So I thought, just for fun, I'd translate LITTLE RABBIT FOO-FOO into
Italian. Sing it (operatically) for the next bunch of kids/parents you
baby-sit (and please correct any grammatical/orthographical errors
before you do: I've almost certainly made a few mistakes here ... )
If Giuseppe Verdi had written a children's opera ...
FUFU IL CONIGLIO
Fufu il Coniglio
Saltando per la silva,
Raccogliendo i topolini,
Schiacciando sulla testa!
Discende la Buona Fata ...
E lui dice ... :
Fufu Il Coniglio
Non amo vostra intenzione,
Raccogliendo i topolini,
Schiacciando sulla testa!
Conseguentemente ...
Te provvederai TRE INDULGENZE!
E, si tu no obbedisse a mi,
Te transformerai in un imbecille!
[repeat with DUE INDULGENZE, then with UNO INDULGENZA -
then, after "Conseguentemente" on the fourth and final
iteration:]
... Ho provisto TRE INDULGENZE!
E, perchè tu no has obbedetto a mi,
Te transformerei in un imbecille!"
E cosi ha fatto.
IL MORALE: Oggi in silve, domani imbecile.
[translator's note: my poor equivalent for "Hare today, goon
tomorrow"
plays on the Italian proverb "Oggi in figura, domani in
sepoltura"]
CODA:
Fufu il Imbecille
Saltando per la silva ... )
So I thought, just for fun, I'd translate LITTLE RABBIT FOO-FOO into
Italian. Sing it (operatically) for the next bunch of kids/parents you
baby-sit (and please correct any grammatical/orthographical errors
before you do: I've almost certainly made a few mistakes here ... )
If Giuseppe Verdi had written a children's opera ...
FUFU IL CONIGLIO
Fufu il Coniglio
Saltando per la silva,
Raccogliendo i topolini,
Schiacciando sulla testa!
Discende la Buona Fata ...
E lui dice ... :
Fufu Il Coniglio
Non amo vostra intenzione,
Raccogliendo i topolini,
Schiacciando sulla testa!
Conseguentemente ...
Te provvederai TRE INDULGENZE!
E, si tu no obbedisse a mi,
Te transformerai in un imbecille!
[repeat with DUE INDULGENZE, then with UNA INDULGENZA -
My husband learned it in camp as a joke that ended with the punchline
"Hare today, good tomorrow."
--Lee
> My husband learned it in camp as a joke that ended with the punchline
> "Hare today, good tomorrow."
"Goon," I think you mean. I learned that a long time ago, complete with hand
motions for the bunny and the bopping.
--
Will "scifantasy" Frank - wmf...@stwing.org
"It's not like we have a standard form to un-dead you."
"Ahem..."
"Tell me you're kidding."
"Nine-two-four-slash-B. In triplicate."
--Sheriff Jack Carter and Deputy Jo Lupo, "Many Happy Returns"
Urr, yes, Goon.
One of these days I'll proofread my email.
--Lee
> I've just started some systematic study of Italian, but can get most of
> it with the help of an online dictionary. If I understand it correctly,
> Fufu hops through the woods picking up mice and smashing their heads?!
Yes - the first verse of the original English (well, American) runs as
follows:
"Little Rabbit Foo-Foo,
Hopping through the forest,
Picking up the field mice,
And bopping on the head,"
> And the fairy gives him three chances to behave, then makes him into an
> imbecile?
In the original lyrics, she turns him into a goon. I couldn't find
"goon" in any English-to-Italian dictionary (just as I couldn't find
"bop" except as the name of a musical/poetic style: "il Bop") but
judge that the word for "imbecile" comes close enough.
For the full lyrics (including, often, the punch-line as I learned it:
"Hare today, goon tomorrow"), Google "little rabbit foo foo."
