more No-Fear Shakespeare lunacy

[a_t_rain]

'Cos sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying, here are some choice excerpts from Twelfth Night 2.3.

Real Shakespeare: "The Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses."

No-Fear Shakespeare: "Great warriors aren’t mom-and-pop diners, you know."

Real Shakespeare: "A contagious breath."

No-Fear Shakespeare: "His breath stinks." (N.B. No, this is NOT what it means at all.)

Real Shakespeare: "Let our catch be 'Thou Knave'."

No-Fear Shakespeare: "Let's dance to 'You Jerk'."

Real Shakespeare: "Malvolio's a Peg-a-Ramsey."

No-Fear Shakespeare: "Malvolio's Little Bo-Peep."

If anybody else feels like playing, their home page is here.

Comments

[danel4d.livejournal.com]

From what I can see, this is a kind of a translation job, and by my understanding of it the classic translator's dilemma lies in the balance between preserving accuracy or poetry - is the literal meaning of the phrase more important, or making the translated phrase attractive in its own right more important? It's a puzzle.


Making the product neither accurate nor attractive is an intriguing solution to the dilemma that I'd never considered until now.