It's a very conscious caution - Marie knows she's a fundamentally damaged creature that doesn't human right under pressure, and here she is trying to manage international relations between one leader who will resort to (incompetent but potentially lethal) physical violence and another she doesn't trust not to curse them (competently but horribly painfully) over some misunderstanding.

For instance, that comment in Huron from NW Dreaming Marie didn't translate was criticism, which on the one hand is generous and friendly by indigenous standards, kind of "Hey, you're part of our group, course-correct a bit" but also said at speaking volume before other Huron-speakers, which marks the French out as Problems and possibly attractors of attention from ill spirits, kind of the shadow of a curse. If Marie had translated, the upper-class French might have been insulted. That's the kind of work she's been doing in the background, whilst rapidly code-switching, nebulously sad from snapping the start of a bond to an orphan she found on the ground and quietly terrified about disease: high-energy on low battery stuff.

I'll try and work something out - feel free to suggest, I don't mind - but Marie hopes that having established Anne as "holy idiot, do not harm", any terrible faux pas will be laughed off and she won't have to deal with it 'til the morning. She might be better if put to a specific task, e.g. "I wish to tell this person about Jesus, please translate", or more limited positive interaction - she'll even take being propositioned as friendliness from an Ojibwe, since they're not drunk and understand 'no' - but she knows she's in no state for delicate work

Anne could practice her new ability to point and get words/baby explanations, though, if she remembers the phrase after all that. She's already learnt that 'hair' takes a personal prefix, that's linguistically interesting...

In reply to Marie Whitespruce (msg # 346):

Perhaps Fr. Joseph can also take language lessons from Marie. He definitely wants to learn Ojibwe when he has the opportunity. I believe he is traveling in a different canoe, so he could only talk easily to Marie when they stop for the night.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:02, Mon 13 Feb 2023.

He should be in with Hunts Men And Kills Them, closer to Anne...he can certainly ask, but Marie will just put him off until she can assign him to a local, since she doesn't actually speak the dialect, just one close enough for mutual understanding if spoken slowly: the language gap is a bit closer than Spanish/Portuguese, but kind of like trying to learn to interpret dense Glaswegian via someone from Manchester.

Maybe she could be recruited to interpret objects? e.g. "This is a Bible, it is a form of book, it has a record of sounds in it for a winter's worth of storytelling," "that is a personal icon for Saint Elk, you are very privileged to be shown it," etc. At any rate, I'll try to think of some variation of "Marie paddles" as good as the others' today, to keep things going along.

In reply to Marie Whitespruce (msg # 348):

I am fairly sure Fr. Joseph would not be comfortable trying to talk to "Hunts Men"  --he might ask Marie to recommend another Ojibwe he could study with if she is not available.

As they go along, Ignatius is also trying to pick up some handy words and phrases.

In reply to Fr. Joseph de la Tour (msg # 349):

He doesn't have to, that's just who's named as being in his canoe besides the lithe young lady. We were making evening plans - perhaps prematurely, since who knows but that we might be eaten by wolves before then.

Nat can listen in on Anne's efforts and/or approach one of the two confirmed Huron-speakers...NW Dreaming might even like to learn some French in exchange. He's definitely the least likely to get stabbed if dragging Marie out from under a shrub.

No he can't! Do your own homework! Teach, he's looking at my answers!

What is the name of the gouvernail behind Ignatius?

Ask a question find out!


Here we are so far:

Stern |———direction of travel————> Prow

|—Warrior 1 (gouvernail)—Ignatius—Marie—Wenona (avant)— >
|—Warrior 2 (gouvernail)—Lisette—White Elk’s remains—Next-Winter-Dreaming (avant)—>
|— Waubojeeg (gouvernail)—Anne—-Anne’s luggage—Woman 3—>
|—Hunts-Men (gouvernail)—Fr. Jospeh— Okwi—Warrior 4 (avant)—->

So I love the convention of translating strong emphasis in ah, an Anglo-Saxon fashion, and am definitely going to steal that for Marie given her barrack-room French, but Marie's just going to grunt agreement to that, so I'm a little stuck...anyone else want to get their names translated, or...?

