Because of its eccentricities, we call in an old translation

[muckefuck]

More weirdness in The mysteries of St. Louis: At the beginning of Chapter 10, we are introduced to the character of Tom, who has an ongoing love affair with the fire engine of Phoenix Engine House at Fifth and Carondelet: "Thomas Quick, called for brevity's sake Quick Tom, and for his eccentricities Old Tom."

Come again?

I was wondering about the first nickname, since quick doesn't exist in German (the cognate form is keck) and the double meaning wouldn't translate. But I found "Old" having connotations of strangeness a bit...well, strange. The German is:

Thomas Quick,--kurzweg Quick Tom oder wohl auch seiner Eigenheiten wegen von den Kameraden Odd Tom, der "sonderbare Thomas" genannt. "Thomas Quick--Quick Tom for short or also, on account of his eccentricities, called by his comrades Odd Tom, the "odd Thomas".

Very sloppily done, Münch! Near as I can tell, he must've misread "Old" for "Odd", but how you could make a mistake like that when the author tells you the meaning of "Odd" in parenthetical comments? Did he do the translation in one go without any editing? How did me miss the passage two pages later where a fireman says, "Ihr seid ein närrischer Kauz...und sie heissen Euch nicht mit Unrecht den sonderbaren Tom." (Translated as: "You are truly an odd fellow...and your name 'Old Tom' is very appropriate." WTF?)

Now more than ever, I wish I could get a print copy of the German to read. The editors decision to use the unimproved English translation is looking all the time less like the commitment to authencity they try to make it out to be and more and more like sheer laziness.

Comments

[bengt.livejournal.com]

Is there a print copy of the German out there? I could try to hunt it down for you, if you like. I'm sure we don't have it in stock here in Burgdorf, but they can order stuff and Hannover is completely in the Nähe.
Also, for bad translations: Hostel Am Friedrichshain in Berlin:
Our Hostel at the Friedrichshain - Prenzlauer mountain is calmly in a typical old citizen of Berlin Ambiente convenient and a very central starting point, in order to discover Berlin completely. By only the 2min. removed bus stop "at the Friedrichshain/Hufelandstrasse" (200) and approx. 4 min footpath into the grab forest first race you are distant for the Tram stop "hoof highway" (M4) only 10 minutes from the center Alexanderplatz, TV tower, museum islands, citizen of Berlin cathedral, road under the lime trees.

We have single, double and three-bed rooms as well as four-bed rooms with standard up-to-date for each age group. To the room equipment single and twin beds, TV-equipment belong as a radio bell. Our Hostel has a completely furnished guest kitchen with dining corner and refrigerator.

There are two bathrooms with showers and WC´s, separated according to genders, and a single WC.
http://www.hostels.com/en/availability.php/HostelNumber.17839

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I would be quite surprised if you could find a copy there even in a good Antiquariat. AFAICT, there were only three German editions: Cassel, 1851; Altona, 1868 and 1881. Thanks for the offer, but my best bet would be to go the ILL route.

(I think I'd better stop rereading the hostel blurb, trying to figure out what the original German was, before I sprain something inside my head.)