User talk:Bishonen
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Archive 1, Archive 2, Archive 3, Archive 4, Archive 5, Archive 6, Archive 7, Archive 8
Good evening Bishonen!
Glad to see you're home. I have replied on my user page, As this page is far too long as it is!
- You're right, it was. Good grief, you've got a ventriloquist act with the goat now? Bishonen | talk 01:21, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
- Thanks for unblocking me after that self-blocking weirdness :) Secretlondon 18:59, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
Profuse gratitude
Thank you so very much for your flower! I'm going to send you some more goats, these are wild ones I photographed in Egypt, just as soon as I have the time to scan them. Hope the holiday was a success, so brave of you to try scuba diving, and snorkelling, in the fjords so unfashionably far north. Giano | talk 22:27, 10 August 2005 (UTC)
Länsteater
I have been pointed in your direction for either a translation, or an explanation of the word "länsteater" and similar. My question arouse because of Gävleborgs Folkteater mentioned in the article Anders Norudde. Do you know if there is a generally accepted translation of this proper name? If not, do you have a suggestion on a not too lenghty explanation of what a "länsteater" is? / Habj 14:41, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
- Sorry to cause you such trouble! Since I was pointed in your direction, I assumed you had something to do with Swedish-related stuff... I've corrected the dating info on the play/the forming of the group. "County theatre" sounds great, tax-sponsored institution is indeed what it is - but not very "folkrörelse", just paid by the tax. As we don't know of an official English namn, I think that addition explains enough. "People's theatre" to me sounds a bit too much like China. / Habj 07:19, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
- Bishonen knows a lot about theatre, and about Swedish-English translation, which is why I suggested that you ask her. Anyway, I think this is the type of translation issues that is likely to come up more often with better coverage of Swedish institutions and organisations. Sometimes a translation is obvious and straightforward and may even end up as an English term actually used for a similar type of institution. In other cases a translation sounds strange and may even be misleading. (Politically loaded terms are particularly problematic - how do you translate "Frisinnade folkpartiet" or "Lantmannapartiet"?) As for theatres, I just thought of an article I wrote a while ago on the architect Axel Anderberg, who built a number of theatres:
- "His first significant commission was the new Opera House in Stockholm (1889-1898), which replaced the gustavian opera building. After having won the contest for the building he spent additional time abroad for the particular purpose of studying theatre architecture. He later designed the city theatres in Karlstad (1893), Linköping (1902-1903) and Kristianstad (1906) and the Oscarsteatern in Stockholm (1906)."
- I am not asking you to see this as a model, just as an example of my spontaneous reaction when confronted with a list of Swedish theatres. "Stadsteatern i X" was easy enough to translate and probably not misleading, but I felt that Oscarsteatern was a bit too much of a proper noun to translate (and I couldn't find an official translation). I left it in Swedish but in italics, which warns a reader that "here comes one of those long compound Swedish words, beware of stumbling!". Having thought about it a bit more, I think I would probably treat Gävleborgs folkteater much as Oscarsteatern; even though it is on the surface easy to translate, the translation looks a bit odd and possibly misleading. Generally speaking I would be more inclined to use a Swedish name as an article title (like Riksdag, for instance), where it can be explained and alternative English translations offered at the beginning of the article, but to use a reasonably good English translation (like Swedish parliament) in text, pipelinked or redirected, to avoid the "stumbling" effect of stacking to many foreign terms into an English text. --Tupsharru 08:06, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
One or the other
Don't look for me on IRC or the various policy/talk pages. I'm about done with this place. It occurs to me more and more every day that not only will quality get swamped by bulk, but that, increasingly, there isn't even the smallest island for quality, so merely retreating to writing solid article and letting the rabid and distempered gradually agree that Wikipedia should be Everything2 isn't an option. I may go on full break. I haven't decided, yet, but I care less and less about how successful people can be at eliminating any deletion, any featured status, any standards at all. Quality, it seems, is only desired in the abstract, but having one great orgy of self-expression is demanded in the here and now. Geogre 16:48, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
- Oh, gosh: first Fil; now you, Geogre. Please don't go permanently - where would we be without stellar articles like Augustan literature? Don't let the buggers get you down, for goodness sake. It sounds like taking some time away from the madhouse to recharge of batteries is in order. -- ALoan (Talk) 17:08, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
- Yes I was very distressed to see Fil go (although he told me in an email that he would probably be back — I sure hope so, its been awhile now). I would also be very distressed to see Geogre leave. I think we are suffering from growing pains and have scaling issues but I believe they can all be managed. I think it is especially hard on the people who have been with the project for the longest time. But whatever we can do to keep great editors like Fil and Geogre, we should. Let me know if I can help in any small (or not so small) way. Paul August ☎ 18:49, August 11, 2005 (UTC)
Func's RfA :)
Func( t, c, e, ) 19:11, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
All right already! Bubble gum pink, isn't it? Bishonen | talk 19:19, 11 August 2005 (UTC)