| rdfs:comment | - A space to test our collaborative writing
- Rhetoric is the art of convincing crowds of people with your words. Politicians of all times, whether they are in power or on the streets working against the regime, have appreciated this skill.
- Rhetoric is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are sex education and potty training) in Western culture. In ancient and medieval times, the rhetor was usually some rich bastard that owned land, so they let him do whatever the hell he wanted to. This involved standing out in the open air spreading his bullshit to anyone that passed by. As such, rhetoric is said to flourish in capitalistic societies with rights of free speech for those that have the cash to back it up.
- Translating an Asterix album is always a huge challenge, given the number of quotes, allusions, puns and dual meanings liberally disseminated by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. But there are also risks involved in interpreting Asterix, Obelix and Getafix themselves: just ask Rhetoric, who has the heavy task in Asterix and the Goths of interpreting into the Gothic language the sayings of our Gauls, while avoiding offense to his master, the terrible Metric.
|
| abstract | - A space to test our collaborative writing
- Translating an Asterix album is always a huge challenge, given the number of quotes, allusions, puns and dual meanings liberally disseminated by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo. But there are also risks involved in interpreting Asterix, Obelix and Getafix themselves: just ask Rhetoric, who has the heavy task in Asterix and the Goths of interpreting into the Gothic language the sayings of our Gauls, while avoiding offense to his master, the terrible Metric. Rather than faithfully translating the Gauls' answers, which would be sure to arouse his chief's anger, Rhetoric transforms the Gauls' «no» into «yes» in the Gothic language, which comes across as a lot more cooperative. Unfortunately, Getafix speaks Goth fluently (with a slight accent), and uncovers Rhetoric's lies, quickly landing him in the dungeon, waiting to be drawn and quartered («drawing and quartering is so banal, but it's always good for a laugh,» as Metric would say). But Getafix, who wants to spread chaos and confusion among the Goths, gives Rhetoric the wicked interpreter a taste of magic potion, which really sets things off and has all of the Goths seeking to replace their chief!
- Rhetoric is one of the three original liberal arts or trivium (the other members are sex education and potty training) in Western culture. In ancient and medieval times, the rhetor was usually some rich bastard that owned land, so they let him do whatever the hell he wanted to. This involved standing out in the open air spreading his bullshit to anyone that passed by. As such, rhetoric is said to flourish in capitalistic societies with rights of free speech for those that have the cash to back it up. But if you are poor or belong to a minority group, you better be able to run fast if you want to try the practice of rhetoric, because when the police show up it is time to book. The concept of rhetoric has shifted some over time. Today rhetoric is usually used in a negative context, meaning "particularly offensive bullshit," which is pretty inaccurate considering that it is just like any other "tool" and that its valence depends upon the user. However, it is not uncommon to hear phrases like "Ted Kennedy gave a speech today while downing three buckets of fried chicken and farting on an intern that consisted primarily of empty rhetoric."
- Rhetoric is the art of convincing crowds of people with your words. Politicians of all times, whether they are in power or on the streets working against the regime, have appreciated this skill.
|