Kate Gladstone - http://learn.to/handwrite
"Goon" is a word given to us by Elzie Segar, creator of Popeye, as well
as Alice the Goon and Goon Island. Perhaps there's no equivalent in
Italian without using a cognate neologism. It would be interesting to
see how Italians translated the word for purposes of the comic and
cartoon (Fleischer's GOONLAND).
The word has taken on the association of hired muscle or torpedo, no
doubt due to Alice's great strength, hulking frame, and obedience (much
of the time) to her employer. I don't suppose this is what the good
fairy turned F.F. into, though.
Random thoughts. Your translation is fine, and appreciated.
Kip W
--
Joe Kesselman / Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden
Or maybe poor old Joe ought to come down from the skies and tell the
kiddies he doesn't want them abusing his Requiem...
I find myself thinking about rewriting "It's Not Easy Bein' Green"
for Verdi.
--Lee
> "Goon" is a word given to us by Elzie Segar, creator of Popeye, as well
> as Alice the Goon and Goon Island. Perhaps there's no equivalent in
> Italian without using a cognate neologism. It would be interesting to
> see how Italians translated the word for purposes of the comic and
> cartoon (Fleischer's GOONLAND).
Hopping through the forest of Google in a search for Italian
translations of POPEYE and/or GOONLAND ... I haven't found any Italian
ones, yet, but have learned that at least one German POPEYE
translation rendered "Popeye and the Goons" as "Popeye und die
Grommler."
This may come in handy for those wishing to make Wagner-inspired and/
or German-language (or quasi-German-_à_-_la_-Anna-Russell)
translations/parodies/etc, of POPEYE THE SAILOR and/or LITTLE RABBIT
FOO-FOO.
Verdi-esque-ically grim as we may deem the muricidal bunny, surely he
stacks up equally well as a Wagnerian Bad Guy on the order of Hagen or
Alberich?
Or surely someone here knows enough Old Norse to compose the FÚFUMAL
(the Story of Foo-Foo), whose English translation might look like
this ...
THE FÚFUMAL
by Kate Gladstone
Fúfu, small rabbit, fastest of hoppers,
Works in woodland his ways of evil:
Field-mice he finds, then hammers with head-blows,
Vexing the queen of the Vanir folk.
Down came good Freya, frowning at Fúfu.
Said she to the warren-born: "No worth I find
In your smiting of cheese-thieves. Smirk not, but obey me.
To change from your ways, three chances you'll have.
And if you change not, then a nithing you'll be."
Yet Fúfu, four-footed, fastest of hoppers,
Still works in woodland his ways of evil:
Field-mice he finds, then hammers with head-blows,
Vexing the queen of the Vanir folk.
Down came good Freya, frowning at Fúfu,
Said she to the short-tailed: "Shame do I find
In your smacking of squeakers, Smirk not, but obey me.
To change from your ways, two chances you have
And if you change not, then a nithing you'll be."
Yet Fúfu, long-footed, fastest of hoppers,
Still works in woodland his ways of evil:
Field-mice he finds, then hammers with head-blows,
Vexing the queen of the Vanir folk.
Down came good Freya, frowning at Fúfu,
Said she to the buck-toothed: "Badness I find
In your smashing of hole-gnawers, Smirk not, but obey me.
To change from your ways, one chance you now have
And if you change not, then a nithing you'll be."
Yet Fúfu, carrot-glad, fastest of hoppers,
Still works in woodland his ways of evil:
Field-mice he finds, then hammers with head-blows,
Vexing the queen of the Vanir folk.
Down came good Freya, frowning at Fúfu,
Said she to the long-eared, "You've lost your last chance.
Three warnings you've wasted. Now you shall obey me.
To change from your ways, no chance you now have:
Now and forever, a nithing shall be!"
THE MORAL:
Hare whose heart hates field-scurriers
Soon shall see himself made outlaw.
Or perhaps the moral is "a nithing you can do; I can do Baldar"?
