{"id":12775,"date":"2020-04-06T19:33:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T02:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/?p=12775"},"modified":"2020-04-10T20:46:16","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T03:46:16","slug":"lei-hao-chinese-mmrt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/06\/lei-hao-chinese-mmrt\/","title":{"rendered":"Translating “Million Mile Road Trip” into Chinese!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went to an IOHK blockchain conference in June<\/a>, and I met this bright young guy from Shanghai, Lei Hao. Turns out my SF novels like Postsingular <\/em>and the Ware Tetralogy <\/em>are quite popular among programmers and techies in China now. Lei Hao suggested that he might help me get some of my novels out in legit, non-pirated editions. And in the mean time he\u2019s started a company called Access Digital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So, long story short, thanks to Lei Hao, my agent made a deal with New Star Press in China to publish a translation of Million Mile Road Trip<\/em>.\u00a0 Here’s the book’s home page<\/a>. And Lei Hao has is currenlty finishing the translation. And if all goes well, he\u2019ll translate some more of my books for New Star as well.<\/p>\n

While Lei Hao was turning my book into Chinese, Lei Hao sent me a series of questions—and I kind of had to laugh about how hard it would be to translate some of the things I wrote. But I wrote up hints, giving it my best shot, and it was kind of weird and fun. So just for the hell of it, I’m reprinting Lei Hao’s queries and my responses, along with the passages under discussion…the phrases under discussion are shown in bold face.\u00a0 And the page references for the quotes are to the Night Shade print first edition, paperback or hardback.<\/p>\n

And, as usual, I threw in a buttload of images. A lot of them actually relate to the book. Here’s a universal ebook buy link<\/a> for it. Print editions:\u00a0Amazon<\/a>,\u00a0and Barnes & Noble<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

{{=========1: First Kiss<\/h3>\n

Page 3: Villy\u2019s looking at her. Zoe feels she\u2019s too short and her breasts are nothing much. As for her butt, well, it\u2019s wider and rounder than it was when she was eleven, and boys have been known to stare after her in the hallway, brain-dead sexists that they are. But when Villy looks at her, she\u2019s glad. And she likes looking at him<\/em>. He has these flowing surfer muscles. He\u2019s never out of balance, always in the now<\/b>. So unselfconscious, so male.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcin the now\u2019 means he\u2019s always very calm and can control the situation?<\/p>\n

Rudy: <\/b> \u201cIn the now\u201d\u009d is to be focused on the present situation, not distracted by emotions, paying attention to the immediate world, not thinking about past regrets or future feats. It\u2019s a popular phrase in the US.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 5: \u201cMom nagged me for months to write my Berkeley application. The personal statement part. On the last possible day, I wrote that American life is a blockbuster movie with hiccup anthems, but I\u2014I want a life that\u2019s a flip-card cartoon with sqwonky <\/b>horns.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I don\u2019t really know what \u201d\u02dcsqwonky\u2019 means.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Sqwonky is a made-up word. It stands for a sound. Like \u201craucously honking\u201d\u009d. I think some Jazz musician might have used that word.<\/p>\n

{{=========2: Magic Ladder<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 16: And then Zoe’s father leaves Mom for the skungy<\/b>, plastic Sunny Weaver. Wheenk<\/b>, wheenk, wheenk.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcskungy\u2019 means dirty and unpleasant?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Yes there are several slang words like this that are used in California. Skeevy, scuzzy, skungy. They all mean dirty, smelly, dishonest, unpleasant.<\/p>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> And what about \u201d\u02dc Wheenk\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> I use \u201cwheenk\u201d\u009d in several ways in my books. Here I am using it to stand for a person feeling sorry for themself. Like \u201cSob, sob, sob.\u201d\u009d But wheenk is the sound of piglet being slaughtered perhaps, or of someone complaining very hard. Or it can just mean having some emotional feeling. When I write a story without enough inner life in my characters, and they are too stiff and plastic, I might say the story needs more wheenk.<\/p>\n

