(adj)
Having been formerly; former; sometime.
word’s encounter: as word of the day on dictionary.com for the 28th of July, 2008.
word’s use: will it be that we speak one day of the quondam quokka?
(adj)
Having been formerly; former; sometime.
word’s encounter: as word of the day on dictionary.com for the 28th of July, 2008.
word’s use: will it be that we speak one day of the quondam quokka?
Language Hat alerted me to an interesting article and exercise on the translating of Fernando Pessoa. I’m no translator, and I’m certainly no poet, but I thought I might as well give the exercise a more thorough go by translating the entire passage instead of just a few words. Below is the original, my translation and a link to the three other translations done by real translators:
Pasmo sempre quando acabo qualquer coisa. Pasmo e desolo-me. O meu instinto de perfeição deveria inhibir-me de acabar; deveria inhibir-me de dar começo. Mas distraio-me e faço. O que consigo é um produto, em mim, não de uma aplicação da vontade, mas de uma cedência dela. Começo porque não tenho força para pensar; acabo porque não tenho alma para suspender. Este livro é a minha cobardia.
I always astonish myself when I finish anything. Astonish and distress. My perfectionism should prevent me from finishing; it should prevent me from even beginning. But I am distracted and I begin. What I make is a product not of an application of will in me, but of a surrendering to it. I begin because I have not the focus to think; I finish because I have not the courage to stop. This book is my cowardice.
And of course, the three professional translations.
Note: the extract should read alma para suspender as I have it above, not alma oara suspender as the linked-to website has it.
As seen from the 112 tram on the rear window of a swish Holden Commodore driving down Collins Street:
I put the X in SEXY!
What’s the bet the driver is one of my wog brethren?
(adj)
word’s encounter: as the solution to 4 down, a theologian leapt off. Edward is confused, in today’s cryptic in The Age.
word’s use: did John Winston’s bald pate have anything to do with his addlepated politics?