Fear of Spoilers

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Rose Romano

Member
Feb 17, 2020
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56
Viterbo, Lazio, Italia
I've just started reading It and I have a couple of questions, mostly because I'm reading it in an Italian translation. (I live in Italy and it's just easier to get books in Italian.) But I think I'd better wait until I finish it because I hate spoilers so much. There was a video on YouTube in which the guy said that it takes months to read the book. I'm thinking it'll take me a little less than a month since I can sit and read all day.
I'd really like to read some of the posts about It but I'd better not.
I was going to ask whether there's anyone out there who can keep to the questions and not accidentally give anything away. (I'm up to page 333.)
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
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Jul 10, 2006
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I've just started reading It and I have a couple of questions, mostly because I'm reading it in an Italian translation. (I live in Italy and it's just easier to get books in Italian.) But I think I'd better wait until I finish it because I hate spoilers so much. There was a video on YouTube in which the guy said that it takes months to read the book. I'm thinking it'll take me a little less than a month since I can sit and read all day.
I'd really like to read some of the posts about It but I'd better not.
I was going to ask whether there's anyone out there who can keep to the questions and not accidentally give anything away. (I'm up to page 333.)
The spoilers can be hidden behind a spoiler tag so you could choose whether to read them or not.
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
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Just north of Duma Key
I've just started reading It and I have a couple of questions, mostly because I'm reading it in an Italian translation. (I live in Italy and it's just easier to get books in Italian.) But I think I'd better wait until I finish it because I hate spoilers so much. There was a video on YouTube in which the guy said that it takes months to read the book. I'm thinking it'll take me a little less than a month since I can sit and read all day.
I'd really like to read some of the posts about It but I'd better not.
I was going to ask whether there's anyone out there who can keep to the questions and not accidentally give anything away. (I'm up to page 333.)

Hi and welcome.

Try asking a question . Then members can answer carefully, not giving away anything that might happen after page 333 (**can you give us a better idea of where page 333 is in you book, as books vary in page numbers).
 

Rose Romano

Member
Feb 17, 2020
14
56
Viterbo, Lazio, Italia
Hi and welcome.

Try asking a question . Then members can answer carefully, not giving away anything that might happen after page 333 (**can you give us a better idea of where page 333 is in you book, as books vary in page numbers).
Hi and welcome.

Try asking a question . Then members can answer carefully, not giving away anything that might happen after page 333 (**can you give us a better idea of where page 333 is in you book, as books vary in page numbers).

I don't know how to do that because it's all in Italian.
 

Rose Romano

Member
Feb 17, 2020
14
56
Viterbo, Lazio, Italia
Actually it's more of a translation question. (I don't what the site's policy is on profanity, but . . .)

It's in the section that starts out with newspaper articles about the third page of part 5.

Mike Hanlon asks Richie Tozier what "figlio di puttana" means. This expression is generally the Italian translation of "son of a bitch." But "puttana" means "whore" and, as you know, "bitch" means "female dog." That's not the problem yet. Richie explains, in Italian, that a whore is a woman who gets paid for having sex with men.

Obviously, a female dog isn't a woman who gets paid to have sex with men. So, what I'm wondering is, how would Richie explain what a son of a bitch is?

I've seen similar things in translations. Translating is definitely not just a matter of changing words from one language to another and the solutions translators find are very interesting to me.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
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So your worst fear is Pennywise turning up with a huge spoiler on each balloon?

You can miss out on a lot with translations. Books can even be abridged without saying so on the cover I found out. Also humor is often difficult to translate, especially when it's a play on words it's often impossible to translate literally.
 

Gerald

Well-Known Member
Sep 8, 2011
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The Netherlands
Actually it's more of a translation question. (I don't what the site's policy is on profanity, but . . .)

It's in the section that starts out with newspaper articles about the third page of part 5.

Mike Hanlon asks Richie Tozier what "figlio di puttana" means. This expression is generally the Italian translation of "son of a bitch." But "puttana" means "whore" and, as you know, "bitch" means "female dog." That's not the problem yet. Richie explains, in Italian, that a whore is a woman who gets paid for having sex with men.

Obviously, a female dog isn't a woman who gets paid to have sex with men. So, what I'm wondering is, how would Richie explain what a son of a bitch is?

I've seen similar things in translations. Translating is definitely not just a matter of changing words from one language to another and the solutions translators find are very interesting to me.

A bitch is a female dog (or wolf, fox or otter). But it's also used for an unpleasant woman (for example "You can be a real bitch!"). So it's not exactly the same phrase as in Italian, but it's rather close.
It's sometimes hard to say how some expressions or words come to exist, even when we use them all the time. In this case my guess would be that a female animal when it protects its young can be real fierce, so a 'real bitch'.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
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Actually it's more of a translation question. (I don't what the site's policy is on profanity, but . . .)

It's in the section that starts out with newspaper articles about the third page of part 5.

Mike Hanlon asks Richie Tozier what "figlio di puttana" means. This expression is generally the Italian translation of "son of a bitch." But "puttana" means "whore" and, as you know, "bitch" means "female dog." That's not the problem yet. Richie explains, in Italian, that a whore is a woman who gets paid for having sex with men.

Obviously, a female dog isn't a woman who gets paid to have sex with men. So, what I'm wondering is, how would Richie explain what a son of a bitch is?

I've seen similar things in translations. Translating is definitely not just a matter of changing words from one language to another and the solutions translators find are very interesting to me.
....it has been thinned out over time to be just a pejorative which the individual so referenced is a miserable, low-life useless jerk....at least that's the clean way of putting it....
 

Rose Romano

Member
Feb 17, 2020
14
56
Viterbo, Lazio, Italia
I think I asked my question wrong.
I'm a retired teacher of English and I did a few translations from Italian to English. I've studied linguistics, semantics, and etymology. I find all these things fascinating.
But that's not my question right now.
What I should have said is: What did Richie say, in the original English, to explain what a son of a bitch is?
I mean, what did King write in his novel?
Thanks, everybody, for your interest.
(In the meantime I'm going nuts with curiosity!)
 

fljoe0

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Apr 5, 2008
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