translation of obmorok na nogakh?

[Jerry Katsell]

Dear Fellow Ever-struggling Translators,

I'm not so sure, Robert. One of the characters comments that it could
not be a "obmorok na nogakh" because the description is "slishkom
zhivopisno"--too pictorial, lively, detailed--(like a hallucination
could easily be--or a walking/waking dream). I'm thinking something like
"dizzy spell" or the like
might fit ("mirage" is a possibility, but I think the register is too
high for the communal apartment setting). At the end of the passage the
character who saw whatever or whomever it was agrees that he had a clear
vision of what the man in the old-fashioned uniform looked like,
implying, I think, that he agrees that his use of "obmorok na nogakh"
was inadequate to describe what he, in fact, did see. 

Russian language has tricky feet--thus "Ia segodnya bez zadnikh nog,"
does not imply rear legs or that one has put her prosthetic lower
extremities in the closet for the day. Of course, we wouldn't want to
take English "I'm falling off my feet," too literally either.

Best,

Jerry Katsell





-----Original Message-----
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list
[mailto:SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU] On Behalf Of Robert Chandler
Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 11:02 AM
To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] translation of obmorok na nogakh?

I like this!

R.




>> --Это могло быть и не привидение вовсе, а просто чужой человек,
>> который забрался в нашу квартиру.  Даже это могло быть не привидение
>> и не чужой человек, а обморок на ногах.
> 
> How about "a walking hallucination"?
> 
>
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