The Place For My Writers Notes

Original posting 14 July 2010

I've been doing something for a little while now that I think is kind of an interesting way to practice writing.

See, there's a 15 minute show here in Japan, six days a week, that will run for six months. We're now in week 16. And because I was interested, I've been writing up the show every day. Mostly just translating on-the-fly and taking notes, then later in the day going back and writing up that day's episode.

Part of the fun for me is figuring out which parts need explanations, or where I should "stretch" what was done on the show to help English language folks follow along. I mean, I don't have the visuals, and I really can't expect English readers to have the Japanese background. So I kind of fill in around the corners sometimes. And of course I get to select which actions and dialogue I'm going to bother including.

You might want to take a television show or movie and write it up. Just as a way to exercise or practice writing. How do you convert that visual car chase or whatever into narrative? What do you include, what do you drop out? Feel free to do some transformation or rearrangement. After all, a Mickey Mouse cartoon could turn into a bar scene, or maybe an opera could become a visit to a Turkish harem? Or...

Scribble while you watch, do-de-do-do-do-do-do...

Originally posted 13 August 2007

One of the Japanese who likes to quiz me about English recently asked me what phrase or translation I would use for "abura o uru." Literally, this means selling oil, but the connotation is about goofing off when you should be working. For example, when someone is sent to pick up something and takes a long time coming back, the comment that is likely to greet them would be "Where have you been? Were you selling oil?"

Apparently the reference is to the notion of someone who spends a long time explaining why you should buy oil - working hard to sell you - when of course, everyone needs oil (or at least in times past, it was a necessity).

I managed to get out of the discussion by pointing him at "snake oil salesman." When I explained that we used to have medicine men selling stuff in the streets in America, he suddenly got very amused, and said they had similar salesmen in Japan until 100 years ago. I politely didn't comment that there seem to be some still around - there are a lot of "healthy foods" sold in Japan with tonics and such.

Anyway, I'm still noodling around trying to figure out the right phrase if there is one. Goofing off? Daydreaming? Dilly-dallying?

In that scenario about someone coming back slowly, I think I'd be likely to say something like "Where have you been? Did you get lost?"

Interesting trying to get the languages to match up. I never would have thought about "selling oil" as a metaphor for wasting time. Any ideas for an English phrase like that?