Alles Normales

In short: Another little story which illustrates my ever favorite theme of “Internet is a gold mine of information, you just need to know how to find the proper one”.

In detail:
Back in late 90s I was into making money as part time translator (I had a regular 9 to 5 job, too). While my “hunting ground” was rather fancy - I’d been monetizing on relations between American gentlemen and Russian women - this is not the topic I want to touch here (at least not today). What I’m feeling like sharing with you today is a little story I stumbled upon while browsing thru archives of my numerous Internet postings - because it’s another illustration to my ever favorite theme of “Internet is a gold mine of information, you just need to know how to find the proper one“.

So, back in late 90s I was subscribed to RWL mailing list (RWL stands for Russian-Women-List). I would monitor ongoing discussions and from time to time I would post a detailed response on topic I felt most comfortable with, so all subscribers of the list would see my .sig (signature) file which advertised my services. My .sig looked like that:

–
Eng <-> Rus translation service ($0.02 per word + free mail forwarding)
Delivery service in Izhevsk and vicinity
Internet consultant

Fedor Zondermaher
Izhevsk, Russia
–

There was another Russian guy on the list whose favorite advertising technique to promote his translation/guiding services in Ekaterinburg was to post a series of “Russian Proverbs, Or Say It In Russian And Impress Your Lady” (yo Alexander my man!), and once one US gentleman decided to test Alexander’s knowledge of *English* sayings and posted to the list following:

—
> Will I “end up in the doghouse”?
> Am I just about to “rent a paddleless
> boat for a journey up the wrong creek”?
> Or even worse, end up “S.O.L.”?
> “Only time will tell”.
> [figure *those* out Alexander!]
—

The moment I saw the posting I knew I must to respond and teach that guy a small lesson

Here is a copy of my reply:

—
Re English idioms - as I often do Eng<->Rus translations, I have my “American Idioms” dictionary handy, yet I often found it sufficient to check with the Online Merriam-Webster dictionary - yeah, I know, I’m too lazy to reach for the book ( I spend my 9 to 6 plugged into the Net, that’s my work duties)

OK, let’s see http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

- of course it doesnt contain searchable index of proverbs/sayings/idioms, yet
if an experienced user puts the right word into the query field the result comes up easily:

For example:

> Will I “end up in the doghouse”?

Main Entry: dogћhouse
Pronunciation: ‘dog-”haus
Function: noun
Date: 1594
: a shelter for a dog
- in the doghouse : in a state of disfavor

The definition is straightforward, I would say

> Am I just about to “rent a paddleless
> boat for a journey up the wrong creek”?

Main Entry: creek
- up the creek : in a difficult or perplexing situation

The rest is distinguishable, at least for me.

> Or even worse, end up “S.O.L.”?

this one is tough…hmm…it took me some time to locate decent Acronym & Abbreviation server. It’s provided following results:

SOL:
Shit Out of Luck
Short on Landing (or, colloquially, Shit Out of Luck)
Simulation Oriented Language
Smiling Out Loud
Solomon airport (code) [United States]
Speed Of Light
Straight Outta Luck

I’d go for first twos

> “Only time will tell”.

This one doesnt require M-W to understand it

> [figure *those* out Alexander!]

You see, virtually anybody can crack the meaning of these - what a mighty thing the Net is.

Hope those two servers might be of help to RWLers.

You know, I’m happy that both M-W and Silmaril are still around - too many useful resources went belly up lately…

Filed under: Success stories - Offline meets Online