the concept of hot doesn't quite chevauche:

"The most burning suitor would freeze his fingers. He'd caress you to warm you up and you'd melt in his hands."


li ping almost missed her train because i didn't have any change and facebook. she went to poland. we miss li ping because she answers a question before you finish asking it. mock peremptory, because the curt answer comes with a smile that tacitly welcomes the next hypothetical question:

-so let's say you took the biscuits that were to become animal feed and sold them to unscrupulous shopkeepers for much greater than the fermiers would pay, though the employee of the year you may be.

the viets here sell fresh vegetables and according to my source they are creepy on account of their norhtern accent.

dixit apollinaire:

Et tu bois cet alcool brulant comme ta vie,
Ta vie que tu bois comme une eau de vie.