Pondscum Texts

I used another of my patented three-line gloss structures. The first line of English translates each adjective literally and preserves their ranks. The next line translates noun chunks as a whole, and gives a more contextually useful translation of adjectives where necessary.

“Hideous drooling dogbeast shows no sign of leaving.”

(Emily the Strange: Stranger and Stranger, Rob Reger)

“bar kid * kan-yif-nik mip tom tum * tek”

bar3 kid3 * kan2-yif3-nik1 mip ugly3 dripping3 dry2-furry3-monstrous1 >be> dogbeast tom3 tum3 * tek close3 waiting3 SRC.ENEMY

‘dry2-furry3’ means ‘dog’ (and similar land mammals). ‘monstrous1’ is playfully added to make it ‘dogbeast.’ We put ‘monstrous’ at rank 1 to make clear it’s still more dog than monster.

By putting ‘ENEMY,’ in this case the dog, for the source particle, we suggest that we’re drawing this conclusion from observing the dog.

“Have you seen Akira?”

(this line isn’t really worth an attribution but I pulled it from Inside Job lol)

“ * tom-chek gip * Ukeru tom rev go”

* tom2-chek1 gip close2-perceptive1 >become> your_viewing * Ukeru tom2 rev2 go Akira close2 far2 SRC.YOU

The ranks of ‘close’ are associated with the persons: 3 me, 2 you, 1 them. (Tragically the opposite of how we number them in English.)

The ranks of ‘perceptive’ are associated with the senses: 3 touch, 2 taste, 1 sight.

Together, ‘close2-perceptive1’ form a noun referring to what the listener sees or has seen.

Akira → Ukeru: Because Pnd only has ‘short’ vowels, the proper ‘Ah-kee-rah’ or the Americanized ‘Uh-kee-ruh’ would both become ‘Uh-ker-uh.’

“Afterward, I ran down to the basement without proper caution for booby traps and got a mouthful of spiderwebs as my reward.”

(Stranger and Stranger)

“gip dat, tom-rum bup * loz-rab tar, mip tet-ban, mip ril chek der * * kan-tik-mit-*-lad sil”

gip dat3, tom3-rum2 bup * loz2-rab3 >become> late3, close3-loud2 >be> hunting2-still3 I booby_trap tar1, mip tet3-ban3, mip ril3 careful1, >become> low3-wet3, >become> joyful3 incautious, basement, rewarding chek2 der3 ** kan3-tik3-mit2- *-lad1 perceptive2 thick3 dry3-legged3-fairy2-*-legible1 taste spider web sil SRC.SENSE

The ranks of the word /dat/ express relative time: 1 earlier, 2 during, 3 after. It’s like ‘least lateness’ to ‘most lateness.’ So ‘>become> late3’ is an idiom for ‘after that...’

‘Basement’ is ‘low3-wet3’ because it’s the same word they use for diving deep underwater.

‘Spider web’ includes ‘legible’ because they associate it with their woven writing, and includes ‘fairy’ because fairies are their exemplar of bugs. They use ‘dry’ with pretty much all land animals.

“If any of you guys know what happens in the latest volume of Get Fuzzy, I’m serious, do not tell me. I can’t wait to find out if Bucky Katt and Satchel Pooch finally become friends in this one. Really, truly, don’t tell me.”

(The Sleepover, Jen Malone)

“If any of you guys know what happens in the latest volume of Get Fuzzy, I’m serious, do not tell me.”

Lit: “If you guys’ knowledge has the property ‘latest Get Fuzzy volume,’ you must put my knowledge in a state of [having the volume be] far away.”

“pak GetFuzu-lad thup tom-vam-for jo, * rev kup tom-vam-for * jo.”

pak3 GetFuzu-lad3 thup new3 -legible3 <if.be< latest Get_Fuzzy_volume tom2-vam1-for3 jo, * rev3 kup close2-many1-past3 SRC.YOU, far3 <become< you_all’s_knowledge tom3-rum2-for3 * jo close3-loud2-past3 SRC.YOU my_knowledge

In ‘you_all’ / ‘close2-many1,’ the rank of ‘many’ matches the size of the group. 1 for about two-five, 2 for a roomful or about thirty, 3 for any more than that.

“I can’t wait to find out if Bucky Katt and Satchel Pooch finally become friends in this one.”

Lit: “Quickly, I want ‘do this Bucky Kat and Satchel Pooch finally becomes friends or not?’ to become part of my knowledge.”

“son, tom-BukuKat-SachulPuch gip * win * ses ses ded kup tom-rum-for * dot”

son3, tom3-BukuKat-SachulPuch gip fast3, close3- >become> quickly, this_Bucky_&_Satchel * win3 * ses3 ses1 ded awaited3 friendly3 friendly1 SRC.AUTH long-awaited close_friends not_close kup tom3-rum2-for3 * dot <become< close3-loud2-past3 SRC.DESIRE my_knowledge

“Really, truly, don’t tell me.”

Lit: “[Put my knowledge in a state of having the volume be] far away, intangible, and gone.”

”rev, fan, *** lor kup”

rev3, fan3, *** lor3 kup far3, intangible3, gone3 <become<