--
() ASCII Ribbon Campaign | Joe Kesselman
/\ Stamp out HTML e-mail! | System architexture and kinetic poetry
Bravo! (or:) Brava! (or:)
Praise for the wordsmith! Well have you wrought,
your staves have laid me laughing on the floor.
m a m
>Kate Gladstone wrote:
>> Now and forever, a nithing shall be!"
>> THE MORAL:
>> Hare whose heart hates field-scurriers
>> Soon shall see himself made outlaw.
>
>Or perhaps the moral is "a nithing you can do; I can do Baldar"?
My wife was concerned for my health. The groan I made when
reading that line sounded to here as though I were in horrible
pain.
I was, just not in *physical* pain.
--
Arthur T. - ar23hur "at" intergate "dot" com
Looking for a z/OS (IBM mainframe) systems programmer position
> >> THE MORAL:
> >> Hare whose heart hates field-scurriers
> >> Soon shall see himself made outlaw.
> >
> >Or perhaps the moral is "a nithing you can do; I can do Baldar"?
In either case: a little punny foo-foo.
> THE FÚFUMAL
> by Kate Gladstone
>
> Fúfu, small rabbit, fastest of hoppers,
> Works in woodland his ways of evil:
> Field-mice he finds, then hammers with head-blows,
> Vexing the queen of the Vanir folk.
... ...
I wonder if I might post this in my LiveJournal, with proper credit...?
Kip W
wild!
But everyone seems to miss the added verse!
Little goony foo foo, (hopping?) through the forrest,
Picking up the fairys, bopping them on the head.
sean
Uhm. May I suggest that the whole point of that shaggy-dog song is the
final pun -- "Hare today, goon tomorrow" -- and that "goon" was used for
that reason alone? I consider it far more important that any
translation/adaptation end with an equally bad groaner than that we try
to retain direct equivalence.
(Tradutore, traditore!)
Yes, please use it - you or anyone.
Praise I welcome, any way I can get it,
And recording rights I'll right gladly give out:
Almost any fee Will find a welcome.
I learned, at about age 3, a "Little Rabbit" (as opposed to "Little
Bunny") version - never encountered either "Little Bunny" or the
closing "Little Goon"(or "Little Goony") verse until searching Google
a few days ago while writing my Italian translation. (Note that my
Italian translation - though not my fake-Edda version - indeed closes
with a translation of the "Little Goon[y]" coda as I noted it on a web-
site that had "Little Goon Foo-Foo" picking up the field mice (not
fairies: like most serial assaulters/killers, Foo-foo in this version
sticks to his established _modus_operandi_)
Re:
> > Kip W
> Actually this *is* what the fairy turned him into, and stupid should
> be changed to something meaning dumb muscle bound jock.
> Sean
I don't know (and cannot find) the Italian for "dumb muscle-bound
jock" - feel free to change "imbecille" to whatever word/phrase fits
better here - however (speaking only for myself) I grew up with "goon"
as a synonym for "person of severely and incurably impaired
intelligence/morality/social sense," which (as I saw it) made
"imbecille" a likely enough translation.
Though I don't know what word[s] the old Norse had for a dumb muscle-
bound jock, I suspect that they (or many of them) would have seen such
an existence as, well, not really so bad. Given a choice between two
fates - becoming a stupid but immensely muscular individual, or
becoming a nithing/outlaw - I suspect that (say) the average tenth-
centurely Icelander would have deemed transformation into a mighty-but-
dimwitted jock much less of a punishment than transformation into the
tenth-century-Iceland equivalent of an "unperson": someone publicly
pronounced a social/moral zero (at best), and therefore lawful prey
for anyone wanting to kill him/her.
Punishments (including punishments assigned/described in
literature) must make sense to the (real and/or putative) audience of
the literary work. (Reportedly, when Christian missionaries first
preached the peoples of the Arctic, the churchmen made the tactical
error of vividly depicting Hell as a place where the fire never goes
out -so the tribes felt great joy at the missionaries' repeated
proclamations that everyone would go to Hell who had not done such a
chilly and unlikely thing as getting baptized. After some critical
mass of tribesfolk had thanked enough missionaries for bringing them
the great good news of eternal fire after death, the missionaries
wised up, of course - and thenceforth drew their sermons on Hell from
Dante's description of the glacier-bound Ninth Circle.)
