Matt Posner's Blog: You've Been Schooled - Posts Tagged "lewis-carroll"
The Mysterious Jokes in Level Three's Dream
In Level Three’s Dream, this passage appears in the U.S. edition, but not in the India edition. My editor (where editor = person who deletes a lot) removed it by stating that it is gibberish. I understand the statement, but actually, it’s not gibberish, but is a carefully crafted text. Mermelstein and Lorena have just met H.D., a giant egg sitting on a wall, and asked him his name. He replies:
“H.D. may stand for Humpty Dumpty,” he said, “but there are many additional names. Clearly I am not Hilda Doolittle. But in Looking-Glass Land, I am called Ytpmud Ytpmuh; in Spanish, Humpito Dumpito; in French, le Umpe-Dump; in Latin, Umpetis Dumpetuum, in the dative. And in Hawaiian I am called Uameapea Duapemialoa, and in Afrikaans, Dumpaas Humpaas; the Japanese call me Houmdoumichi-chan; and in the Bronx Homie-Dope; but the Russians dub me simply Fat Vanya. The Elves named me Ilyanto, or on formal occasion Antoparlima; in Georgia I am Humptiydumptiyvilli; in Arabic, al-Maji-Waji, after my son. Shakespeare called me ‘that pressed moon, that upon a wall doth sit sequestred, and doth issue such girth of prattle as may match its girth withal.’ Never grasped that one. To the Poles, I am Humpiszcz Dumpiszcz; to the Czechs Jan Hump; to the Germans, das Ei-das-auf-der-Wand-trägt-eienen-Gurt-und-tag-und-Nacht-spricht-sitz; and the Chinese do not name me. In Airstrip One I shall be called Doubleplusegg. In Italy I am Il Huevatore; and there are those who call me Tim. Aye, why did H.D. cross the road? To get away from a chef.”
“What happened to your son?” asked Lorena.
“He hatched into a cockatrice,” said H.D.
Looks like gibberish? Actually, it’s a lot of rather complicated humor. Perhaps it should be excised, as its inclusion is not really necessary, and another way could be found to meet my goal for the passage. However… Well, let me explain.
“H.D. may stand for Humpty Dumpty,” he said, “but there are many additional names. Clearly I am not Hilda Doolittle.
The poet Hilda Doolitle published her work using her initials, H.D.
But in Looking-Glass Land, I am called Ytpmud Ytpmuh;
Actually, in Looking-Glass Land, it wouldn’t be spelled backwards, but viewed in a mirror reflection, but I couldn’t put that into the text. This makes an OK substitute.
in Spanish, Humpito Dumpito; in French, le Umpe-Dump; in Latin, Umpetis Dumpetuum, in the dative.
These are jokes about the sounds and patterns of the languages. Spanish adds –ito as a diminutive, meaning someone or something is small, cute, or beloved. French might sound like that to a non-speaker. That name is not real Latin, nor is it dative case, which shows that H.D. uses false erudition, pretending to know more than he does.
And in Hawaiian I am called Uameapea Duapemialoa, and in Afrikaans, Dumpaas Humpaas; the Japanese call me Houmdoumichi-chan;
More jokes about the sounds of the languages. Hawaiian language is mostly vowels; Afrikaans has double A’s; and the Japanese use –chan as a diminutive for something beloved or cute.
and in the Bronx Homie-Dope; but the Russians dub me simply Fat Vanya.
A joke about hip-hop language that would have been more current in 2002, when the novel takes place. Homie, obviously, is short for home boy, a term that was still actively in use at the time to mean “good friend” or “person from the neighborhood”, and “dope” means “the truth.” As for Fat Vanya, it is a reference perhaps to the commonality of using Ivan. nickname Vanya, as a hero’s name in Russian folklore.
The Elves named me Ilyanto, or on formal occasion Antoparlima;
I used an online glossary of Tolkien’s Elvish to create these names. Both of them have something to do with eggs, but I forget what exactly.
in Georgia I am Humptiydumptiyvilli; in Arabic, al-Maji-Waji, after my son.
