Jan 20, 2006 21:33
18 yrs ago
English term
russka (X)
her face flushed with pilgrimage
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
it's from a short story about a young guy. I'd like to know how *face flushed with pigrimage* can be understood exactly?
Change log
Jan 21, 2006 10:37: Steffen Walter changed "Term asked" from "I would tell her that I liked her *face flushed with pilgrimage,* ....." to "her face flushed with pilgrimage" , "Field (write-in)" from "literature" to "(none)"
Responses
+4
25 mins
English term (edited):
i would tell her that i liked her *face flushed with pilgrimage,* .....
Selected
idiom in the speaker's original language
This is the story you're quoting from http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/content/articles/051128fi_f...
I haven't read it all of course, but it appears that the speaker/ narrator did not speak English properly. The paragraph goes: "I began imagining a conversation I would have with the woman if we happened to share an elevator while her unseemly husband was safely locked up somewhere else. In my high-school English, I would tell her that I liked her face flushed with pilgrimage, that I wanted to hold the summer dawn in my arms."
I think this is a literal translation of an idiom in the speaker's language. Can that be?
I haven't read it all of course, but it appears that the speaker/ narrator did not speak English properly. The paragraph goes: "I began imagining a conversation I would have with the woman if we happened to share an elevator while her unseemly husband was safely locked up somewhere else. In my high-school English, I would tell her that I liked her face flushed with pilgrimage, that I wanted to hold the summer dawn in my arms."
I think this is a literal translation of an idiom in the speaker's language. Can that be?
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jonathan MacKerron
: Ex-Yugoslavia is mentioned in the piece, and the Orthodox Christians are known for their pilgrimages
11 mins
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| agree |
Veronica Prpic Uhing
: Do you mean: Lice rumeno od hodocasca! Zavisi (od)kuda se ide!// pilgrimage - walk of honor
42 mins
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definitely - that's exactly what I mean! (seriously, I don't know what you're talking about!)
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| agree |
Sabina Metcalf
1 hr
|
| agree |
Alfa Trans (X)
12 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "thanks everybody for help"
+3
5 mins
Kim Metzger
Mexico
Mexico
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Mexico
Committed to Quality and Service
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: German to English
Related KudoZ points
:
277
English term (edited):
i would tell her that i liked her *face flushed with pilgrimage,* .....
red with excitement
We'd really need to read much more of your text to be sure, but my interpretation of this sentence by itself is that the narrator (the young guy?) is saying he would like to see her shiny face after she has just come back from a journey of some kind. Flushed is red with excitement.
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Note added at 18 mins (2006-01-20 21:51:56 GMT)
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flush (adj) a ruddy healthy color, full of life and vigor. Ruddy - red, reddish
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Note added at 18 mins (2006-01-20 21:51:56 GMT)
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flush (adj) a ruddy healthy color, full of life and vigor. Ruddy - red, reddish
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Romanian Translator (X)
: without more context, your version seems the most natural :)
9 mins
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| agree |
Elizabeth Lyons
35 mins
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| agree |
Veronica Prpic Uhing
: What you need is the part before "In my high school English" and about author Alexander Hemon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandar_Hemon
54 mins
|
1 min
Jonathan MacKerron
Native in English
&
English
Retired as of Jan 2019!
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
80
English term (edited):
i would tell her that i liked her *face flushed with pilgrimage,* .....
showing the excitement of
having been on a pilgrimage??
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Note added at 35 mins (2006-01-20 22:09:29 GMT)
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in the glow of religious fervor (although more sexual fervor here I should imagine)
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Note added at 40 mins (2006-01-20 22:14:33 GMT)
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the idea is that the speaker is trying to impress a women by telling her that she looks like she has just returned from a religious piligrimage, which in the Orthodox Christian world is probably a high complement
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Note added at 35 mins (2006-01-20 22:09:29 GMT)
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in the glow of religious fervor (although more sexual fervor here I should imagine)
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Note added at 40 mins (2006-01-20 22:14:33 GMT)
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the idea is that the speaker is trying to impress a women by telling her that she looks like she has just returned from a religious piligrimage, which in the Orthodox Christian world is probably a high complement
Discussion