Email, Telephones and Private Life

Viewed from the perspective of 50ish person, born in the 1960’s, modern life has changed in many ways, many of them quite positive.  Some of the more invasive features of the last twenty years are cellular telephones and email.  While they have clearly made the world smaller, they have whittled down our private life to almost nothing, unfortunately.

Before their invention and popularization, communication was through a telephone, line-linked object generally limited to three a house.  Because you had to sit next to it to speak, its location was of prime importance. In other words, if you were not next to a telephone, you were free or cutoff, according to your perspective.  If by chance people had to make a phone call outside their residence, they had to find a phone booth and carry small change or phone tokens, depending on the country.  As for international communication, both long distance phone calls and telegraphs were expensive and were generally used to inform people of deaths and births. Since international or national written correspondence took time to reach its addressee, there was simply more time between messages.

By contrast today, thanks to cellular technology, people can call from anywhere, even in remote wilderness areas.  Since the cost is minor in terms of people’s overall budget, people use the telephone even (or mainly) when they have nothing to say.  The classic example is the Sunday train in Israel, filled with soldiers on their way to their bases and buzzing with intelligent dialogue of this nature: “What’s up?  I’m on way to the base?  And you? See you there.”  This sheer mindlessness can go for two straight hours as the bored soldiers contacts each person in his or her directory.  Friends sit together and talk with other people on their telephone at the same time.

For us freelancers, the Internet and email have created constant and instant linkage with customers throughout the world as well as an unending, frantic pace of written communication.  Psychologically, my business day only ends when I arbitrarily decide that I am no longer obliged to respond to emails at a certain hour.  I fully understand the logic behind the new law proposal in France closing the employer/employee cellular communication at the end of the working day.  Slavery was made illegal a few centuries ago.

So, the revolution in communication has brought us all together, which is rather nice sometimes.  On the other hand, it has created a huge mass of noise, with too few quiet spots to think and enjoy the sunset or your thoughts.  Personally, for business purposes, I cannot live without email.  However, in terms of cellular phone use, I remain a happy dinosaur, not even knowing my own mobile phone number.  I try to protect my private time and enjoy the benefits of both worlds, the old and the new.

The What, The Where, but the Why?

Objects gain names for many reasons. These range from orders from God, at least according to the Bible, to poor translation (the poor White Rhino is actually grey but is quite wide, relative to its more common cousin).  Sometimes, the location of its source is so identified with the product that the place name becomes the product.  As time passes, if the object is much more famous than its place of birth, its “mother” becomes completely forgotten.

A prime example of this can be seen in clothes. In the winter, women can be seen wearing jerseys and Kashmir sweaters, depending on income of course, without them giving a thought about England and Pakistan/India.  By contrast, the guy wearing the Bermudas and the girl wearing the bikini talking to each other have no thoughts of distant tropical islands except possibly as a great place to go on vacation and get to know each other better.

At the bar, customers sipping cognac, champagne and Porto are enjoying their drinks completely ignoring that it is quite probable that they were produced in distant regions in France and Portugal.  Granted, there is a running dispute whether the latter should refer to the place or type of grape, but the French would insist on the first.  However, here at least, there is a connection between the beverage and its source of production.  By contrast, the patrons at the table swilling their Bronxes and Manhattans justifiably cannot see any connection between the name of their alcoholic concoctions and those boroughs in New York.  For that matter, if the designated driver is drinking coffee in a china cup, does s/he make any connection to the designers of the Great Wall?  It seems doubtful.

The world of cheese is filled with namesakes.  How many people know where Gorgonzola, Edam, Gruyere and Cheshire cheese are made, to name just a few?  To be fair, the answers are Italy, Holland, France, and England.  There is a significantly greater chance that a person has tasted all those cheeses than visited those places.

Occasionally, history seeps down and enters common language, linking obscure localities to complex ideas. If you have had your Waterloo, your game is over. On the other hand, after your Dunquerke, you will rise again, but it may take many marathon sessions to do it.  If you fail, you may get sent to Timbuktu, i.e. very far away.  I strongly suspect that most people could not find any of those locations on a map or even identify in which country they are located.

 Yet, it may not be that important to make the connection.  As long as we understand what item the name represents, the knowledge of its origin, however fascinating, is essentially a matter of intellectual curiosity and pride.  On the other hand, many otherwise forgotten villages owe their fame to their special product.  To quote Mark Twain, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Loaded Words

Some medicinal plants can be both helpful and harmful.  It is a only a matter of correct use.  Likewise, many words that are appropriate and acceptable in one context should be absolutely avoided on other contexts. In other words, they carry a linguistic load that adds an unwanted meaning to the sentence.

