'The Speckled Band' was the name of the original piece and in keeping with the silly renaming scheme of 'The bellybutton murders' and 'The Geek Interpreter' it became 'The Speckled Blonde'.

There are a few phrases which don't translate well, I've been looking into how they do it in various dialogues and I must admit I am impressed.

Not an easy job pulling off a translation by the looks of it.

-m0r

I'm going to embarrass myself here but...  Even as a native English speaker, it wasn't until the third time I watched ASIB that I got the queen joke.  I love puns, too; sigh.  I'm blaming it on PBS, since I didn't watch the original version the first two times.   

I like the Moriarty/Sherlock exchange in "The Great Game" pool scene:


"Ciao Sherlock Holmes."

"Catch.. you later."

"No you won't."


(S. says 'Catch you later' is to mirror  Moriarty's casual 'ciao',  as in 'see you later',  a very informal goodbye expression.   But he chooses to
emphasize  'catch' you later, same meaning,  though it obviously also means  that he intends to literally catch him,  at some point.)

Tobe - you are correct. Sherlock's "Got to see a man about a dog" is a play on the slang euphemistic 'Gotta see a man about a horse'. It means needing to go the bathroom - usually for defecation not urination.  I found this little inteplay of words at the end of Hound to be rather funny because just a line or two earlier John mentions somewhat jokingly that he's already taken care of excreting the toxins from his system.  Imagine exchanging bathroom humor with Sherlock Holmes.  .  These two are pretty damn comfortable with each other now - indulging in total "guy talk".

Here, in the UK, we definitely say ' got to see a man about a dog' I've never heard the 'horse' version.

There is a visual/verbal pun going on when John thinks he has worked out the lights in Hounds are morse code and finds out that is is actually people gathering to have (cover your eyes those of a sensitive disposition, or minors) S.E.X. In vehicles. The episode is about 'hounds' i.e. 'dogs' and what the naughty people are up to is called 'dogging'.

Davina wrote:

There is a visual/verbal pun going on when John thinks he has worked out the lights in Hounds are morse code and finds out that is is actually people gathering to have (cover your eyes those of a sensitive disposition, or minors) S.E.X. In vehicles. The episode is about 'hounds' i.e. 'dogs' and what the naughty people are up to is called 'dogging'.

Very well put, Davina ...
Oops, I forgot, I wasn't meant to read that post 

Rosey wrote:

Davina wrote:

Here, in the UK, we definitely say ' got to see a man about a dog' I've never heard the 'horse' version.

This is what I also thought because we often use this phrase when we don't know where some one is or we are being vague we say "going to see a man about a dog" I have never heard it in relation to going to the bathroom.

Yeah to me "got to see a man about a dog" basically means you're going to go off and do something but you don't particularly want to tell the other person what it is...

Another great thread, this really is a lovely place!
Writers around the world obviously have put a lot of work into the dubbing, and in keeping with the original witty tone of the series (I have seen the German and the Russian version, and both are surprisingly good, although I really dislike some of the voices).
Of course, there are certain puns (like Mycroft,the q/Queen) which will never translate, but others have simply been replaced (like the one about the dog that tobeornot mentioned).
Actually, I have noticed that sometimes the translation can help clear up open issues raised by the original. On another forum, some people were discussing if there is any significance to the fact that Sherlock tells the journalist (in TRF) "you repel me" rather than using the correct verb, "repulse".
I liked the idea, but after watching the German version, I am pretty sure that it was just a mistake.
Unless any of you here see a deeper meaning in "Sie sind mir zuwider?"

Interesting to hear that in Britain "seeing a man about a dog" is a common expression for being vague about going off to do something else.  I immediately jumped to the American slang that uses the word "horse" and means leaving for the bathroom.  I really thought it was a play on words because the story line was about a dog and not a horse. 

Well, enough bathroom talk from me; but I do have another question.  In America, a jumper is a dress worn by a girl (sleeveless so that a blouse or shirt can be worn underneath) but it's pretty obvious that in Britain it's a sweater.  But is it a particular type of sweater?  Perhaps a pull-over as opposed to a cardigan?  Or can a jumper any kind of sweater?

Oh yes, loved how in Hound the Morse code bit was a funny spin on the original mysterious lights on moor seen in ACD's "The Hound of the Baskervilles".  UMQRA everyone!

KP, I think that a jumper is more of a pull-over, I wouldn't use it for a cardigan...