On translating Harry Potter into Hebrew

"
As an example, Bar-Hillel points to a conversation at the beginning of Book Seven, in which Mrs. Weasley orders her son, Ron (Harry’s good friend), to clean his room. Chafing at the order, Ron starts to say, “Why in the name of Merlin’s saggy left …” before he is interrupted by his father, who scolds him not to talk to his mother like that. We never find out what noun Ron was going to use at the end of the sentence. The omission creates a problem for Bar-Hillel because in Hebrew, adjectives are placed after the nouns they modify. Without knowing exactly what item or body part of Merlin’s was saggy and on the left, Bar-Hillel will be hard-pressed to translate Ron’s question without using judicious guesswork.

“I’ll either have to decide on a noun or completely rearrange what he was going to say in some creative way,” Bar-Hillel predicted."

Okay, now, come one now, everybody, 'fess up. I think we all know exactly what item or body part of Merlin's was saggy and on the left, don't we? Indeed, I do believe this is time for a ( well-placed poll! )

An article on "Radical Honesty"

Which is pretty much exactly what it says it is.

I have to say, I do take some of this to heart. I mean, I just found out I could read Understood Betsy online (and I loved that book as a kid, so of course I immediately did so). In the beginning of the book, we find out that the girl's house employs a maid out of charity - she's so depressed and asthmatic that it'd be difficult for her to get a job elsewhere. But when the entire house is disrupted and scattered to the four winds, it comes out that her brother wanted her to come help him at his store for years, and she only stayed on because she thought they couldn't do without her!

And if they'd been honest from the beginning, everybody would have been happier sooner.

And an editorial on renewable energy, as a lagniappe.

Take one on bees, too. Yes, I'm still interested in the bees.

A post by ABFH on autism, homosexuality, and diagnoses

Well worth reading, I think.