A joke on Georgian names; some Arabic male names are based on sons, where the man is referred to as “father of …”
Shakespeare called me ‘that pressed moon, that upon a wall doth sit sequestred, and doth issue such girth of prattle as may match its girth withal.’ Never grasped that one.
Okay, I can’t write Shakespearean language that well, but I can duck the blame and instead blame it on H.D. He doesn’t understand it because it’s a joke on the average person’s difficulty with Shakespeare. The meaning is, pressed moon, because an egg isn’t spherical and might have been squeezed to get its shape; doth sit sequestered upon a wall, is on a wall away from others; and doth issue such girth of prattle – runs his mouth so much – as may match its girth withal – that his language is always as big as his big belly.
To the Poles, I am Humpiszcz Dumpiszcz; to the Czechs Jan Hump; to the Germans, das Ei-das-auf-der-Wand-trägt-eienen-Gurt-und-tag-und-Nacht-spricht-sitz; and the Chinese do not name me.
Here, respectively, we ahve joke on Polish spelling with sz for the sh sound, and cz for the ch sound; on the Czech preference for the name Jan, which anticipates a Czech character with that name in the next novel in the series; and on the German tendency to make really long words. It’s “the egg that sits on the wall day and night and talks.” The “Chinese do not name” him because I couldn’t make any jokes about Chinese language.
In Airstrip One I shall be called Doubleplusegg.
A joke based on Orwell’s 1984, where Airstrip One is England and bad things are
“doubleplusungood”
In Italy I am Il Huevatore;
A joke on the Italian opera title Il Trovatore.
and there are those who call me Tim.
A direct quote from the character Tim the Enchanter, who appears in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Aye, why did H.D. cross the road? To get away from a chef.”
A variant on the old kids’ joke: “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from Colonel Sanders.”
“What happened to your son?” asked Lorena.
“He hatched into a cockatrice,” said H.D.
Medieval bestiaries state that cockatrices hatch from chicken eggs.
...
Again, I am not disputing that this material might be unnecessary to the plot. I don’t even question the assertion that it should be cut, as there is a strong case for doing that. The counter-argument, however, is that in Carroll’s original, there were a lot of scholarly jokes that young readers could not unpack without help, and for me to have a few is in the spirit of the original book, which it was my goal to reproduce.
“H.D. may stand for Humpty Dumpty,” he said, “but there are many additional names. Clearly I am not Hilda Doolittle. But in Looking-Glass Land, I am called Ytpmud Ytpmuh; in Spanish, Humpito Dumpito; in French, le Umpe-Dump; in Latin, Umpetis Dumpetuum, in the dative. And in Hawaiian I am called Uameapea Duapemialoa, and in Afrikaans, Dumpaas Humpaas; the Japanese call me Houmdoumichi-chan; and in the Bronx Homie-Dope; but the Russians dub me simply Fat Vanya. The Elves named me Ilyanto, or on formal occasion Antoparlima; in Georgia I am Humptiydumptiyvilli; in Arabic, al-Maji-Waji, after my son. Shakespeare called me ‘that pressed moon, that upon a wall doth sit sequestred, and doth issue such girth of prattle as may match its girth withal.’ Never grasped that one. To the Poles, I am Humpiszcz Dumpiszcz; to the Czechs Jan Hump; to the Germans, das Ei-das-auf-der-Wand-trägt-eienen-Gurt-und-tag-und-Nacht-spricht-sitz; and the Chinese do not name me. In Airstrip One I shall be called Doubleplusegg. In Italy I am Il Huevatore; and there are those who call me Tim. Aye, why did H.D. cross the road? To get away from a chef.”
“What happened to your son?” asked Lorena.
“He hatched into a cockatrice,” said H.D.
Looks like gibberish? Actually, it’s a lot of rather complicated humor. Perhaps it should be excised, as its inclusion is not really necessary, and another way could be found to meet my goal for the passage. However… Well, let me explain.
“H.D. may stand for Humpty Dumpty,” he said, “but there are many additional names. Clearly I am not Hilda Doolittle.
The poet Hilda Doolitle published her work using her initials, H.D.
