This is not a translation-issue, but still I quote Herman Melville:
Redburn - - and feel stupid, as I don't understand, why a reason is
shockingly obvious. How can it be shocking, if the reason is, that the
man just needs to have a bath??? I am afraid, I have missed a special
point - for why is he scratching his back and not for example his
stomach? Sorry for my stupidity, but take a look, please:

"It now remains to speak of the steerage passengers. There were not
more than twenty or thirty of them, mostly mechanics, returning home,
after a prosperous stay in America, to escort their wives and families
back. These were the only occupants of the steerage that I ever knew
of; till early one morning, in the gray dawn, when we made Cape Clear,
the south point of Ireland, the apparition of a tall Irishman, in a
shabby shirt of bed-ticking, emerged from the fore hatchway, and stood
leaning on the rail, looking landward with a fixed, reminiscent
expression, and diligently scratching its back with both hands. We all
started at the sight, for no one had ever seen the apparition before;
and when we remembered that it must have been burrowing all the
passage down in its bunk, the only probable reason of its so
manipulating its back became shockingly obvious."

The reason that he's scratching his back is because he's been down in his

Op Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:01:01 -0700 (PDT) schreef mingomin:



This is not a translation-issue, but still I quote Herman Melville:
Redburn - - and feel stupid, as I don't understand, why a reason is
shockingly obvious. How can it be shocking, if the reason is, that the
man just needs to have a bath??? I am afraid, I have missed a special
point - for why is he scratching his back and not for example his
stomach? Sorry for my stupidity, but take a look, please:

"It now remains to speak of the steerage passengers. There were not
more than twenty or thirty of them, mostly mechanics, returning home,
after a prosperous stay in America, to escort their wives and families
back. These were the only occupants of the steerage that I ever knew
of; till early one morning, in the gray dawn, when we made Cape Clear,
the south point of Ireland, the apparition of a tall Irishman, in a
shabby shirt of bed-ticking, emerged from the fore hatchway, and stood
leaning on the rail, looking landward with a fixed, reminiscent
expression, and diligently scratching its back with both hands. We all
started at the sight, for no one had ever seen the apparition before;
and when we remembered that it must have been burrowing all the
passage down in its bunk, the only probable reason of its so
manipulating its back became shockingly obvious."

The reason that he's scratching his back is because he's been down in his
bunk all the voyage. Several weeks in bed, that's not gonna do your back a
lot of good. Plus there were probably bedbugs too.
--

Op Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:01:01 -0700 (PDT) schreef mingomin:



This is not a translation-issue, but still I quote Herman Melville:
Redburn - - and feel stupid, as I don't understand, why a reason is
shockingly obvious. How can it be shocking, if the reason is, that the
man just needs to have a bath??? I am afraid, I have missed a special
point - for why is he scratching his back and not for example his
stomach? Sorry for my stupidity, but take a look, please:

"It now remains to speak of the steerage passengers. There were not
more than twenty or thirty of them, mostly mechanics, returning home,
after a prosperous stay in America, to escort their wives and families
back. These were the only occupants of the steerage that I ever knew
of; till early one morning, in the gray dawn, when we made Cape Clear,
the south point of Ireland, the apparition of a tall Irishman, in a
shabby shirt of bed-ticking, emerged from the fore hatchway, and stood
leaning on the rail, looking landward with a fixed, reminiscent
expression, and diligently scratching its back with both hands. We all
started at the sight, for no one had ever seen the apparition before;
and when we remembered that it must have been burrowing all the
passage down in its bunk, the only probable reason of its so
manipulating its back became shockingly obvious."

The reason that he's scratching his back is because he's been down in his
bunk all the voyage. Several weeks in bed, that's not gonna do your back a
lot of good. Plus there were probably bedbugs too.
--

Well, that explains the obvious part. The question remains (and I
think that this is Flemming's original stumbling-block) "What's so
shocking about the obvious cause?"

If you google on the phrase "shockingly obvious" you'll see that in
modern English it's used to describe observations that are beyond
obvious---ones that are so self-evidently true that it's surprising
that anybody bothers to make them.

I expect that Melville used it in this sense also.

And if you google the term 'patronizing'...

Bodily functions, admitting to parasites and vigorously scratching
yourself in public may just have been rather bad-mannered in those days.