Incidentally, I wrote to a friend who is an Italian translator. She
doesn't know what they call the Goons in Italy (Babelfish labored for
many minutes and came back with "goon," btw), but Popeye is "Braccio de
Ferro" or "Bracciodiferro." I tried searching with that, but still no goons.
Kip W
Some comments so far:
---
This is the best thing I have seen all week. Thank you for sharing it
in this venue.
---
Betty: http://kip-w.livejournal.com/215011.html BEST THING EVAR
me: that is a thing of AWESOME
Betty: YES YES IT IS
Petra: DIES
me: haaaaaaaart
---
That is *awesome.*
---
Waugh!
I've enjoyed basking in your reflected glory. There's a blog I might
share that with, while I'm at it.
Thanks for the permish...
Kip W
> I've enjoyed basking in your reflected glory. There's a blog I might
> share that with, while I'm at it.
Sure, go ahead! Share it anywhere you want to, now or at any time:
just give me credit! (and, if you want to record it, some $$$
too ... )
By the way ... does anyone know a tune that fits Eddaic-style poetry?
Do we even know if the ancient Norse skalds sang their compositions to
a tune, or declaimed it like operatic _recitatif_, or what?
I don't know for certain, but my tenor-singing uncle wrote a thesis on
the premise that Beowulf was meant to be sung.
I can almost fit the fufumal to "El Paso" [as sung by Marty Robbins].
Kip W
> I don't know for certain, but my tenor-singing uncle wrote a thesis on
> the premise that Beowulf was meant to be sung.
Kip, I'd love to read your uncle's thesis.
> I can almost fit the fufumal to "El Paso" [as sung by Marty Robbins].
I can - with no "almost" - hear it now!
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/ (bar on the left)
And I've had at least two more comments that are variations of the word
"Beautiful." People I never heard of are dropping by to comment on it,
so somebody must have linked to it.
Kip W
Yes, so I see: Googling "Fúfumal" (and including the accent-mark)
yields a few links to blogs linking to your own blog-site with THE
FÚFUMAL. I suspect that future Googling (in a few days or a week?)
will show even more ...
<snerk>
(and somehow, Guiseppe Verdi sounds better than Joe Green...)
--
Wes Struebing
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America,
and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples,
promising liberty and justice for all.
OY! The image!
Little thuggee Foo-Foo...
> Uhm. May I suggest that the whole point of that shaggy-dog song is the
> final pun -- "Hare today, goon tomorrow" -- and that "goon" was used for
> that reason alone? I consider it far more important that any
> translation/adaptation end with an equally bad groaner than that we try
> to retain direct equivalence.
I agree. *That's* the point.
m a m
Beware the patients of a furry doctor.
G{iu}seppe.
(Dr. Whom disappears. Mark ducks.)
Like Casanova sounds better than Newhouse...?
I'm not sure whether Kesselman sounds better than Tinker, which is the
closest translation I've found so far. (I tink, t'erefore I am.)
I've read that Tolstoy means "fat."
--Lee
yes, it should end with a pun, and maybe if we can a (moral?) as the
fairy turned the rabbit into the one thing that the fairy feared, and
got it back at him. if both can be done, so much the better.
Sean
I can understand the nortic version. I really like it.
Sean
[reality-changing operatic filk]
*blink* *blinkblink*
By way of background, my mother's nickname is Bunny. I'm...going to
sing this the next time my aunt (who means well, but is inherently
annoying) sings the English version. Again. Despite repeated
entreaties to just stop.
She'll never see it coming.
Best,
Perry
--
...'E's pinin' for the fnords...
Rich Brown -- Song Assassin -- http://freemars.org/filk/
Turn me to a goon, and I will tromp your flowers down.
