hibiscusandmilktea

[hibiscusandmilktea]

Once a little boy went to school. One morning The teacher said: “Today we are going to make a picture.” “Good!” thought the little boy. He liked to make all kinds; Lions and tigers, Chickens and cows, Trains and boats; And he took out his box of crayons And began to draw.

But the teacher said, “Wait!” “It is not time to begin!” And she waited until everyone looked ready. “Now,” said the teacher, “We are going to make flowers.” “Good!” thought the little boy, He liked to make beautiful ones With his pink and orange and blue crayons. But the teacher said “Wait!” “And I will show you how.” And it was red, with a green stem. “There,” said the teacher, “Now you may begin.”

The little boy looked at his teacher’s flower Then he looked at his own flower. He liked his flower better than the teacher’s But he did not say this. He just turned his paper over, And made a flower like the teacher’s. It was red, with a green stem.

On another day The teacher said: “Today we are going to make something with clay.” “Good!” thought the little boy; He liked clay. He could make all kinds of things with clay: Snakes and snowmen, Elephants and mice, Cars and trucks And he began to pull and pinch His ball of clay.

But the teacher said, “Wait!” “It is not time to begin!” And she waited until everyone looked ready. “Now,” said the teacher, “We are going to make a dish.” “Good!” thought the little boy, He liked to make dishes. And he began to make some That were all shapes and sizes.

But the teacher said “Wait!” “And I will show you how.” And she showed everyone how to make One deep dish. “There,” said the teacher, “Now you may begin.”

The little boy looked at the teacher’s dish; Then he looked at his own. He liked his better than the teacher’s But he did not say this. He just rolled his clay into a big ball again And made a dish like the teacher’s. It was a deep dish.

And pretty soon The little boy learned to wait, And to watch And to make things just like the teacher. And pretty soon He didn’t make things of his own anymore.

Then it happened That the little boy and his family Moved to another house, In another city, And the little boy Had to go to another school.

The teacher said: “Today we are going to make a picture.” “Good!” thought the little boy. And he waited for the teacher To tell what to do. But the teacher didn’t say anything. She just walked around the room.

When she came to the little boy She asked, “Don’t you want to make a picture?” “Yes,” said the little boy. “What are we going to make?” “I don’t know until you make it,” said the teacher. “How shall I make it?” asked the little boy. “Why, anyway you like,” said the teacher. “And any color?” asked the little boy. “Any color,” said the teacher. And he began to make a red flower with a green stem.

~Helen Buckley, The Little Boy

[hibiscusandmilktea]

My oil painting of an Uncrustable

[hibiscusandmilktea]

[hibiscusandmilktea]

cosy ˖˚⊹

print ✶

! do not reupload/repost anywhere !

[hibiscusandmilktea]

An embroidery of the Wikipedia page for embroidery.

[hibiscusandmilktea]

Rådd-djuret – The Muddler

Like Joxter, the Muddler is a childhood friend of Moominpappa, and as such only appears in The Exploits of Moominpappa (1968). He is a disorganised little animal whose parents disappeared in a spring-cleaning. The original name Rådd-djuret stems from the Finland-Swedish vernacular verb rådda, equivalent of Standard Swedish stöka, ‘to make a mess’. The name is a combination of the verb rådda and the noun djur, ‘animal’, with the definite suffix –et. Although the name is classed as expressive, due to the meaning being obvious to Finland-Swedish readers, any readers speaking Standard Swedish would not be likely to understand the meaning of rådda.

Based on the definition of the verb rådda, the character’s English name stems from the noun ‘muddle’. The Oxford English Dictionary entry for MUDDLE n. defines the meaning as “a state of disorder or (physical or mental) confusion.” Even though the translator, Thomas Warburton, has chosen to omit the equivalent of djur (‘animal’) in the English variant, the semantic meaning of Rådd-djuret and the Muddler remain largely the same. Therefore, the mode of translation has been used to transfer the name Rådd-djuret into English.

The Finnish variant Hosuli is also a reasonably accurate translation of the Swedish original name. The verb hosua means ‘to hurry or rush, often making a mess in the progress’. As in the name Hemuli, the –li suffix in Hosuli functions as an indicator of two things. Firstly, it makes a noun and by extension a name out of the verb hosua, indicating that the creature with this name is a rushing, messy character. Secondly, as the suffix –li is also used to create diminutives, it indicates small size. While the noun djur in the Swedish name has not been directly translated, the –li suffix creates a similar connotation of a small, messy animal.

- Multilingual Moomins: Examining the Translation of Tove Jansson’s Nonsense Character Names from Swedish to English and Finnish by Janine A E Strandberg

[hibiscusandmilktea]

Joxaren – Joxter

Joxter is a friend of Moominpappa who appears only in The Exploits of Moominpappa (1968). Joxaren is an expressive name, denoting the verb joxa, a Finland-Swedish dialectal term meaning ‘to joke, have fun’, or ‘to tinker with something’.