{{=========3: Villy\u2019s Family<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page 33: \u201cYubba woot<\/b>!\u201d\u009d yells Scud.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Okay, what\u2019s \u201d\u02dc Yubba woot\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> That\u2019s a silly nonsense phrase that a kid like Scud might holler. I use the word yubba sometimes, its a little like hubba hubba, a 1940s phrase for being excited, perhaps related to the Brazilian oba oba<\/em>. Woot is a word that programmer and gamer sometimes use in their comment threads to mean something like woo-hoo or hooray or that\u2019s great. They like to write it with zeroes instead of O’s, like w00t.<\/p>\n

{{=========4: Zoe\u2019s Mom<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 36: Worse than this, what if Zoe is only imagining<\/em> that an alien named Yampa is under her bed and saying that she knows Maisie? Creepsville <\/b>central.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> What\u2019s the meaning of \u201d\u02dc Creepsville\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> It was a 50s and 60s Beat or hipster usage to say something or someone was \u2014ville. Meaning an imaginary place that has lots of \u2014. Like Endsville or Nowheresville or Splitsville (getting divorced). Creep is creepy as in unpleasant and possibly a sexual molester. Creepsville is a situation where something is creepy or disturbing. And adding \u201ccentral\u201d\u009d intensifies it. Not only are you in Creepsville, you\u2019re in the central core of Creepsville.<\/p>\n

Page 37: \u201cPinchley and I came for kicks,\u201d\u009d says Yampa. \u201cA million mile road trip. And, more, we\u2019re on a mighty mission\u2014thanks to the goading of Goob-goob <\/b>and the machinations of Maisie.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Who is \u201d\u02dcGoob-goob\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Goob-goob is a godlike alien they eventually encounter. I used this name as a kind of joke in that a goob is stupid person, a hick, a newbie (noob), an idiot. So to call the god Goob-goob is a little bit to suggest that it\u2019s dumb to believe in this god. But Goob-goob is in fact impressive.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 38:\u00a0 \u201cYour sister shuttles,\u201d\u009d says Yampa. \u201cShe\u2019s\u2026similar to the saucers? She presented you the saucer pearl. She taught you the toot for the tunnel. She put Pinchley and me in place at your tunnel\u2019s termination. Why? Goob-goob wants to wrangle two or three humans like you\u2014to win the wand for warring with Groon<\/b>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Who is \u201d\u02dcGroon\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy: <\/b>Groon is main villain of the book. The name has a sound like groan. Unpleasant. Groon is a giant bagpipe.<\/p>\n

Page 38: Other odd aliens,\u201d\u009d says Yampa. \u201cNot all of them friendly. We\u2019ll see Flatsies, giant ants, music cubes, Thudds, bubble-men, Freeths<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> What\u2019s the meaning of \u201cThudds\u201d\u009d And \u201cFreeths\u201d\u009d?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Thudd is like thud, a heavy thump, and they are dinosaurs. Freeths are, well, I hardly remember, I think that annoying blob woman who comes with them is a Freeth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 44: \u201cThey [the flying saucers] are not vehicles,\u201d\u009d says Yampa. \u201cThey\u2019re muscle and meat, with bumbling brains. The problematic ones are parasites who siphon people\u2019s smeel<\/b>.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> What\u2019s \u201d\u02dcsmeel\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Smeel is a word I use in a lot of my books. It stands for something like aether or ectoplasm, an insubstantial psychic substance. As a private joke it is very close to the word smell. In this book, smeel is a psychic energy that is in people, almost like their soul, and Groon\u2019s saucers eat smeel.<\/p>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Your description of smeel as a spiritual substance is very close to the theory of vitality in Chinese Taoist philosophy. Taoist thought holds that \u00e5\u2026\u0192\u00e6\u00b0\u201d(vitality), pronounced as yuan qi is the primary material that constitutes life and nature. It is a kind of spiritual energy in the human body. Given the similarity between these term, I will adopt yuan qi for the translation of ‘smeel’.<\/p>\n