Set a forest fire that will burn up half the town.
In other words, make me mad.
In other words, don't respect me.
--Lee
> By way of background, my mother's nickname is Bunny. I'm...going to
> sing this the next time my aunt (who means well, but is inherently
> annoying) sings the English version. ...
DO IT! DO IT! ... whether you sing the Italian version, chant the fake
Edda one, or both, let us all know what your aunt does when you do it.
Image: The Amazing Hulk in the shipping department, wielding a
packing-material spray gun.
Caption: "A Banner with a Strange Device: Excelsior!"
Somebody on Metafilter was asking, 'who is this mystery Kate?' and said
they'd found some handwriting person -- was this the same Kate? I wanted
to tell them it was, but it costs $5 to join Metafilter, and I'm stingy.
Kpi W
> Kate, Erik Olsen linked to you on Metafilter.
Wow - a real Scandinavian likes the FÚFUMAL!
> My sister just called and
> said an old friend of ours called her (in Kirkland, WA) from New Mexico
> to say that she'd seen it. I think you are -this- close to owning the
> Internets.
Wow, I hope so! (and not just for filk-purposes: on Facebook.com, I've
just joined the "I like to handwrite" group AND the "Death to Cursive"
group ... Facebook costs nothing to join, so read my postings there,
if you feel so inclined ... )
;-)
>
> Somebody on Metafilter was asking, 'who is this mystery Kate?' and said
> they'd found some handwriting person -- was this the same Kate? I wanted
> to tell them it was, but it costs $5 to join Metafilter, and I'm stingy.
Well, should I pay $5 and join Metafilter to tell them? Or would you
prefer to have me PayPal you $5 so *you* can join Metafilter to tell
them? (If the latter, I'll need to know an e-mail address where I can
send you the $5 by PayPal. Consider that offer a one-shot deal only: I
do *not* intend to make a habit of paying subscription-fees for all-
and-sundry, but this looks like a rather special case.)
If you like, do indeed tell Erik Olsen that I do handwriting-stuff as
well as filk. (I don't have the filk-stuff on my page because it may
scare away the hospitals and schools that call on me to get their
doctors/teachers/students scribally up to snuff ... sometime soon,
though, I may very well start a filk-page ... but I have too much else
to do right now: among other things, a house-move impends.)
>(Dr. Whom pops up.)
>
>G{iu}seppe.
>
>(Dr. Whom disappears. Mark ducks.)
Darn! Blame it on dyslexic fingers. You are indeed correct!
(hangs head in abject shame...)
*Giggle*
--Lee
Looks like the question is taken care of already. I replied to "taosbat"
who is indeed my old friend, and she says she will reply to the poster
who wondered about it. Now I won't need to feel guilty about wasting
your fiver and never posting anything to Metafilter, which looks like
it's out of my league.
Looks like about 26 people have responded so far on my LJ, and the blog
links are starting to materialize. (Particles, incidentally, is a subset
of Making Light.)
Kip W
to the toon of "Fly Me to the Moon", nicht wahr?
m a m
Yes.
--Lee
Next up: Goon Over Miami?
Best,
Perry
Goon River?
Blue Goon?
Goon over Kentucky?
Paper Goon?
Goon over Bourbon Street?
Goondance?
Carolina Goon?
By the Light of the Silvery Goon?
Goonshadow?
Dark Side of the Goon?
--
Rob Wynne / The Autographed Cat / d...@america.net
http://www.autographedcat.com/ / http://autographedcat.livejournal.com/
Gafilk 2008: Jan 11-13, 2008 - Atlanta, GA - http://www.gafilk.org/
Aphelion Webzine - Original SF&F since 1997 - http://www.aphelion-webzine.com/
Little Annie Gooney
I Whistle a Happy Goon (& Crazy Words, Crazy Goon)
Just a Goon Full of Sugar
Goon It's Gonna Rain (& There's A Boat That's Leavin' Goon For New York)
Old Zip Goon (least objectionable of about a million similar titles)
Goon is Bustin' Out All Over (& Goon Moon)
Do Not Forsake Me (theme from High Goon)
Clair de gune
Brigagoon
Kip W
...and just plain "Goon" by George Gershwin
And the musical monster movie, Bride O' Goon....?
