BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » Linguistic help needed

SusiGo · November 29, 2012 1:36 pm

In the book I've just started to translate there's a tricky term: donkey bridge. I couldn't even find it in the OED which is saying something. The author talks about a bridge to be found in the ground of an English country estate in 1919. And I have found a picture of a small arched bridge made of stone with a wooden railing that is called donkey bridge. However, I suppose there must be another English term for this. Based on that I could look for the correct German translation. Any ideas?

besleybean · November 29, 2012 1:39 pm

I've never heard the term, either,. But I assume it is just that: a bridge which was wide./strong enough to take a donkey and cart only.

SusiGo · November 29, 2012 1:41 pm

Thank you. I wonder where the author got that term. I can contact him but I preferred to ask all of you first because I'm still on page 1.

besleybean · November 29, 2012 1:43 pm

Because donkeys don't mind going through water, do they? That was the only other reason I could think for having a ' donkey bridge'?!

SusiGo · November 29, 2012 1:45 pm

I thought it allude to the form of donkey's back. I think there's a bridge somewhere in Italy that's compared to a donkey's back.

besleybean · November 29, 2012 1:47 pm

Ah, the bridge of sighs? Or some such.
Because it carries a load/passengers...across water?
Hmm, possible...

KeepersPrice · November 30, 2012 2:36 am

Does this help Susi?

donkey bridge

A mental tool to make a connection between one idea and another, specifically for simple ideas that only a donkey would need help remembering. A mnemonic is an example.

Professor: B-cells mature in the Bone marrow while T-cells mature in the Thymus. B with B and T with T. That's a simple donkey bridge for you to remember when studying the immune system.

SusiGo · November 30, 2012 7:40 am

KP, I know this expression, we have the same in German. The problem is that in my book the term is used for a real bridge over a small stream. And I somehow must find a German translation for that. But thanks all the same. Will have to ask the author, I suppose. He seems to be a nice guy (and he works for the BBC).

besleybean · November 30, 2012 8:08 am

Isn't language fantastic?
Well done human kind!

Davina · November 30, 2012 8:36 am

Hello Susi. I can help...I think. The Italian term is 'pointe a schiena d'asino' which indeed means a donkey-backed bridge. The correct term that we would normally use in English for this would be a 'humpback bridge'- the term 'humped-back bridge' is also used. The term does mean the shape of the bridge itself.

SusiGo · November 30, 2012 8:41 am

Thank you so much, Davina, that's very helpful. There is indeed a German term (Buckelbrücke) which is exactly the same as humped-back bridge. So that's another argument for being in this forum - it doesn't just prevent me from working, it can also be helpful.

Davina · November 30, 2012 8:43 am

You are welcome! I got it by searching for the Italian term someone mentioned in passing and then getting an English translation of that. I had never heard of donkey-backed bridge in English.

besleybean · November 30, 2012 9:03 am

No neither had I, Davina. But hump-backed bridge yes.
So more like a camel or a whale, than a donkey!

SusiGo · December 3, 2012 8:59 am

Since you helped me so generously last time, here's a new one. Shouldn't be hard for the Brits.

A man and a woman talk about nursing during WWI:

"I heard you'd gone for a VAD."
"Gone for a nurse", she corrected me. Remember, I'd been a nurse before my life at Hannesford. AND A JOLLY GOOD THING TO. Some of the sisters were horrible to the poor old VADs."

I understand that the professional nurses had a certain disdain for the voluntaries. But what does the sentence in capitals mean in this context?

Davina · December 3, 2012 9:25 am

It should read: AND A JOLLY GOOD THING TOO.

This means it was advantageous to have been an nurse and not a volunteer. 'Jolly' is a word used instead of 'very'. It is a slightly stronger, more positive word (I feel). It is also a word of its time; it would be seen as a bit old-fashioned now. It brings images of Lord Peter Whimsey or Jeeves and Bertie Wooster to mind.

SusiGo · December 3, 2012 9:28 am

Thank you very much. So it means she was lucky to be a "real" nurse. And the word is fitting, the novel's set in 1919.

Davina · December 3, 2012 11:38 am

Perfect for 1919. They tended to use words like that a lot then. Didn't they use such words in Parade's End?

SusiGo · December 3, 2012 11:45 am

My Kindle counts 15 "jollys" in PE.
I was totally over the moon when my editor told me about this novel I'm translating now. She said it would be just the right thing for me. She knows me well! Just the thing after reading PE in summer and now I started watching the DVDs again to get in the mood.

The Doctor · December 5, 2012 2:12 am

And coincidentally, Buckelbrücke is nearly as funny as Eselsbrücke, too!

SusiGo · December 5, 2012 7:12 am

Funny enough, but now the author told me that he's coined the expression himself. He was just thinking of a small bridge without railing over which in former times donkeys and horses carried their burden. A sort of local expression used by the people in his book. So now I'll have to decide if I go for "Eselbrücke" without the "s" in order to distinguish it from the mnemonic tool. Oh, writers and their imagination.