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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary
Invective
Hello,
in the book by Peter Carey "Parrot and Olivier in America" which I am translating into Czech I came across the following invective:
"Ye little curd o'moon spit," cried the Irishman.
The context is that a man of the people is coming down on an aristocrat.
I need to translate it, I understand the separate words, but it doesn't make sense to me as a whole.
Is the "curd" a kind of coagulate, clot??
What does the "moon" mean here? The moon in the sky? Does it have another meaning here?
What about the o'? Is it "of"?
Does the "spit" mean "water from mouth"?
Thank you for Your replies.
in the book by Peter Carey "Parrot and Olivier in America" which I am translating into Czech I came across the following invective:
"Ye little curd o'moon spit," cried the Irishman.
The context is that a man of the people is coming down on an aristocrat.
I need to translate it, I understand the separate words, but it doesn't make sense to me as a whole.
Is the "curd" a kind of coagulate, clot??
What does the "moon" mean here? The moon in the sky? Does it have another meaning here?
What about the o'? Is it "of"?
Does the "spit" mean "water from mouth"?
Thank you for Your replies.
Top answer
For me, the meaning is just as you have indicated for the individual words - it is just an imaginative though illogical combination of unpleasant images. However, an Irishman (if we have one aboard) may recognize more to it.
- For me, the meaning is just as you have indicated for the individual words - it is just an imaginative though illogical combination of unpleasant images.
- However, an Irishman (if we have one aboard) may recognize more to it.
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1 Answers
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For me, the meaning is just as you have indicated for the individual words - it is just an imaginative though illogical combination of unpleasant images. However, an Irishman (if we have one aboard) may recognize more to it.
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