{{=========6: Unny Tunnel<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 58: \u201cCorkscrew caves and zonked ziggurats<\/strong>,\u201d\u009d adds Yampa.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> What are \u201d\u02dcCorkscrew caves and zonked ziggurats\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> It\u2019s about alliteration, starting words with the same letter. Corkscrew is twisty, like a helix, so a corkscrew cave is an intricately twisted cave. Zonked it to be stoned or high or drunk. A ziggurat is a Mexican Aztec pyramid with steps on the side instead an inclined planes. I think they have ziggurats in Asia as well.<\/p>\n

Page 62: Like, Zoe is looking out her window\u2014and she sees a purple station wagon that\u2019s keeping pace with them, and the driver is Villy, precisely and to a T.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> And what is \u201d\u02dcto a T\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> An idiom, common phrase. \u201csuits me to a T\u201d\u009d means \u201cIt\u2019s exactly what I like.\u201d\u009d Here it’s used to mean “an exact copy.”<\/p>\n

{{=========7: Cruising Van Cott<\/h3>\n

Page 67: \u201cWell, not every basin is exactly yummy<\/em>,\u201d\u009d allows Pinchley. \u201cLike for instance there\u2019s some stinky gas-giant basins. Kingdoms of the poot-blimps.<\/strong> But we\u2019ll bypass those.\u201d\u009d \u201cAnd after Szep City, the basins keep on going?\u201d\u009d asks Zoe. \u201cForever and ever? An infinite world?\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcpoot-blimps\u2019 is a negative name of bad saucers given by Pinchley and I can translate it into something like \u201d\u02dcstinky saucers\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> The poot-blimps are different from the flying saucers. They would be stinky blimps like you might find over Jupiter. Enormous fart blimps.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 68: \u201cYou might say mappyworld is Goob <\/em>with a capital G<\/em>,\u201d\u009d says Pinchley, holding up two fingers. \u201cAnd your ballyworld is goob <\/em>with a little g<\/em>. Ever the twain shall wheenk<\/strong>. Get it? Got it!\u201d\u009d The guy is trashed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I don\u2019t know what \u201d\u02dcEver the twain shall wheenk\u2019 means.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> I\u2019m playing with words a lot of time, working with sounds and with suggestive resonances. There\u2019s a standard phrase\u00a0 \u201cnever the twain shall meet\u201d\u009d which you say to mean that never will a certain two things (twain means two) come together. Wheenk is, as I mentioned a pet word of mine. Ever the twain shall wheenk would mean \u201cit will always be that these seemly different two things will join their voices in a joyous loud happy-pig sound like wheenk.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

{{=========8: Night Market<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 78: \u201cOh yes they have,\u201d\u009d says Yampa. \u201cFolks like your father, and maid Maisie. They have fab gab<\/strong> with the good saucers.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcfab gab\u2019 means good relationship here.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> That\u2019s close. Fab is old hippie slang for good or fabulous. Gab is 40s slang for talk.<\/p>\n

