Re: This is not instruction

1

I picked up a New Yorker for the first time in several months the other night, the very issue in which the referenced drawing first appeared, and it occurred to me that the cartoons were almost uniformly unfunny. More evidence of a culture in steep decline?

Also, plagiarism? TF? As Brahms replied when someone noted the similarity of the main theme of the First Symphony finale to the corresponding theme of Beethoven's Ninth, "Any ass can see that."


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 8:12 PM
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Or, more aptly, can hear that.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 8:14 PM
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I can only report the quote as it has come down to us, ben.


Posted by: Jesus McQueen | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 8:23 PM
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Most likely Brahms and his interlocutor were looking at a printed score.

Most likely the copyeditor of the Hegel translation mistook the translation of the Horace quotation for a free-standing sentence. And indeed, one could make an argument that it actually is. The lack of punctuation at the end of the Latin quotation -- most likely produced by the British mania for extra-quotation-mark punctuation, which would require a comma to be the first character on the line (in Ben's interpretation) -- leaves the Horace translation's syntactic function in a state of radical ambiguity.

I prefer to see the line break at the end of the Latin quotation as an implicit period rather than an implicit comma. D. h., Hegel is not simply providing a translation, but is instead repeating the non-instruction in German. By repeating it, in German, he makes it seem immediately more banal. Were he simply providing a translation as an aid to the reader, he would be emphasizing the lofty erudition required to understand the phrase, completely cutting against his obvious purpose in the passage.


Posted by: Zippy the Comment Frog | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 8:54 PM
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"Christ, what an asshole."


Posted by: redfoxtailshrub | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 9:24 PM
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Hegel clearly isn't repeating the non-instruction in German. This is clear from the quotation marks.

Actually, checking this in my little Reclam Hegel Ästhetik I/II (first time I've opened it!) what do I see but this?

… wie die angeführte Horazische Epistel voll davon und daher wohl ein Allerweltsbuch ist, das aber ebendeswegen viel Nichtssagendes enthält: »omne tulit punctum« etc.—ähnlich so vielen paränetischen Lehren—»Bleib im Lande und nähre dich redlich«—,welche in ihrer Allgemeinheit wihl richtig sind, aber der konkreten Bestimmungen entbehren, auf die es im Handeln ankommt.

That is, the sentence doesn't really begin there, the full Latin isn't there, and no translation thereof into anything is there. (Well, it is an old translation I've got.)

Since the interpretation in Zippy's third paragraph is already unsupportable by the English (how can one tell that it's a repetition, and not a mere translation?), it is heartwarming to see that there is even less support for Hegel's "obvious purpose" in the German.

Anyway, I don't see why the translation being a self-standing sentence means that the period should go inside, if the comma goes outside, and even if that is the explanation, that only supports my general contention that we must look to the logical function of the punctuation to determine where it goes.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 9:26 PM
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"wohl richtig", obviously, not "wihl richtig".


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 9:27 PM
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5 would be better served with a colon replacing the comma.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 9:27 PM
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9

The anti-caption contest winner for the cartoon in the article is one of my favorites.


Posted by: xyzzy | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 10:13 PM
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10

Holy shit, I love the anti-captions, plus, clicking around led me to this fantastic joke.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 10:21 PM
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11

German's so much awesomer than Danish...


Posted by: Rottin' in Denmark | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 11:07 PM
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11: and yet the Danes make such wonderful pastries.


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 11:17 PM
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12: Ich bin ein Copenhagener.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 11:31 PM
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14

||

Chemical Party.

|>


Posted by: Hamilton-Lovecraft | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 11:43 PM
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15

Totally OT, but oh dear lord is this funny:

http://store.johnmccain.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=FDR2583

Be sure to check it out before it gets erased. If you don't, I did get a few choice screeshots!


Posted by: A. Chandler Moisen | Link to this comment | 06-10-08 11:52 PM
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15 gets it right!


Posted by: Hamilton-Lovecraft | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 12:19 AM
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Is there a reason why you wrote "learnéd" rather than the (standard) "learnèd"?


Posted by: bizzah | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 1:04 AM
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12: That is literally the only stereotype about Denmark that is true. If it wasn't for all the biking, I would have gained like 200 marzi-pounds by now.


Posted by: Rottin' in Denmark | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 1:28 AM
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What I like about Danish is that the Danish for a Danish is a Viennese.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 2:55 AM
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20

What I like about Austria is that the Danes are right.


Posted by: dsquared | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 3:00 AM
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21

They certainly are. However, the Danish for King Kong is Kong King, which rings wrong.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 3:04 AM
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Yep, 'Vienna Bread,' I love those fluffy bastards.

