Re: USAGE: "each other" vs. "each ... the other"

--- Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:
> Quoting Adam Walker <carrajena@...>:
>
> > I remember a slightly different versin of the same
> > poem:
> >
> > One bright morning in the middle of the night
> > Two dumb brothers got up to fight.
> > Back to back they faced each other,
> > Drew their swords and shot each other.
> > A deaf policeman heard the noise,
> > Came and arrested those two dumb boys.
> >
> > Now THAT would make an interesting translation
> > exercise.  How well can your conlang handle
> logical
> > absurdities?
>
> None of my conlangs have all the vocabulary
> necessary to make up a translation
> on the spot, but the absurdities should pose no
> additional problems.
>
> I might try a Tairezazh version as soon as I've
> figured out how to
> say "morning", "deaf", "arrested" and a couple more.
> Oh, and is
> that "dumb"="stupid" or ="mute"?
>
>
>   Andreas
Well, I guess that's open to interpretation.
Ordinarily, I always interpret "dumb" as meaning
stupid since using "dumb" to mean mute is both very
old-fashioned in my 'lect and highly offensive to my
Deaf friends.  But the poem is old and does contain a
reference to deafness so I would imagine the author
may have intended the ambiguity of meaning.

In translating I would choose the "stupid" meaning
rather than the "mute" meaning as the more salient if
the language inquestion did not conflate the two
meaning as English does.

Adam


=====
Fached il prori ul pañeveju mutu chu djul atexindu.
-- Carrajena proverb

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