Re: "Yoon" "weird" xi ~ (was Re: Tasratal: sketch: connectives

Christophe Grandsire scripsit:

> We don't really make the distinction in French. But I always took the meaning
> of the Camus novel as "foreigner" in my head.
Of course "stranger" in English always means someone who is unknown, not
simply anyone who is strange!  There are related senses too, like someone
who is not relevant to a (legal) matter.  But a foreigner need not be
a stranger, nor vice versa, of course!

There is also the delightful expression "Don't be a stranger!" =
"Keep in touch, write or call more often".

> "The Stranger" would be
> more "L'Inconnu" in French (at least my idiolect). A case where direct
> translation seems difficult.
Yeah, well, there's this classic poem by Keats (18th century English
Romantic) where the climactic line is "La belle dame sans merci/Hath thee in
thrall!".  Try putting *that* poem into French....

(http://www.library.utoronto.ca/utel/rp/poems/keats15.html)

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
Please leave your values        |       Check your assumptions.  In fact,
   at the front desk.           |          check your assumptions at the door.
     --sign in Paris hotel      |            --Miles Vorkosigan

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