Bridget Jones's Diary - Doubts Thread poster: Marzia233
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I'm analysing an extract from Bridget Jones's Diary for a course @uni but I can't figure out what she refers to in a couple of expressions. Could somebody please help?
football tenors in "at some large public celebratory event, probably including the Queen Mother and one or more football tenors..."
malignant growths in "It is not the thing to go out courting malignant growths anymore".
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 08:51
Spanish to English
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| Three tenners... | Jan 11, 2016 |
I imagine that "footall tenors" is a jokey way to refer to people who sing loudly at football matches. The other metaphor is pretty much self-evident if you think about it. (I presume she's referring to bad boyfriends/failed relationships with the same)...
[Edited at 2016-01-11 21:28 GMT]
| | | | Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:51
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Rather more professional singers | Jan 11, 2016 |
neilmac wrote:
I imagine that "footall tenors" is a jokey way to refer to people who sing loudly at football matches.
I suggest that the Three Tenors are more likely candidates - they had a strong association with football. Bridget Jones was written in the mid-1990s and the 1994 World Cup would still have been fairly fresh in the memory.
Regards
Dan
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 08:51
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Marzia233 wrote:
football tenors in "at some large public celebratory event, probably including the Queen Mother and one or more football tenors"
This could also refer to the opera singers who are asked to open football matches, usually by singing the national anthem or the team song or some song that the team associates with.
malignant growths in "it is not the thing to go out courting malignant growths anymore"
My guess is that this refers to flirting with and going out with guys who look ugly, or who are very muscular.
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| Malignant growths | Jan 11, 2016 |
Without the actual context, impossible to know whether Neilmac's interpretation is right or whether "malignant growths" is much more literal, meaning cancer, and "courting" them meaning doing things like drinking and smoking too much.
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Victoria Britten wrote:
Without the actual context, impossible to know whether Neilmac's interpretation is right or whether "malignant growths" is much more literal, meaning cancer, and "courting" them meaning doing things like drinking and smoking too much.
I had the same thought when I saw these... let's say, creative guesses based on little information.
The OP should have posted context, obviously. In any case, 10 seconds of googling told me that this passage is about the urge to go out sunbathing on a nice day, so the reference is clearly to skin cancer.
I'm not sure why we're doing someone else's homework here, but I guess we can't help ourselves.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:51
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Perhaps this helps? | Jan 11, 2016 |
The more the sun shines the more obvious it seems that others are making fuller, better use of it
elsewhere: possibly at some giant softball game to which everyone is invited except me; possibly
alone with their lover in a rustic glade by waterfalls where Bambis graze, or at some large public
celebratory event, probably including the Queen Mother and one or more of the football tenors, to
mark the exquisite summer which I am failing to get the best out of. Maybe it is ... See more The more the sun shines the more obvious it seems that others are making fuller, better use of it
elsewhere: possibly at some giant softball game to which everyone is invited except me; possibly
alone with their lover in a rustic glade by waterfalls where Bambis graze, or at some large public
celebratory event, probably including the Queen Mother and one or more of the football tenors, to
mark the exquisite summer which I am failing to get the best out of. Maybe it is our climatic past
that is to blame. Maybe we do not yet have the mentality to deal with a sun and cloudless blue sky,
which is anything other than a freak incident. The instinct to panic, run out of the office, take most
of your clothes off and lie panting on the fire escape is still too strong.
But there, too, is confusion. It is not the thing to go out courting malignant growths any more so
what should you do? A shady barbecue, perhaps? Starve your friends while you tamper with fire
for hours then poison them with burnt yet still quivering slices of underdone suckling pig? Or
organize picnics in the park and end up with all the women scraping squashed gobbets of
mozzarella off tinfoil and yelling at children with ozone asthma attacks; while the men swig warm
white wine in the fierce midday sun, staring at the nearby softball games with left-out shame.
Envy summer life on the Continent, where men in smart lightweight suits and designer
sunglasses glide around calmly in smart air-conditioned cars, maybe stopping for a citron pressé
in a shady pavement café in an ancient square, totally cool about the sun and ignoring it because
they know for a fact that it will still be shining at the weekend, when they can go and lie quietly on
the yacht.
Source: http://www.need-read.com/show/Bridget_Jones_s_Diary/Pages_21.html ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 08:51
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
"courting malignant growths"
She makes references to the sun and climatic past in the preceding paragraph which makes me think she is referring to possibly "developing malignant growths on the skin by being exposed to too much sun"
Does this make any sense?
The football tenors also make me think of the Three Tenors or other famous tenors that would sing at such events.
Update: I've just seen the post by FarkasAndras now, too late. : )
[E... See more "courting malignant growths"
She makes references to the sun and climatic past in the preceding paragraph which makes me think she is referring to possibly "developing malignant growths on the skin by being exposed to too much sun"
Does this make any sense?
The football tenors also make me think of the Three Tenors or other famous tenors that would sing at such events.
Update: I've just seen the post by FarkasAndras now, too late. : )
[Edited at 2016-01-12 00:44 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Thanks everybody and sorry I didn't post the full text earlier. It's not just homework to me, the analysis is not assessed but it's the very first time I get to share my ideas with other translators.
Thanks so much for giving your contribution.
Regards,
Marzia
[Edited at 2016-01-15 09:36 GMT]
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 12:21
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Football tenors could refer to loud, unmusical singing by football fans - in other words cacophonic or raucous singing.
Malignant growth could (as Samuel guesses) refer to the over-muscular (steroid induced) bodies of footballers or the football fans - all tattooed over and scarred by hooliganism and bike accidents after drinking bouts post football matches.
But from the longer quote provided by Lingua 5B, malignant growth appears to be a reference to direct, public exp... See more Football tenors could refer to loud, unmusical singing by football fans - in other words cacophonic or raucous singing.
Malignant growth could (as Samuel guesses) refer to the over-muscular (steroid induced) bodies of footballers or the football fans - all tattooed over and scarred by hooliganism and bike accidents after drinking bouts post football matches.
But from the longer quote provided by Lingua 5B, malignant growth appears to be a reference to direct, public exposure to sunlight in beaches and outdoors. The connection seems to be to cancer (malignant growth) induced by exposure to cosmic rays in sunlight.
There is also a reference to ozone-induced asthma which could have been in the mind of the author although these two phenomena (ie. ozone-induced asthma and the cancer caused by the ozone hole) are due to opposite reasons. Ozone, generated by traffic fumes at ground level causes the burning of eyes and breathing problems, but cancer is due to the absence of ozone in the upper atmosphere as it get depleted by the CFCs in fridges, fizz cans and car and room airconditioners, as also by the fumes emitted by jetliners flying at great heights.
[Edited at 2016-01-14 03:35 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adrian MM. (X)
Local time: 08:51
French to English
+ ...
| Malignant growth for special-clinic treatment | Jan 14, 2016 |
Dan Lucas wrote: I suggest that the Three Tenors are more likely candidates - they had a strong association with football. Bridget Jones was written in the mid-1990s and the 1994 World Cup would still have been fairly fresh in the memory. Regards Dan
I agree with Dan: the 3 tenors being of course Italian, Spanish + Spanish/Mexican.
Courting malignant growths: is ambiguous and could also refer to courting a one-night stand and then developing a 'malignant growth' STD = sexually transmitted disease within the next, few days.
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