Is there anyone on Arachne Chat who could translate the following German sentence into a more flowing English equivalent than the one offered. Apparently in German there is a play on words with 'time' and 'clock', and this doesn't work in English? It is for a Block-a-month quilt square with the overall theme of time, and this play on words makes it appropriate for this purpose, but it doesn't work (with her translation anyway) in English. Is there anyone who can do better?
This is the original German: Wer nach der Uhr lebt, muss damit rechen, dass ihm sein Leben mit der Zeit auf den Wecker geht. And this is the English translation offered: Who lives by the clock, has to reckon that by time, his life will drive him up the wall. Last month's translation was 'When God made the earth, he gave the clock to the Europeans, but time to the Africans.' I rather liked this as it reminded me of someone talking on the radio last week about a wedding she was invited to in a village (Not Africa, but I can't remember where, possibly a remote region of China or India) and being anxious not to make a social faux pas, she tried to find out when it was and what she had to do. They were unable to give 'a time' because the wedding would take place when the time was right and everyone was ready for it. Jacquie in Lincolnshire To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected].
