<MSGID_1=3A153=2F716.0_23d14691@fidonet.org>
From: alexander koryagin <koryagin@erec.ru>

Hi, Ardith Hinton!
I read your message from  20.09.2013 23:42
about show goes on...  1..

  ak>> Well, if the man could hear its annoying sound, it means it was an
  ak>> acoustic one. Else he could ask the players to use headphones, and
  ak>> he would not  have  been  so  pathetic  when  speaking  about  war
  ak>> declaration. 
  AH> Quite possibly. OTOH, a joke is a form of "short story"...  a genre
  AH> in which every word counts.  To a certain extent you  can  rely  on
  AH> assumptions & stereotypes in a joke.  It goes without  saying  e.g.
  AH> that Pat & Mike are Irish;  I'm sure you'll understand why Dallas &
  AH> I often ask "What else did  you  get  for  your  birthday???"  when
  AH> someone is honking a car horn repeatedly  &  impatiently.  If  your
  AH> jokes are intended as practice in writing short  stories,  however,
  AH> I'll hold you to  a  higher  standard.  You  may  need  to  specify
  AH> concisely what sort of instrument you're alluding to so as  not  to
  AH> delay  the  action  while  the  nerds  in  the  audience  read  the
  AH> dictionary or wonder what else he could have done. :-))

    In most cases I just translate the anecdotes I  read  from  different
sources,  in Russia.  Probably,  they are  not  a  good  instrument  for
improving English skills.  I think, if somebody wants to acquire a knack
for English he needs to write something more longer.  I  post  anecdotes
just to make a bit fun here. At least, I think they are funny.

  ak>> After thinking it over,  I now agree,  that an electronic keyboard
  ak>> can be made in such a way that it sounds like  an  acoustic  piano
  ak>> only.

  AH> That may be all the owners intend to do with it.  Now, what if they
  AH> want to hear the kids practising and/or headphones are an  optional
  AH> extra? ;-)

    If the piano was bought for kids  it  is  make  thinks  easier.  Most
probably, your neighbors are normal people, and it's hardly they love to
listen to piano practicing for hours. Espesially, if it sounds awkwardly
and falsely. 

  ak>>>> --  the majority of the Russian town population lives in  blocks
  ak>>>> of flats.  They are made of reinforced concrete  and  have  poor
  ak>>>> sound insulation.
  AH>>> Many people in  Vancouver  &  the  surrounding  suburbs  live  in
  AH>>> similar places.  We tend  to  refer  to  them  as  apartments  or
  AH>>> condominiums,
  ak>> Wow, what a word. ;=)
  AH> Condominium?  From Latin, meaning "with" + "ownership".  I guess it
  AH> sounds fancier to some  people  than  "self-owned  apartments".  In
  AH> informal usage they're often referred to as "condos".... :-)

Well, it is like heroinium, as the place for heros. 

  ak>> I read in my dictionary that "apartment block"  is  from  American
  ak>> English, and "block of flats" is British.
  AH> Yes, that's my take on it. :-)

    I seems to me that "block  of  flats"  is  not  a  phrase  that  cuts
American ears.  Is it?  Can it be used in the translation  for  American
readers?

  AH> [re the strictness of rules in Russian]
  AH>> That may explain why Russians tend to think in terms of rules  WRT
  AH>> English  &  then  feel  frustrated  because  there  are  so   many
  AH>> exceptions.  You guys seem to be very good at analyzing  patterns,
  AH>> however...  an  approach  which  works  better  for  me.   If  you
  AH>> understand why my ancestors might have said "You want beef? I have
  AH>> cattle!" I think you will see where I'm coming from. :-)
  ak>> No, I don't. Can you explain it?

  AH> Uh-huh. I'll try not to be too wordy... [chuckle].

  AH> The above example is my  somewhat  tongue-in-cheek  explanation  of
  AH> how....  after the Norman invasion of 1066...  native  speakers  of
  AH> English learned to use different words for "meat  on  the  hoof"  &
  AH> "meat on the table". Before that the people who supplied food for
<skipped>
  AH> it is plural already.  A dictionary which includes word origins can
  AH> be  a  valuable  resource  in  demystifying  English  for  advanced
  AH> students like you & others here.

    Thanks for the explanation.  Indeed,  translation  became  much  much
easier for a modern person than for people from 197x, for instance. When
I translate, I have good dictionaries, internet,  ready translations....
A modern translator can easily find not the meaning of a word/phrase  --
he can find many passages in real books where such a word/phrase meets.

Bye, Ardith!
Alexander Koryagin
fido7.english-tutor 2013
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