Author Topic: The Versatility of English (Read 8860 times)

pooka · « **Reply #50 on:** December 17, 2007, 08:42:53 AM »

Yeah. I think there was also something called ergot on a sci-fi TV show back in the 70's.

Jonathon · « **Reply #51 on:** December 21, 2007, 05:49:41 PM »

Here's an interesting little blog post on loving American English. Just thought I'd share.

goofy · « **Reply #52 on:** January 24, 2008, 07:59:42 AM »

Quote

"Philtron" does sound sound like a lovebot.

This was... a femfatalatron, an erotifying device stochastic, elastic and orgiastic, and with plenty of feedback; whoever was placed inside the apparatus instantaneously experienced all the charms, lures, wiles, winks and witchery of all the fairer sex in the Universe at once. The femfatalatron operated on a power of forty megamors, with a maximum attainable efficiency - give a constant concupiscense coefficent - of ninety-six percent, while the system's libidinous lubricity, measured of course in kilocupids, produced up to six units for every remote-control caress. This marvelous mechanism, moreover, was equipped with reversible ardor dampers, omnidirectional consummation amplifiers, absorption philters, paphian peripherals, and "first-sight" flip-flop circuits...

"The Fourth Sally, or How Trurl Built a Femfatalatron to Save Prince Pantagoon from the Pangs of Love, and How Later He Resorted to a Cannonade of Babies" from The Cyberiad by Stanis?aw Lem (1974 Avon Books translation)

Noemon · « **Reply #53 on:** January 24, 2008, 09:25:18 AM »

I often wonder whether Lem or his translator is the more talented writer. Can you imagine having enough grace in two languages to be able to render a translation like that?

goofy · « **Reply #54 on:** January 25, 2008, 07:02:14 AM »

I know, translators are like the unsung heroes of literature.

Noemon · « **Reply #55 on:** January 25, 2008, 07:08:23 AM »

Aren't they?

By the way, Sheila, it was The Cyberiad was the Lem book I was trying to remember the name of last weekend. I was about to volunteer to stick it in the big box o' stuff that's going to be making its way to you next week, but a quick check of my shelves reveals that I no longer own a copy. I expect that I loaned it to somebody or other at some point and just never got it back.

goofy · « **Reply #56 on:** January 25, 2008, 08:15:03 AM »

It's one of my favourite books. I found a scan of The First Sally (A), or Trurl's Electronic Bard, so yall can get an idea of what it's like.

Noemon · « **Reply #57 on:** January 25, 2008, 08:55:33 AM »

It's among mine, although it's been a few years since I've read it.

What are some of your other favorites?

goofy · « **Reply #58 on:** January 25, 2008, 09:11:11 AM »

by Lem: Solaris, Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, and The Investigation
Italo Calvino: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Cosmicomics, T zero, The Cloven Viscount
Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books
Pale Fire by Nabokov
Tove Jansson
Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
Michael Moorcock: The Dancers at the End of Time and the Cornelius stories
James Blaylock: The Last Coin and The Digging Leviathan
The Incal by Moebius and Alexandro Jodorowsky
Doom Patrol and The Invisibles by Grant Morrison

Noemon · « **Reply #59 on:** January 25, 2008, 09:19:00 AM »

That's an ecclectic mix!

The only Calvino I've read is Baron of the Trees, and while I liked it, I somehow never read any of his other stuff. If you were to have to pick, which of those four would you recommend that a person start with?

goofy · « **Reply #60 on:** January 25, 2008, 09:23:06 AM »

Cosmicomics! It's a collection of stories told by Qfwfq, the oldest person in the universe. He remembers being a dinosaur, he remembers what it was like before the big bang - it was awfully crowded.

Noemon · « **Reply #61 on:** January 25, 2008, 09:37:11 AM »

Looks good! I'll see if my library has a copy.

goofy · « **Reply #62 on:** January 25, 2008, 10:53:59 AM »

What would you recommend, Noemon?