Glebous & comicus
22 Glebe Report February 9, 2018
The Glebe according to Zeus
A guinea pig’s perspective on the Glebe
Borrowed words Translating the magical world of Harry Potter into French by Michelle Brooke
Zeus ditched on Valentine’s Day! An anonymous source, Valmont, has provided the Glebe Report with several disturbing break-up letters to Zeus citing selfishness, food addiction and general laziness as deal-breakers. It appears that after last month’s publication of his controversial Me-First (MF)TM theory in Psychology Tomorrow, Zeus’ paramours decided to kick him to the curb once and for all. Below are several letters that have now gone bacterial on FootBook: Dear Zeus: I’m a convert to your Me-First therapy! After applying your easy-to-implement Me-First strategies, I realize you are no longer integral to my happiness. In fact, quite the opposite – you detract from the joy I deserve in my life. Thank you so much for enlightening me through your Me-First research – now I see you for the greedy, user-pig that you are. #FinallyFree! Bella, GiddyPigs.com Marketing Strategist & former love interest of Zeus
DOUVRIS.COM
Zeus: I have never met you, but I have seen you butting in line at Bridgehead and getting people to pay for your parsleyccino and salad because you “forgot” your debit card. #YouDisgustMe Valmont, neighbourhood squirrel Hey Zeus, you know I love you, but dude, customers are complaining that you keep eating their garnishes when they’re not looking. Also, your bar bill is in the thousands. Sorry, dude, you’re banned. Peace be with you, my furry love sausage. #SorryMan Liam, Erling’s Variety Yo Zeus: Fido no like you Zeus. You always let down. You always promise bone and never deliver. Fido going to hang out only with Bella now. You bad pig. #NoLikeYouNoMore Fido, dog Second Avenue Not surprisingly, Zeus has not been seen this month at Bridgehead or Erling’s Variety.
613.234.5000
The Harry Potter series is peppered with clever connotations, dripping with witty wordplay and altogether brimming with magical language. J.K. Rowling gives objects in the wizarding world amusing, expressive names often imbued with hidden meaning throughout the books. But this raises the question: how does one translate words such as “Hogwarts”, “Hinkypunk” and “Nargle”? French translator Jean-François Ménard understood that, rather than translating word-for-word and risking the loss of this nuanced language, he had to invent French equivalents that recreated the same meanings and captured the same pleasing, musical qualities of the original English books. For instance, the Hogwarts houses each have a name suggestive of that house’s traits. To keep the allusion to snakes, Slytherin house was translated as “Serpentard,” containing the French word “serpent,” and Hufflepuff was translated as “Poufsouffle,” retaining the same amusing ring as the English name. Ménard gave charming, rhythmic names to the enchanting sweets of the Harry Potter universe. Pumpkin Pasties became “Patacitrouilles” and Chocolate Frogs became “Chocogrenouilles.” But my favourite is the translation of “Fizzing Whizzbees,” a sherbert ball that makes you levitate
Best Buddies
while you eat it. Ménard renamed this a “Fizwizbiz.” Not only did Ménard have the challenge of recreating these names in French, but he also made up one of his own play-on-words that doesn’t appear in the English books. He translated the Sorting Hat as “le Choixpeau magique,” combining the word for hat, “chapeau,” with the word for choice, “choix,” a clever addition to the books! Overall, Ménard succeeded in translating the charms of Rowling’s original text so that French readers could enjoy the same experience as English readers, for it is the language of these books that draws us in and paints so detailed a picture of such an extraordinary world. As Dumbledore said, “Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic.” Michelle Brooke is in third year at Carleton University, majoring in linguistics and French and minoring in German. She loves learning and writing about language.
Calico kitten Patchy-Patch was adopted from the Humane Society. Chris, Ed and Cecilia Stroz picked her for her playfulness, and she has since shown herself to be curious, energetic and cuddly – “best pet ever.”