- Uwe
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
thetypewriterman wrote:
the plural of typeface is typeface, confusing, isn't it !
Not if you're a beer drinker in Canada.
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- Uwe
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
Ruling slots; Holes in the above that allow you to draw straight lines on the paper by inserting a pencil and rolling the platen or moving the carriage.
In a few of the typewriter owner's manuals I just checked it's called an "alignment guide with drawing notches".
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- TypewriterKing
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
Here's my 2 cents: the part that raises the ribbon between the type bar and the platen: Vibrator.
Underwood--Speeds the World's Bidness
- PN
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
Hello,
I am a linguistics student from Poland and I know absolutely nothing about typewriters. The thing is, I am currently writing my BA thesis about translation errors. In the book I am analysing, the translator mistook the term "sit-up-and-beg typewriter" for something completely different (I'm not going to bore you with too many details). Long story short, for the purpose of my research, I need to find out what the term really means, and Google doesn't really help (I was only able to find some definitions of the term "sit-up-and-beg" in relation to bicycles). My question is: what kind of typewriter is that? Does it have anything to do with the position its user has to assume while typing?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Best regards,
PN
- beak
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
the plural of typeface is typeface, confusing, isn't it !
Not if you're a beer drinker in Canada.
I don't know if I'm just missing out on an in-joke here, but the plural is typefaces, at least in British English. And I don't get the beer reference either!
Sincerely,
beak.
- M. Höhne
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
Hello,
I am a linguistics student from Poland and I know absolutely nothing about typewriters. The thing is, I am currently writing my BA thesis about translation errors. In the book I am analysing, the translator mistook the term "sit-up-and-beg typewriter" for something completely different (I'm not going to bore you with too many details). Long story short, for the purpose of my research, I need to find out what the term really means, and Google doesn't really help (I was only able to find some definitions of the term "sit-up-and-beg" in relation to bicycles). My question is: what kind of typewriter is that? Does it have anything to do with the position its user has to assume while typing?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Best regards,
PN
Yes, it describes the position of the typist, and the bicyclist, too. The position is: sitting with the back straight and vertical, the forearms extended out in front with the elbows at more or less a right angle, and the wrists slightly loose, that is, not tense. The term comes from the resemblance to a dog that has been trained to "sit up and beg".
It should be clear that this is a proper position for a typist but less clear what it has to do with a bicyclist. There it refers to the position of a rider on a roadster-type bike with upright handlebars as contrasted with the dropped racing handlebars. It can be (but not necessarily) a little bit derogatory since racers can be so macho.
I am curious as to the mistaken translation you mention. What did that translator think it meant and how did you know it was wrong?
HTH and Welcome to English. I am sure you have trained dogs in Poland; do you have a Polish phrase like this?
- PN
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
Thank you very much for the detailed reply, it is really helpful!
As for what the error was about: In the original version of the book, the author mentioned how he used to feed "bits of bog roll into a sit-up-and-beg Remington" back when he worked as an editor at a newspaper. The translation was something along the lines of "I mastered the Remington typewriter to such perfection that I would feed a roll of toilet paper into it". Something just did not seem right about it, especially since the original sentence said nothing about mastering anything to perfection. A quick Google search for "sit-up-and-beg typewriter" made it rather clear that it was a certain kind of typewriter, but I wasn't able to find a definition clearly stating what a sit-up-and-beg typewriter exactly is. My guess is that the translator interpreted the "sit-up-and-beg" part as the author's comparison of the typewriter to an obedient dog (as in, he mastered it to such a degree that it did everything he wanted it to).
The command used to tell dogs to sit up and beg in Polish is poproś, but due to the nature of the Polish language, converting it to an adjective describing a person's sitting position when using a particular device would be rather awkward. We just call sit-up-and-beg bikes "city bikes" or "Dutch bikes". As for typewriters, I do not think we even have a specific term for the kind that requires the typist to sit upright (though maybe someone more knowledgeable in Polish typewriter terminology would correct me on that).
Once again, thank you for your help!
PN
- Uwe
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
It's still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The proper posture for typing is the same for all typewriters, so to specify a "sit-up-and-beg" Remington is pointless given that you would sit the same way in front of any Remington model. Even worse, I don't understand how using toilet paper for typing is any sort of an indication of someone having mastered that typewriter. It's a very strange description. If someone told me that they used toilet paper for typing, I would take it to mean that their writing was crap. 
The pronoun I has always been capitalized in the English language for more than 700 years.
- thetypewriterman
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
Re; Typeface and typefaces. My understanding has always been that the singular is a 'typeface', but when referring to all the type in the segment, you also say 'typeface' - as in 'The typeface on that machine is dirty'. (meaning all them not just the one).
- PN
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Re: Help with creating a typewriter dictionary
Even worse, I don't understand how using toilet paper for typing is any sort of an indication of someone having mastered that typewriter.
That was a pretty big giveaway there was something wrong with the translation...
