h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I note a touch of softy southern has crept into the edited version...

"they are hard bastards" I note has been changed to "they are hard fellows"

The problem with this is that it has all the wrong connotations. It's an outsider patronising the peasants, rather than an insider claiming the some manner of reflected glory.

You see, being a "hard bastard" is good. Despite the dictionary definition of "bastard" it is rarely used in that context. It's meaning is "demanding of respect". The bastard sons of England, if you like, demand their rightful inheritance.

The Yorkshireman is known for carrying a bit of a chip on his shoulder because he feels he did all the work and the south got all the money.

In truth of course Lancastrians and Geordies and Brummies did their fair share of making England great. But they also got screwed in the process.

However it is the Yorkshireman, who has the reputation for resenting being screwed.

And so, being known as a "Hard bastard" means that you demand respect and that is not a bad thing to be known for.

This word became the source of lengthy correspondence among the Sub-editors' mailing list, and the concensus was that it was not appropriate. Sorry.

B

As Master B said, we discussed it, mulled over it, and it's just not allowed.

Plus I'm in Birmingham, not the south. Sorry it's just that it's not my fault on some of these things you're criticising.

It's always a matter of translation... Hard Bastards might be OK in a Flamborough Pub, but written down in a collection of general essays there's an argument against it. Fair enough. It's the translation into "Hard Fellows" that's a bit limp. It's neither one thing nor another. It neither holds the meaning nor has a hint of the local dialect. It's meaning is close to "hardy" which is true but in the context of the piece there was a suggestion of "intimidation". I.E. you don't mess with these guys.

It's not easy to pick aleternatives with the same meaning but "tough characters" might work better with a hint of the gangster and less emphasis on physical hardiness but on mental hardiness. It's a moot point.

Quite often I deal with writers of Chinglish and their attempts to render Cantonese idioms into English leads to all manner of mistranslations. The reduction of very straight forward Chinese into a weird eccentric English happens because of the inability of people to step into one culture and pull out all the connotations equivalent to those in another culture. Mostly its just amusing but sometimes it can change meaning significantly.

I wouldn't get into a punch up over this one but I thought I'd pick up the point here as a topic worth discussing because it does perhaps show that within the same language meaning can be slippery.

I asked to keep the word as 'bastards' but it was a no go and was told to change it to 'fellows'. At the time I queried this, saying that the effect was then different but I couldn't come up with a clean alternative that still conveyed the right message, so had to leave it.

You've seen the English Sub-Titles in Kung Fu movies?

Ever wondered how they got that way?

The answer is the translator is given fifty quid and a morning to do it.

Everything in the media is determined by time and money. Someone will have to do a PhD on how economics has created language change.

Despite the fact that I dont get paid for editing your articles?

I think this is a bit of a non starter.

What is?

Regardless of how you feel about what was changed, it's not going to be changed back. I recognise the way it was meant but couldn't do anything about it, I have a very good hand of the English language and the ways it can be used, I haven't changed it because I thought that it would be alright, I changed it because I had to.

It's pointless to rag about it and have a go at me when there's absolutely nothing I can do and I tried in the initial instance to do something.

It does look to me as if you're being a bit rude, Larry.

Kat has put in the time and effort to Sub your Entry, and a very good job she has made of it too. We have given you perfectly good reasons why 'bastards' is unacceptable. Additionally, we don't set the editorial policy, that is ultimately done by the BBC. And I don't see how we can have 'saved' time and money by changing the word.

B