[Dragaera] A more Paarfict union (of words)?

[Davdi Silverrock]

Another multi-reply:

On Jan 17, 2008 4:32 PM, Philip Hart wrote:
>
> On Thu, 17 Jan 2008, Davdi Silverrock wrote:
>
> > "the unfortunate timing of their sojourn led to its interruption"
>
> Not sure about "led to".  "Resulted in"?  "Their ill-timed sojourn
> was interrupted"?

Or perhaps, "the unfortunate timing of their sojourn was shown by its
interruption".

>
> Maybe it's comic as stands.
>

Yes, I think so.  I'll leave it alone.


On Jan 17, 2008 5:39 PM, Mark A. Mandel wrote:
> Perhaps, in place of "sort":
> varietyformspeciesHmm, "some species of shirt".

[and]

On Jan 18, 2008 5:07 AM, Erzsébet of Catspirit Wood wrote:
>
> I like "some species of shirt." :)
>

While I agree that "species of" is ... Francophonic (that is, it is a
calque of the French phrase "espèces d'" ), and therefore might well
have been used by Dumas, I note that Search Inside indicates that
Paarfi-as-translated only ever uses the word "species" in referring to
animal (or human) species (e.g., he refers to Easterners as being
different species from Dragaerans).

(If you have any familiarity with Tintin, you might be amused by
Captain Haddock's use of phrases that begin with "espèces d'" in the
original French:

  http://membres.lycos.fr/youpi98/haddock/hadd_pg.htm

)

That having been said, I don't feel too strongly about using "species"
instead of "sort".

On Jan 18, 2008 4:53 AM, Howard Brazee wrote:

>
> That's not the usual way Paarfi uses the word "nearly", and it
> counters some the irony of the remark about the unremarkable.
>

I disagree.  Paarfi uses the word "nearly" in both ironic and
straightforward meanings, and its use here is precisely amusing
because it has a certain ambiguity as to which meaning is intended.