Date:  Tue, 28 Mar 1995 22:44:56 +0300

From:  John Hopkins <John.Hopkins[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CSC.FI>

Subject: ADS-L: Thanks very much for the help with 'smores' ...



Dear All,

Thanks very much for all the help with 'smores' and 'salad shooters'.

I deeply appreciate it.



Most of the comments received went to the list, so I won't summarize. I

also received about eight directly (not via the list). It struck me that

there was unusual agreement on both terms relative to many that have been

previously discussed on the list.



Still it was interesting that I hadn't heard of "smores", despite not

having been a girl scout. Someone reported it was also a brand name.

Back in my days in Missouri I worked in our family grocery store for 15

years without running across it. I've also in previous incarnations (as

they say in the State Department) worked in several East-Coast summer

camps without having heard it there (they were primarily baseball camps,

though, which may explain it -- though two summers were what used to be

called coed camps).



One of the most interesting comments was a question about whether I never

watched television, i.e. how could I have missed the Christmas-time

commercials for salad shooters that are apparently ubiquitous.



I do watch television, but in Finland where I live. One of our chief

translation problems is in fact references to American cultural artifacts

that derive from commercial advertising, especially TV commercials. We

get the programs themselves (Cosby Show, ER, NYPD, Tonight Show, etc.)

and need to subtitle them, but of course we never get the commercial

advertising that is part of the U.S. broadcasts. Often commercial

language (as apparently with 'Salad Shooter') is picked up by the program

writers and becomes the subject of humorous reference. But since we

don't have the product here and don't ever see the commercials which

defined the terminology, it is virtually impossible to know what is meant

by the terms -- until years later when the term may be published in a

reference book, if it caught on sufficiently.



That is, before on-line referral opportunities like ADS-L in this case.

Not only do I now have working definitions (for everything except the

Chinese chicken salad, in any case) but a good illustration to relay on

the usefulness of internet resources such as this one for working

translators.  Again thanks -- I'll pass on your regards to all in

Stockholm (where it's currently snowing, as here in Finland).



Yours,

JOHN



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John D. Hopkins (Hopkins[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]csc.fi)           FAX +358-31-2157200

University of Tampere, Finland     Phone +358-31-2156116, or -3460345

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