Foreward

Question

If someone had asked me, I would have said that "foreward" is a misspelling either for "forward" or for "foreword". But I have found it in a book I am thinking of translating (exactly at the point where "foreword" should be expected), and now I'm at a loss: should I also misspell the word in the target language, or not? Is it possible that a pun is intended (the book is kind of humourous)? Do you think that such a typo is likely to escape both the author's and the editors' notice?

Thanks in advance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Such a typo could escape the editor. I would not presume a pun (and what would the pun be, exactly?) even though it is a book of humor. Can you supply the book title and the context - perhaps the first few lines of the Foreword?

Colombo · Answer

Hi Mister Micawber, thanks a lot for answering. I haven't been able to think of any pun, but then, my knowledge of English is limited. I simply couldn't conceive how an editor can overlook a typo in the title of a section of the book (it's not a word lost in the middle of a dense paragraph!) Although the book is not really a book of humour, it certainly contains a pun here and there. It's Peter Falk's "Just One More Thing". I haven't got the book here (my cousin has borrowed it, and I wanted to translate it because he says he cannot understand half of it). If I can get it back soon, I'll copy the foreword here; or else, you can see it using the "Look inside!" feature at Amazon: it's http://www.amazon.com/Just-More-Thing-Peter-Falk/dp/B001G8WFAS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309276131&sr=8-1#reader_B001G8WFAS (the shortest way is to go to "Table of Contents" and click a few times).

Khoff · Answer

Wow -- thanks for posting that link! I had no idea Peter Falk was an artist! I just requested the book from my library.

In answer to your question, I think it is a pun -- a combination of "foreword" (to the book) and "forward" meaning "Here we go!" (I see that one of the chapters is entitled "You have you stories and I have eye stories," so that confirms that he likes puns.) Translating humor, especially puns, is pretty difficult if not impossible. What langage are you translating into?

Edited to add - I just noticed your screen name - I guess you're a big Peter Falk fan. Have you seen Wings of Desire? It's not his usual kind of movie at all -- it's a quiet, moody German movie about angels, but Peter Falk makes an appearance as himself, filming an episode of Columbo.

Colombo · Answer

Hi khoff, thanks for answering. Maybe you're right; even though I had thought of those two words as possible candidates behind foreward, that compound meaning hadn't occurred to me. If that's the case, I must add it to the list of things I'll have a hard time translating into Spanish. I have already been wondering how on earth I will translate that title about the eye stories, but the only solution I can think of is one of those footnotes.

Of course I've seen "Wings of Desire"! (Well, it was kind of elusive for some time, until I realized it was the same film as "Der Himmel über Berlin", the English title not being a literal translation at all). Everyone at home is a great Columbo fan, but it's only me who's also a great Falk fan. I'm sure you're going to like his book. I've had it for several years, almost since it came out, and I often open it at random and have a few laughs. I think that was what Peter Falk meant when he wrote it, as he explains somewhere. He was a great actor and, seemingly, a great human being. And, as you will see, his artwork is also great. There are not many examples in the book, and since Peter's web site was put "on hiatus" when he fell ill, the many drawings that were there are no longer available. Of course, I had downloaded them all much before, so if you ever want to see them, just drop me a line.

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