One example is the word exploit.  It is clear and socially acceptable that every mine owner wants to exploit the maximum from that mine.  However, should s/he want to exploit the coal miners, it might lead to a strike or bad publicity since the word exploit has become a synonym for abuse when it comes to people.  Instead, an effective manager should try to get the best results from his/her personnel.  The same would apply to collaboration.  Two businesses or people may collaborate, that is work together, to achieve a result, often a highly effective and applauded effort.  By contrast, collaboration in politics implies the stench of working with the enemy and preferring short-term over national interest as many individuals and companies did during World War II under the German occupation.  Political leaders would better choose bipartisan politics.

Similarly, if a person has discriminating taste in wine or food, s/he can detect class and quality, which is quite good.  Should the person discriminate in the matter of people, the matter could end up in a court of law as discrimination in employment is illegal.  It would be better to have a good eye for people.  Likewise, every attorney knows and writes that a given relief does not prejudice any other relief available according to the contract and by law.  This means that just because I kick you out of the apartment for not paying rent does not stop me from demanding damages.  By contrast, an apartment owner that refuses to rent to non-whites shows prejudice, which again may have him/her in court again.

On a less criminal level, lawyers and prostitutes, quite a funny combination, have clients.  Most other businesses have customers precisely to maintain a good reputation.  Who would want to be associated with those professions, even if most people use either or both during their lifetime.  For those people who are careful buyers, If you buy something cheap at a swap meet or 5 & 10 shop, this is okay because expectations of quality are low in any case.  However, if you say that a product is cheap, this refers not only to the price but also to the lack of quality, which is not exactly a complement on your shopping skills.  By contrast, there is nothing wrong with buying inexpensive goods.  Persians and Scots would only admire you.

So, watch out when using these words.  You may end up saying something you did not mean and getting a bad name or worse.  A word to the wise is sufficient.

Friday, not your average day

No day of the week, with the possible exception of Sunday, is as linguistically busy as the fifth day of Western calendar and sixth day of the Jewish holiday.  Reflecting the heritage of English, the name of day is derived from the Norse god Frigg, wife of Odin, with a similar status to Venus.  Due to its proximity to Saturday and Sunday, the traditional rest days in the West, many events and connotations have attached themselves to it.

First of all, according to the old poem, a child born on Friday is loving and giving, generally a good thing.  Parents should be grateful of that. Many people also say TGIF, i.e. thank God it’s Friday, happy with the knowledge that tomorrow they won’t have to go to work the next day.  For that matter, to help celebrate, many office workers are allowed to wear jeans on Friday, appropriately called Jeans Friday or casual Friday.  Catholics would agree with Good Friday, although many question why Jesus getting crucified can be good day.  I suppose it is a matter of faith.  On the flip side, black Friday was an awful day in 1929 when the stock markets collapsed.  Similarly, Friday the 13^th is supposedly a day of disaster, as depicted in those famous/infamous Freddy Kreuger movies.

Interestingly, the French vendredi is also derived from a goddess queen, the actual Venus in this case. Maybe because the next day, samedi, was traditionally  a work day until a few generations ago and still is a partial school day, the French have less enthusiasm towards it.  It borders on blasé as the expression vendredi, c’est ravioli signifies that something is a fact.  No happy hour excitement there.

In Israeli,  יום שישי [yom shishi], meaning the sixth day, no goddesses here, is traditionally a busy day.  God had to finish the whole creation business so he could relax on the Sabbath.  Likewise, we Jewish mortals have to work hard to prepare forשבת  [shabbat], the only unnumbered day.  For this reason, the sixth day is known for סקס, pronounced sex, not for the procreation activity, but for סידורים, קניות ספונג'ה  [sidorim, kniot, and sponga], that is to say, errands, shopping and mopping the floor.  After a long day of that, not to mention cooking for that night and the next day, who has energy for real sex?

So, whether Friday is the gateway to heaven, the weekend, almost a regular day or the mad rush to prepare for the Sabbath, it is a day worthy of note.

P.S. This was written on a Friday.

The Synergy of Writing and Righting

Writing on a certain level is a lonely affair, with the writer bravely trying to fill the blank screen or paper with the intended idea in such a way as the reader will understand it.  In most cases, the author is in a bubble never receiving criticism (in the positive meaning of the word), with the only feedback being the internal drive to make the text better.  As s translator, I live that reality, almost never actually seeing how my best intentioned text arrives at the client’s desk and the latter’s reaction to it.  The major exceptions are texts that are published either as a book or on the Internet.

It should be noted that writing is a such a personal task to which criticism, no matter how well intended, is generally viewed as hostility as if it is the reader’s fault for not understanding what the writer meant or appreciating the author’s unique style.  As a demonstration, my father, who worked as a journalist for the AP for many years, used to edit all of my papers through high school.  Since they usually came back more red than black, I dreaded the experience each time. 