It is difficult to assess how successful the English variant is in retaining the semantic meaning of the original name. Upon initial inspection it seems as if the translator Thomas Warburton simply transcribed the name by adding the more English-sounding –er ending. This comes across as a somewhat lazy strategy, considering Warburton most definitely understood the term joxa, as he himself is Finland-Swedish. However, Warburton’s merit in creating the name may lie in how the reader chooses to pronounce it. If the ⟨o⟩ in Joxter is pronounced as [ɔ] or [ɒ] the name hardly makes sense to the TT [target text] reader. On the other hand, if the ⟨o⟩ is pronounced [əʊ], as in ‘joke’ [ʤəʊk], the name sounds like “Joke-ster”. As such the English name could be classed as a translation rather than a transcription, or possibly a combination of the two, as the connotations of both the ST [source text] and TT names remain similar.

The Finnish version of the name, Juksu, also keeps the connotations identical to the original, and is thus classed as a translated name. In Finnish juksata is a verb that means ‘to trick, cheat, pull someone’s leg’. It is likely that the Finland-Swedish vernacular term joxa originates in Finnish juksata, and thus the accuracy of the Finnish translation is not surprising.

- Multilingual Moomins: Examining the Translation of Tove Jansson’s Nonsense Character Names from Swedish to English and Finnish by Janine A E Strandberg

[hibiscusandmilktea]

Snusmumriken – Snufkin

The suggestive Swedish name Snusmumriken is based on an outdated colloquial Swedish term for an old, boring man, a snusmumrik. This meaning has little to do with the character in the books, who is a philosophical wanderer and Moomintroll’s best friend. However, the two words the name is made up of, snus and mumrik, may be considered separately. The Swedish dialectal word mumrik is a derogatory term for a rude or stupid man, but Jansson uses it as a noun indicating Snufkin’s species, i.e. en mumrik, ‘a mumrik’, and mumrikar, ‘mumriks’. The –en suffix marks the definite article of the name Snusmumriken, as with many others of Jansson’s invented names. The prefix snus– has two possible meanings, either the noun snus, indicating ‘snuff’, ‘powdered tobacco for inhaling through the nostrils’, or the verb snusa, indicating ‘to sniff or snuff’. As the two meanings are the same for both Swedish snus and English snuff, the prefix has been easily translated into the initial part of the name Snufkin. Meanwhile, the –kin suffix of the English variant stems from Middle Dutch -kijn and Middle Low German –kīn, and is used to form diminutives such as bumpkin.

In English, the entire name Snufkin denotes the character’s name as well as his species. When the character is introduced to the reader, he is referred to only as ‘a snufkin’, i.e. an anonymous member of the species (Jansson 1967: 43). However, the next time he is mentioned the name Snufkin is capitalised and has lost the indefinite article, indicating that it has become his personal name (Jansson 1967: 43). This change from species to personal name is not as quick in the original Swedish text. There Snufkin is continuously referred to as en mumrik (‘a snufkin’), until he explicitly introduces himself as Snusmumriken. In Swedish a distinction made between mumriks as a species and Snusmumriken, which is the name the character. However, in the English version there is no distinction between the character Snufkin and his species of snufkins, aside from the capitalisation of the name, and as such the character does not require a proper introduction in the English translation.

The Finnish variant, Nuuskamuikkunen, is a translation that has been created with the presumption that the prefix snus– in Snusmumriken refers to the noun snus, not the verb snusa. Nuuska is, without ambiguity, the Finnish word for the noun ‘snuff’. However, the root of the second part of the name, muikkunen, is less obvious. Finnish muikku, meaning the freshwater fish ‘vendace’, is a possible source of the name, as Snufkin is known to be an avid fisher. Additionally, muikku(-nen) is phonetically similar to mumrik(-en), although the words are not similar in their possible meanings. What is notable is that, like mumrik, the word muikkunen acts as the name for the species in the Finnish translations. There can be several creatures called muikkunen, but the name Nuuskamuikkunen only belongs to one character.

- Multilingual Moomins: Examining the Translation of Tove Jansson’s Nonsense Character Names from Swedish to English and Finnish by Janine A E Strandberg

[hibiscusandmilktea]

Rejoice! Qhuavan arthropods (sea crawler bugs) be upon you

[hibiscusandmilktea]

they should make a pill that makes people in their 20s feel good about where their lives are going

[hibiscusandmilktea]

I can’t stop laughing, these jokes are so lame but so damn funny xD

[hibiscusandmilktea]

Caramelldansen turns 20 this year and frankly I am not prepared for that.

[hibiscusandmilktea]

[hibiscusandmilktea]

guess who rewatched across the spideverse🫡

[hibiscusandmilktea]

I impulse bought a dollarama ladybug costume that does not fit Pangur and, in fact, made her very sad

[hibiscusandmilktea]

Somebody give me some free time, ahah

[hibiscusandmilktea]