> > Next up: Goon Over Miami?
>
> Goon River?
> Blue Goon?
> Goon over Kentucky?
> Paper Goon?
> Goon over Bourbon Street?
> Goondance?
> Carolina Goon?
> By the Light of the Silvery Goon?
> Goonshadow?
> Dark Side of the Goon?
There's a Bad Goon Rising
--Lee
Annie Get Your Goon
My Man's Goon Now
Kip W
>Rob Wynne wrote:
>> Goon River?
>...
>
>Little Annie Gooney
>I Whistle a Happy Goon (& Crazy Words, Crazy Goon)
>Just a Goon Full of Sugar
>Goon It's Gonna Rain (& There's A Boat That's Leavin' Goon For New York)
Ah, yes, who could forget Rosemary Gooney... (And her nephew, the
actor, George Gooney)
>Old Zip Goon (least objectionable of about a million similar titles)
>Goon is Bustin' Out All Over (& Goon Moon)
>Do Not Forsake Me (theme from High Goon)
>Clair de gune
>Brigagoon
By the Light of the Silvery Goon
Karen R.
Kip W
Ah, nuts, someone else got to it first...
Karen R.
>Joseph Kesselman wrote:
Goon with the Wind
The Goon is a Harsh Mistress
Goon Down the Road Feeling Bad
--
Dan Goodman
"You, each of you, have some special wild cards. Play with them. Find
out what makes you different and better. Because it is there, if only
you can find it." Vernor Vinge, Rainbows End
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
future http://dangoodman.livejournal.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood
>Begin the Begoon
>Falling In Love Agoon
>Shotgoon Boogie
Goonlight Sonata
Karen R.
> On Mon, 30 Apr 2007 08:54:49 -0800, Lee Gold <lee....@ca.rr.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Rob Wynne wrote:
> >>
> >> P.F. Bruns <booms...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> > Next up: Goon Over Miami?
> >>
> >> Goon River?
> >> Blue Goon?
> >> Goon over Kentucky?
> >> Paper Goon?
> >> Goon over Bourbon Street?
> >> Goondance?
> >> Carolina Goon?
> >> By the Light of the Silvery Goon?
> >> Goonshadow?
> >> Dark Side of the Goon?
> >
> >There's a Bad Goon Rising
> >
> Goon on Alabama..
So who started this Milliganant thread?
--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.
On the horizon, a carrier task force of the Salvation Navy was
turning into the wind, preparing to launch Zeppelins.
I a post of mine may have set it off.
So sorry, it won't happen agoon.
--
...'E's pinin' for the fnords...
Rich Brown -- Song Assassin -- http://freemars.org/filk/
I don't mind it. The goon memes are good enough.
It's your fault that when my daughter told me about an bubonic-plague-
featuring episode of a medical drama she's catching up on, all I
thought of was
Little funny bubo,
Sprouting in the armpit
Of the latest patient
Of diagnostician House.
--
Jeff
Belatedly:
I have the impression that the skalds sang their compositions in a
very particular way, deliberately using a high falsetto. But the
person to ask would be Jane Sibley.
=Tamar
Even more belatedly: I was wrong. Jane says:
<< actually, I think that when they did the poetry, they chant-sang it.
The high voice (twittering like a bird) was used in magic spellcasting
usually.>>
=Tamar
I remember that episode. My first thought after it ended was that they
missed a great opportunity to reference Firesign Theatre's "Beat the
Reaper". ("You've got the Plague!")
--
Aaron Davies
Opinions expressed are solely those of a random number generator.
Magnae clunes mihi placent, nec possum de hac re mentiri.
Ho! Ha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Thrust!