Six and ten

[Alice Faber]

Laurence Horn said:
>At 5:47 PM +0100 12/13/02, Jan Ivarsson TransEdit wrote:
>>A translator's problem:
>>
>>A guy who is a Bears fan (but lives in LA) has bought a dish antenna
>>because he thinks that the Bears will get to the Super Bowl. He has
>>paid 4000 $ for the dish and is deceived. He says:
>>"I spent four grand for the dish.
>>And what do I get? Six and ten!"
>>
>>My question is: What does he mean by "six and ten"?
>>
>Presumably the best record the Bears could finish with.  After ending
>up 13-3 (with a lot of fortunate bouncings of the ball their way)
>last year, they've suffered a lot of injuries this year and haven't
>really taken to playing in Champaign-Urbana while their home stadium
>(Soldiers' Field in Chicago) is being rehabbed), and are currently
>3-10, extremely unlikely to finish even at the lowly 6-10.  It's not
>an expression, just a disappointing record the Bears are almost
>certain not to reach.

For the benefit of folks not familiar with how the NFL works, teams
play a 16 game season. So, "six and ten" would be a losing record,
one that won't get the team even a sniff at the playoffs. In terms of
translation, a reference to the losing record, while less colorful
than the original, might get the point across better than a literal
translation would.
--
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Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203) 865-8963