From looking it up, I see Joseph originally meant "he (God) will add" in Hebrew.

If all goes as planned, I will be leaving early Saturday Feb.25 and arriving in Britain early Feb. 26, where I will be staying doing research until I return Mar.13. I am usually able to post to RPOL from the computers in the B&B where I regularly stay, but I do not expect to post Feb.25 or Mar.13.

Safe travels!

Enjoy the trip!

I am now available from Britain until Mar.12. So far I am simply exhausted. Tomorrow I expect to work in the British Library until about 8 p.m. I will check in with RPOL some after 9 p.m. London Time.

Bless you, priest, but referring to London as Britain is as quaintly peculiar as calling NYC the United States. May you sleep well, un-jetlag yourself as soon as possible and enjoy the museums (if you get the chance/aren't historied out). The BL is a marvellous place.

In reply to Marie Whitespruce (msg # 361):

I know that London is not Britain (though it is the part of Britain I am most likely to visit). Technically, I think the time zone involved is Greenwich Mean Time, until Britain changes to British Summer Time, but when my Iphone reset its clock feature it called the zone London Time, so I followed suit.

It's generally called GMT in conversation, but I'm not really fussing, it's just...well, Britain is several countries, only one of which has an interest in them being lumped together (spot the coloniser nation!), so the terminology's quite politically loaded. Better to be adorable and say you took a walk across the big park in Britain and fed the parakeets then went to the castle: everyone loves the American inability to understand the scaling of European places.

I hope you're asleep by now, at any rate, that's a long day tomorrow.

Bless you, native, but London is not in Europe, not any more :P

Oof.

In reply to Anne Pecaudy de Contrecoeur (msg # 364):

True politically, but not geographically. Chronologically, I believe the rest  of Europe is on a different time zone, or more than one. I recall the British once tried matching the Continental time, but it did not go over well -- children going to school in the dark etc.

I think it is just as well Fr. Joseph does not understand the (confused) discussion of his chastity going on around him. He might have to explain that a priest is required to be chaste, but is not supposed to be a eunuch, whatever may have happened to Origen or Abelard.

Ah...we were both talking politics, we do know where Europe is. Brexit is a horrible thing built on the British Exceptionalism of racists and spite-voting of people who thought it would 100% never happen that is causing a great deal of pain and suffering throughout the UK.

The joke is that pro-Brexit scunners compared themselves to colonised people (no it doesn't make sense, don't try to make Brexit make sense), so if I can bring up the political difference between "visiting Britain" and "visiting the capital of England", Anne can bring up the difference between "European" and "a non-EU country in Europe". It's dark humour/banter and I walked into that one.


Meanwhile and more on-topic, I learnt recently that the rumours of the Vatican employing illict castrati into the 1950s were false, but based on one unmodified guy getting really good at imitating his castrato teacher from boyhood onwards and basically developing the vocal range by sheer determination. In other words, he was never a eunuch, but unique!

In reply to Marie Whitespruce (msg # 368):

I had never heard that story about the whole man who learned to sing like a castrato. Quite a remarkable achievement. I suppose if one could learn to do it, others could, if they worked hard enough, though an absence of surviving castrato teachers might make it more difficult.

Here he is talking about it (with subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj5E2vVx2ZI !

I don't know if it could be learned nowadays, if you listen to that one recording of Moreschi you can hear it's a different sound to the top of the countertenor range or typical falsetti, just like a boy. Maybe a girl could do it, traned early, it's probably more an excess of patriarchal values than anything mechanical that made them unsuitable for the role.

...will the good Father answer Marie's query? Nat and Marie have tried to clear this up, but there are areas of uncertainty and, well, they don't know. Otherwise Fr. de la Tour may find himself a subject of intense curiousity whilst trying to pee, bathe, etc. etc.