But in Looking-Glass Land, I am called Ytpmud Ytpmuh;
Actually, in Looking-Glass Land, it wouldn’t be spelled backwards, but viewed in a mirror reflection, but I couldn’t put that into the text. This makes an OK substitute.
in Spanish, Humpito Dumpito; in French, le Umpe-Dump; in Latin, Umpetis Dumpetuum, in the dative.
These are jokes about the sounds and patterns of the languages. Spanish adds –ito as a diminutive, meaning someone or something is small, cute, or beloved. French might sound like that to a non-speaker. That name is not real Latin, nor is it dative case, which shows that H.D. uses false erudition, pretending to know more than he does.
And in Hawaiian I am called Uameapea Duapemialoa, and in Afrikaans, Dumpaas Humpaas; the Japanese call me Houmdoumichi-chan;
More jokes about the sounds of the languages. Hawaiian language is mostly vowels; Afrikaans has double A’s; and the Japanese use –chan as a diminutive for something beloved or cute.
and in the Bronx Homie-Dope; but the Russians dub me simply Fat Vanya.
A joke about hip-hop language that would have been more current in 2002, when the novel takes place. Homie, obviously, is short for home boy, a term that was still actively in use at the time to mean “good friend” or “person from the neighborhood”, and “dope” means “the truth.” As for Fat Vanya, it is a reference perhaps to the commonality of using Ivan. nickname Vanya, as a hero’s name in Russian folklore.
The Elves named me Ilyanto, or on formal occasion Antoparlima;
I used an online glossary of Tolkien’s Elvish to create these names. Both of them have something to do with eggs, but I forget what exactly.
in Georgia I am Humptiydumptiyvilli; in Arabic, al-Maji-Waji, after my son.
A joke on Georgian names; some Arabic male names are based on sons, where the man is referred to as “father of …”
Shakespeare called me ‘that pressed moon, that upon a wall doth sit sequestred, and doth issue such girth of prattle as may match its girth withal.’ Never grasped that one.
Okay, I can’t write Shakespearean language that well, but I can duck the blame and instead blame it on H.D. He doesn’t understand it because it’s a joke on the average person’s difficulty with Shakespeare. The meaning is, pressed moon, because an egg isn’t spherical and might have been squeezed to get its shape; doth sit sequestered upon a wall, is on a wall away from others; and doth issue such girth of prattle – runs his mouth so much – as may match its girth withal – that his language is always as big as his big belly.
To the Poles, I am Humpiszcz Dumpiszcz; to the Czechs Jan Hump; to the Germans, das Ei-das-auf-der-Wand-trägt-eienen-Gurt-und-tag-und-Nacht-spricht-sitz; and the Chinese do not name me.
Here, respectively, we ahve joke on Polish spelling with sz for the sh sound, and cz for the ch sound; on the Czech preference for the name Jan, which anticipates a Czech character with that name in the next novel in the series; and on the German tendency to make really long words. It’s “the egg that sits on the wall day and night and talks.” The “Chinese do not name” him because I couldn’t make any jokes about Chinese language.
In Airstrip One I shall be called Doubleplusegg.
A joke based on Orwell’s 1984, where Airstrip One is England and bad things are
“doubleplusungood”
In Italy I am Il Huevatore;
A joke on the Italian opera title Il Trovatore.
and there are those who call me Tim.
A direct quote from the character Tim the Enchanter, who appears in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Aye, why did H.D. cross the road? To get away from a chef.”
A variant on the old kids’ joke: “Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from Colonel Sanders.”
“What happened to your son?” asked Lorena.
“He hatched into a cockatrice,” said H.D.
Medieval bestiaries state that cockatrices hatch from chicken eggs.
...
Again, I am not disputing that this material might be unnecessary to the plot. I don’t even question the assertion that it should be cut, as there is a strong case for doing that. The counter-argument, however, is that in Carroll’s original, there were a lot of scholarly jokes that young readers could not unpack without help, and for me to have a few is in the spirit of the original book, which it was my goal to reproduce.
You've Been Schooled
I'm Matt Posner, author of the School of the Ages series and more. I'll be using this blog slot to post thoughts, links, advertisements, interviews, and generally whatever I think is interesting and i
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