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Makes sense to me Larry Send a noteboard - 28/11/2010 07:13:08 PM
contempt as it is used in the title.

I can only speak for Czech language here, I don't know if this also applies to Polish.

Now, after some thinking about it, I believe that there's a slight difference. Not in the word contempt itself, but in adjectives that can be made from it. In Czech, as in English, you can have two adjectives derived from the noun contempt - contemptuous and contemptible - in Czech opovržlivý and opovrženíhodný. And I think that Czech opovrženíhodný can be a bit stronger than English contemptible, and that it can have a wider application than English contemptible.

Opovrženíhodný can also be translated as despicable, abominable, vile, and maybe even heinous. And if you inverse the Czech title and use opovrženíhodný you get something like Abominable Times or Vile Times. So, although the meaning of the title translated from Czech to English would be Times of Contempt (or Disdain), a Czech can feel the world opovrženíhodný in the title, and I think that it can therefore make a stronger impression in Czech than in English.


In today's English, "contempt" (and to an extent, "disdain") contains a callous disregard or disrespect for another, but it doesn't have the hint of violence. Perhaps "despise" or "despite" might carry that connotation of active dislike and disregard, close to but not fully synonymous with "hatred."
Illusions fall like the husk of a fruit, one after another, and the fruit is experience. - Narrator, Sylvie

Je suis méchant.
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Andrzej Sapkowski, Times of Disdain/Tiempo del odio - 27/11/2010 03:24:22 AM 1265 Views
Re: Andrzej Sapkowski, Times of Disdain/Tiempo del odio - 27/11/2010 09:37:07 PM 831 Views
The main reason why I lean toward "hatred" is later on - 27/11/2010 09:43:43 PM 799 Views
Yeah, there may be a slight difference between Czech and English meaning of the word - 28/11/2010 10:49:23 AM 766 Views
Makes sense to me - 28/11/2010 07:13:08 PM 827 Views
Now for that passage near the end of the book I said I'd post - 28/11/2010 02:35:38 AM 753 Views
Hm. I'd actually say it makes me more inclined to think "contempt" is right after all. - 28/11/2010 10:50:09 AM 829 Views
I didn't quote what happened immediately afterward, as that is a major spoiler - 28/11/2010 07:16:39 PM 722 Views
Fair points. *NM* - 29/11/2010 12:26:28 AM 394 Views
Re: Now for that passage near the end of the book I said I'd post - 28/11/2010 11:03:18 AM 758 Views
Re: Now for that passage near the end of the book I said I'd post - 29/11/2010 01:12:58 AM 626 Views
- 29/11/2010 04:53:12 AM 766 Views
You made me want to go and reread this again - 29/11/2010 12:07:46 AM 808 Views
I'm in the midst of re-reading The Tower of the Swallow - 29/11/2010 12:32:23 AM 898 Views
Re: I'm in the midst of re-reading The Tower of the Swallow - 29/11/2010 01:05:30 AM 839 Views
Re: I'm in the midst of re-reading The Tower of the Swallow - 29/11/2010 05:02:48 AM 831 Views
Re: I'm in the midst of re-reading The Tower of the Swallow - 29/11/2010 04:39:02 PM 863 Views
I REALLY can't wait for this to come out in English - 30/11/2010 04:50:56 AM 820 Views
Re: I REALLY can't wait for this to come out in English - 30/11/2010 03:45:33 PM 830 Views

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