They also have a pastry here called 'Napoleon's Hat', which combined with the Germanic tendency to combine adventives and nouns, is written "Napoleonshat". I always want to order one alongside a 'Musollinipissed' or a 'Hannibalpuked'


Posted by: Rottin' in Denmark | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 3:09 AM
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The character of the Danes is know by their great writers: So/ren Kierkegaard, Hans Christian Anderson, and Isak Dineson. It's a wonder that Denmark is functional at all.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 4:30 AM
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Norsk racistisk.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 4:44 AM
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Emerson's anti-Danish rhetoric is little more than a cynical bid to ingratiate himself with the Canadian authorities.


Posted by: Mary Catherine | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 4:53 AM
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26

I came to a much simpler analysis of the cartoon caption contest months ago (see URL; be warned, there is an extraneous Barthes reference, because the post was a break from a paper). The secret, most of the time, is simply that the cartoons offered are pure sight gags—usually just a visual juxtaposition of two different objects/people representative of disparate areas of life—, and the job of the reader is to mundanely translate the sight gag into words.

It's a shame, really, that the contest is now a weekly occurance. The last one from the annual contest that I remember was a brilliantly difficult-to-transcribe sight gag: a car driving around in circles in a mechanic's lot. Now it's all stuff like domesticity/warriors, weather/heavy objects, monsters/cell phones.


Posted by: destroyer | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 5:03 AM
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Just to link the two threads here, the Danish Cartoon Crisis would have been much less serious if each Muhammad drawing had a pithy caption.


Posted by: Rottin' in Denmark | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 5:18 AM
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26, 27: I'm thinking a great contest would be a cartoon with a man sleeping dreaming of Hillary Clinton masturbating her penis. Maybe even show the guy as Middle Eastern looking.

"I'm so gonna post this on my blog."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 5:34 AM
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that could be the pithy caption to pretty much every New Yorker cartoon ever. *shudder*


Posted by: Rottin' in Denmark | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 6:35 AM
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30

Be sure to check it out before it gets erased.

It's been erased! I want your screenshots!


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:05 AM
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15: I don't get it.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:10 AM
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32

ok, a chukcha joke
a chukcha boy was drawing his father's portrait
the father's very pleased: oh, you are very good artist
suddenly the boy started to paint the head green
the father, startled; what are you doing, have you ever seen green hair?
the boy: are there any bald colours?


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:11 AM
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b., they've erased the comments. See above.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:11 AM
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The customer reviews were funny, B. All about balls and bags and geriatrics, see.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:13 AM
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i was thinking about the cartoon theme of the thread
so i once attended a lecture of the Danish researcher, he's very famous who first used beta-blockers in heart failure
he said his uncle had been to our country in the 70 ies and knew a lot about us, so surprising
all i knew about Danish was then X.-C.Andersen


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:17 AM
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John Cole has some of them at his site.

One I liked was "from" Carol McCain Shepp and was along the lines of: "I got dumped for a rich young woman after I had a car accident and all I got was this lousy golf bag."


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:24 AM
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37

So where are the damn screen shots, then? I want some funny.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:34 AM
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38

Poor Bitch, always a comment behind on the discussion.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:38 AM
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My internet connection is slow and I was busy this morning. Suck it, bitches.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:44 AM
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a, curses
i learned the word churlish from the post
there is a strange news about the Nev. governor sending 860 txt messages to a woman
so scary, one can so easily become a public target these days


Posted by: read | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:45 AM
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Not screen shots , but more of the commetns transcribed in this Kos diary.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 7:47 AM
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Screenshots:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=10594


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 8:04 AM
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Wow, I didn't know that about McCain's first wife.

When they were reunited after he was released by the Viet Cong, she had been in a car accident that left her five inches shorter, on crutches, and much heavier. He was suffering from PTSD and could no longer raise his arms above his head.

She had been a swim wear model, he had been a big jock and fighting man.

That must have been rough all around.


Posted by: rob helpy-chalk | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 8:05 AM
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44

That must have been rough all around.

And it would be a good idea if the forces of light didn't build their campaign on it.


Posted by: OneFatEnglishman | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 8:08 AM
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45

John McCain's balls lie a-moldering in his bag!
John McCain's balls lie a-moldering in his bag!
John McCain's balls lie a-moldering in his bag!
And he ain't got time for golf!


Posted by: Populuxe | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 8:17 AM
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44: the guy did dump the mother of his children for a younger, hotter, richer woman, after all. It was hard all around, but then it got a lot easier for him! Bonus!

Of course, I reject being characterized as the forces of light. Those people should absolutely stay away from this. Doesn't mean I have to!


Posted by: Beefo Meaty | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 8:20 AM
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That must have been rough all around.

Wait, really?


Posted by: ari | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 8:22 AM
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48

17: yes, but not a good one.


Posted by: ben w-lfs-n | Link to this comment | 06-11-08 8:24 AM
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