Later, when I wrote my thesis for the MBA, I was grateful for my father’s help as I was working full time and being a father to a small baby. Not having time to revise my raw first drafts, I would send them to him.  They, of course, came to me very bloody.  This time, however, I was grateful for the corrections and did not dread them.

Recently, I translated one of two documents of a large, complicated project involving a price quote from French to English. It turned out that the other document was basically identical.  So, two translators essentially produced two different versions of the same text. After the project was finished, I was asked by the translation company to “harmonize”, that is, create one version.  Overcoming my initial reluctance, I read through the two documents sentence by sentence, comparing the versions and either selecting the better of the two or combining elements of both.  It should be noted that both translations were generally quite good, even if with an occasional gaff.

While the process was time-consuming and tiring, it was extremely enlightening and encouraging. First, the final documents were at a clearly higher level than either of the originals.  Second, discovering the manner of improving the text provided a lesson in better writing I intend to apply to future translations. Last, the experience emphasized that making the search for the perfect text the focus instead of justifying the writer’s word choice is not only vital and possible, but makes self-criticism a positive experience.  To go beyond that quote “There is no good writing; there is only good re-writing,; translators and writers of all kinds can not only benefit from feedback, they can also learn to relish it to the benefit of their work.

Getting a whiff

The sheer richness of vocabulary in English allows it to express a myriad of intonations (to the delight of writers and pain of learners).  For example, the olfactory information collected by our notice in have many words, each “painting’’ a different picture of the feedback.  In other words, a rose may be rose squared, but each smell is different.

The word smell is neutral, applying to pleasurable sensation of soup in the air upon return from school on an cold winter day as well as the reason we don’t want to cat to sit on us after it has been to the cat box.  A scent also lacks connotation, merely implying information, such as when a dog tracks the scent of another dog.

On the positive side, when it comes to food, an aroma is always good, whether caused by a fresh baked loaf of bread, a delicious plate of paella, or any other delicious dish.  A good bottle of wine or bunch of wild flowers has a wonderful bouquet.  Walking in to any department source, a source of my childhood horrors and many women’s pleasure was all the fragrances in the perfume section.  In fact, a rich smell can be called a perfume in English.

By contrast, there are times when having an insensitive nose is a blessing.  An odor is generally not good but tolerable, at least for a short time.  For example, if you detect the odor of gas in your kitchen, you should check the range immediately.  More seriously, if your partner says that your shoes stink, clean them or throw them out immediately.  It is that bad.  If you visit the house of a chain smoker, you can say that everything reeks of cigarettes, meaning that the smell is omnipresent.  Finally, the reason why plumbers get paid good money to fix sewage problems is that they have to deal with the stench of human feces, a truly foul smell.

So, when it comes to the impressions of the nose, the language is almost as the rich as the content.

(Small) Legal Culture

Culture is a word of many meanings.  To some, it means knowledge of literature and art.  With a small “c”, it implies the stated and unstated norms of behavior for any given group.  Recently, I had the pleasure of suing someone in Israeli small claims court.  I had taken someone to small claims court many years previously in the United States.  This experience was quite difference.  To clarify, having appeared in other court proceedings beforehand, I can attest that small claims court is unique and does not represent the general court atmosphere in Israel.

I will begin with a serious of random observations of our hour in court:

-             -  The judge was constantly giving orders to the clerk even during our “hearing.”

-             -  The judge immediately sent two cases to on-site mediators to reach an agreement.

-             -  The judge, when she did give us her attention, was not interested in our remarks, immediately sending us outside to reach a practical solution.

-             -  When we reentered the court room, she was out, in a meeting.  Another judge, much more serious, then entered to decide an urgent matter of custody.

-            -  Upon her return, she proceeded to resolve and provide instructions for the five cases in the various stages of settlement that were pending, including ours, while also giving instructions to the two mediators.

-            -   One of the cases involved an Arab young man who, during a race, has his car banged in by another driver.  The latter did not show up, which resulted in a heavy fine against the absent party.

-             -   The various parties wore jeans, disheveled shirts and sneakers, except for the lawyers outside who wore ties and white shirts.

This short slice of life demonstrates several aspects of Israel.  Israelis love to negotiate, treating law as merely another tool or, as they would say half-jokingly, the law is only a suggestion.  The judge as well as the involved parties ignored the absolute meaning of justice and sought only a reasonable compromise that leaves no party feeling completely defeated. By contrast, the failure to show up was severely chastised by the Court as a lack of respect of both the court and the parties.  Finally, the judge’s multitasking shows the wonderful Israeli way of trying to be efficient by solving many problems simultaneously.  As usual, I am not completely convinced that it is more efficient than handling one case at a time, but that is the local custom for all types of service.  By the way, as for our case, the store was ordered to repair the defective furniture with a date and time set, which is not exactly what we wanted, as well as damage award of ¼ of what we requested.   I suppose the entertainment value made up for the rest of it.