In the New Yorker...

[serious crayons]

Les cinquantes sont les nouveaux trentes?

No, they left cinquante's verb singular, apparently trying to be faithful to the "thirty is" that I typed in. So it REALLY didn't look right. And I guess cinquant and trente don't get S's because plurality is already implicit in the words "fifty" and "thirty" (as opposed to my typing in "fifties are the new thirties"). So it was:

Cinquante est les nouveaux trente.

PS Turns out "Fifties are the new thirties" gets you Les années '50 sont les nouvelles années '30. Seems a bit presumptuous of Babelfish to assume I'm referring to years, but oh well.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Cinquante est les nouveaux trente.

That tent don't look right. 

[southendmd]

Reading the June 22 issue at lunch today, I learned a good tip, courtesy of Simon Doonan: Once you pass age 50, start aging in French. It sounds better.

Je suis cinquante-et-un.    See? Doesn't that sound elegant? 

Happy Birthday, Jeff!  Actually, the French aren't an age, they have their age.  So, you'd say, "J'ai cinquante-et-un ans". 

Cinquante est le nouveau trente.

I'm trying to think how the French would say this...  While this looks good, it probably doesn't translate directly; those wonderful short Americanisms don't always work in French.  Perhaps something like:  "Avoir cinquante, maintenant c'est comme d'avoir trente".  (Being fifty, now is like being thirty.)

[serious crayons]

those wonderful short Americanisms don't always work in French.

Just as certain French phrases have a certain je ne sais quoi.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Well, here's a "mystery" solved, courtesy of The New Yorker.

At lunch today I read the article about Romance author Nora Roberts in the June 22 issue (yup, I'm actually caught up in my issues!). The article includes some discussion of the history of the genre, beginning with Samuel Richardson's Pamela, published in 1740. The discussion also mentions a novel called  The Sheik, published in 1919 and described as '"the ur-romance novel of the twentieth century.'" The novel is the story of an aristocratic Englishwoman, traveling in the Algerian desert, who is kidnapped by an Arab chieftain.

OK, one of Rudolph Valentino's most famous movie roles was The Sheik. Now I suppose I know where the movie role came from; it was an adaptation of the novel--or maybe it was inspired by the novel to take advantage of the popularity of the book. I guess this also tells us that even in the Silent days, Hollywood made adaptations of current popular novels.

[Front-Ranger]

I checked out that article at lunchtime...wow that is a long article! Can't wait to read the rest about this "tough broad."

And I was so pleased to see an article about Federico Garcia Lorca, the very next day after viewing the movie Little Ashes about him, Salvador Dali, and Luis Bunuel!!

Gotta read the one about decreasing urban violence by "telling them to stop." Looks like another important issue!

[Front-Ranger]

The cover of this week's New Yorker holds several double meanings and hidden meanings, a couple of which I got. One thing that delighted me about Barry Blitt's "Hanging Chador" was the fact that the Iranian woman has green eyes. This just one or two days after the announcement that Kodak's Kodachrome film, used to take an award-winning photo of a green-eyed Afghan woman, was published.

BTW, I was horrified when reading the story in The Wall Street Journal, to see that photographers are hording (sic) the film. For shame!! It's hoarding.

[Jeff Wrangler]

The cover of this week's New Yorker holds several double meanings and hidden meanings, a couple of which I got. One thing that delighted me about Barry Blitt's "Hanging Chador" was the fact that the Iranian woman has green eyes. This just one or two days after the announcement that Kodak's Kodachrome film, used to take an award-winning photo of a green-eyed Afghan woman, was published.

I got that issue in yesterday's mail. All I've had time for so far was a quick look at the short book reviews. I was under the impression that Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and the first woman to hold a cabinet post, was a lesbian. Perhaps she was, but, if so, apparently she was a lesbian who also had a mentally ill husband. 

[Front-Ranger]

I got that issue in yesterday's mail. All I've had time for so far was a quick look at the short book reviews. I was under the impression that Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and the first woman to hold a cabinet post, was a lesbian. Perhaps she was, but, if so, apparently she was a lesbian who also had a mentally ill husband. 

Jeff, your comment reminded me that I wanted to post about Willa Cather. I will do so in The Culture Tent. Come look for it later!

[Ellemeno]

Reading the June 22 issue at lunch today, I learned a good tip, courtesy of Simon Doonan: Once you pass age 50, start aging in French. It sounds better.

Je suis cinquante-et-un.    See? Doesn't that sound elegant? 

Well, almost elegant.  In French you don't be an age, you have an age.  So it would be "J'ai cinquante-et-un ans."