"naive user" <gvellenzer@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:35a481d0-019b-44b5-b6c7-5ea46aa983d0@m1g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
On Apr 19, 3:54 am, Afoklala <afokl...@afoklala.invalid> wrote:
Op Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:01:01 -0700 (PDT) schreef mingomin:



This is not a translation-issue, but still I quote Herman
Melville:
Redburn - - and feel stupid, as I don't understand, why a
reason is
shockingly obvious. How can it be shocking, if the reason is,
that
the man just needs to have a bath??? I am afraid, I have
missed a
special point - for why is he scratching his back and not for
example his stomach? Sorry for my stupidity, but take a look,
please:

"It now remains to speak of the steerage passengers. There
were not
more than twenty or thirty of them, mostly mechanics,
returning
home, after a prosperous stay in America, to escort their
wives and
families back. These were the only occupants of the steerage
that I
ever knew of; till early one morning, in the gray dawn, when
we
made Cape Clear, the south point of Ireland, the apparition of
a
tall Irishman, in a shabby shirt of bed-ticking, emerged from
the
fore hatchway, and stood leaning on the rail, looking landward
with
a fixed, reminiscent expression, and diligently scratching its
back
with both hands. We all started at the sight, for no one had
ever
seen the apparition before; and when we remembered that it
must
have been burrowing all the passage down in its bunk, the only
probable reason of its so manipulating its back became
shockingly
obvious."

The reason that he's scratching his back is because he's been
down
in his bunk all the voyage. Several weeks in bed, that's not
gonna
do your back a lot of good. Plus there were probably bedbugs
too.
--

Well, that explains the obvious part. The question remains (and
I
think that this is Flemming's original stumbling-block) "What's
so
shocking about the obvious cause?"

If you google on the phrase "shockingly obvious" you'll see
that in
modern English it's used to describe observations that are
beyond
obvious---ones that are so self-evidently true that it's
surprising
that anybody bothers to make them.

I expect that Melville used it in this sense also.

And if you google the term 'patronizing'...

Bodily functions, admitting to parasites and vigorously
scratching
yourself in public may just have been rather bad-mannered in
those
days.
Bettina

My apprehension would be that
frantic scratching with less than antiseptic hands in
a cooped-up, steerage environment meant that the inflammation
caused by the
spittle and anticoagulant of the bed bugs was further enraged by
secondary sepsis.
Bed bug sores, if left unmolested, resemble pimples erupting in
differing densities.
Irritated, they look like suppurating keloids;not a pretty
site***and sight too***.

Water is heavy. Frequent ablution is a relatively ***recent***
cultural custom. I doubt
much water on ship was allocated to the luxury of bathing for
the
steerage class, so
needing a bath and getting one were likely two different things.

Below decks the enviroment was probably very dingy and feebly
lit.
In those circumstances,
naturally fair Hibernian skin is not known to tan. So, it was
only
when the pale form of the
sufferer was allowed to emerge from confinement beneath for a
rare
liberty on deck that the welts,
sores and keloids of the bed-bug infection became alarmingly
visible against pallid skin.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

"naive user" <gvellen...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:35a481d0-019b-44b5-b6c7-5ea46aa983d0@m1g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
On Apr 19, 3:54 am, Afoklala <afokl...@afoklala.invalid> wrote:



Op Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:01:01 -0700 (PDT) schreef mingomin:

This is not a translation-issue, but still I quote Herman Melville:
Redburn - - and feel stupid, as I don't understand, why a reason is
shockingly obvious. How can it be shocking, if the reason is, that the
man just needs to have a bath??? I am afraid, I have missed a special
point - for why is he scratching his back and not for example his
stomach? Sorry for my stupidity, but take a look, please:

"It now remains to speak of the steerage passengers. There were not
more than twenty or thirty of them, mostly mechanics, returning home,
after a prosperous stay in America, to escort their wives and families
back. These were the only occupants of the steerage that I ever knew
of; till early one morning, in the gray dawn, when we made Cape Clear,
the south point of Ireland, the apparition of a tall Irishman, in a
shabby shirt of bed-ticking, emerged from the fore hatchway, and stood
leaning on the rail, looking landward with a fixed, reminiscent
expression, and diligently scratching its back with both hands. We all
started at the sight, for no one had ever seen the apparition before;
and when we remembered that it must have been burrowing all the
passage down in its bunk, the only probable reason of its so
manipulating its back became shockingly obvious."

The reason that he's scratching his back is because he's been down in his
bunk all the voyage. Several weeks in bed, that's not gonna do your back a
lot of good. Plus there were probably bedbugs too.
--
Well, that explains the obvious part. The question remains (and I
think that this is Flemming's original stumbling-block) "What's so
shocking about the obvious cause?"
If you google on the phrase "shockingly obvious" you'll see that in
modern English it's used to describe observations that are beyond
obvious---ones that are so self-evidently true that it's surprising
that anybody bothers to make them.
I expect that Melville used it in this sense also.

And if you google the term 'patronizing'...

huh?