Page 82: \u201cCall me Meatball,\u201d\u009d says the cubist blob. Her voice is oiled gravel, with a British accent. \u201cFit name for a tough cookie.<\/strong> And yes, I\u2019m a Freeth. An elder race, rather down on our luck.<\/strong> I enjoy rollicking, rough-cut laughs. I\u2019d love to be your roadie gal pal.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dctough cookie\u2019 is to describe someone is very strong, powerful and determined. And does \u201d\u02dcrather down on our luck\u2019 means \u201d\u02dcwe are not very lucky\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> We call a woman a tough cookie if she is, as you suspect, strong and determined, and a cookie in the sense of being a female. the phrase is popular I suppose because usually a cookie is not tough.
\nAnd, yes that\u2019s the right translation of rather down on our luck. rather is use in a British sense of somewhat. having a somewhat bad run of luck.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 90: Whatevski<\/strong>. The saucer pearl\u2019s gate swells to the size of a plum, ready for action, hovering at waist level. And it\u2019s turned transparent\u2014meaning the gate is open. Zoe walks towards it, blatting her horn. The closer she gets, the bigger the gate seems.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcwhatevski\u2019 means \u201d\u02dcwhatever\u2019.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Right. People say \u201cwhatever\u201d\u009d to mean \u201cI don\u2019t care\u201d\u009d or \u201cthink whatever you want to think although it\u2019s bullshit but I\u2019m not going to argue about it.\u201d\u009d And it\u2019s a slang usage to put a Russian ending on a word like evski. So whatevski. It\u2019s whatever in even more dismissive sense.<\/p>\n

{{=========9: Saucer Hall<\/h3>\n

Page 97: \u201cThe boon I beg is but one caraway seed,\u201d\u009d chirps Filkar. The Flatsie comes to a halt upon the damp spot at Scud\u2019s feet. \u201cIn return I\u2019ll plant this teep slug upon you. Having tasted you, the slug is in readiness. You\u2019ll peer into others\u2019 minds, yes. And <\/em>you\u2019ll learn to craft a cloud of unknowing<\/b>. No saucer will ken your presence.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Should I literally translate \u201d\u02dca cloud of unknowing\u2019 or you have deeper meaning behind it?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> There is, I believe, a medieval work on mysticism which is called \u201cthe cloud of unknowing\u201d\u009d Used in the sense of being enlightened by having an empty mind. But I took this nice phrase and deliberately used it in a different and idiosyncratic way. I\u2019m taking \u201cunknowing\u201d\u009d to mean \u201cunknown\u201d\u009d as in \u201cinvisible.\u201d\u009d The cloud of unknowing is then like a cloak of invisibility. And, by the way, \u201cken\u201d\u009d means \u201cknow\u201d\u009d or \u201csee\u201d\u009d.\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 98: \u201cTeep slugs seek ever to please their hosts,\u201d\u009d says Filkar. \u201cThink only of what you want.\u201d\u009d Filkar utters a command in a burbly<\/b>, low-pitched tongue. In harmony with Scud\u2019s wishes, the teep slug reshapes itself into an elegant hemisphere, little more than an inch across. Scud sets the thing on his wrist.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcburbly\u2019 means burly here, like husky.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Burbly has to do with being a liquid. Like the sound of water in a stream.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 99: Nearby, two dog-sized ants are conversing via scents and by taps of their antennae. Their thoughts have a geometric quality\u2014like colored wooden blocks in a mound<\/b>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Could I literally translate this description or you have deeper meaning behind it?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> You might think of Lego blocks of odd shapes. No deeper meaning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 101: \u201cThou sayest it, my liege. Drawing on the supernal power of your teep slug, you addled your warp and woof<\/b>\u2014and in this wise you\u2019ve conjured a cloud of unknowing. \u2019Twill engulf you and your raiment until you relax your hold.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I don\u2019t really know what warp and woof means in this context.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Warp and woof are from weaving. The threads in one direction are the warp, the threads in the other are the woof. So here it is being used as \u201cthe fabric of your being.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

{{=========10: Three Zoes<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 107: She returns to the tunnel and goes back to mappyworld. On the way she gets another glimpse of that Mayan-type Goob-goob, the goddess of mappyworld. This time Goob-goob looks like a vine-covered pyramid as much as she looks like a woman. Seedy<\/b>, imposing, beyond the mundane\u2014and, for whatever reason, keenly interested in Zoe\u2019s activities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcseedy\u2019 here means containing many seeds or dirty and unpleasant.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Seedy is like a homeless person. run down, tattered, not necessarily dirty, but threadbare. Maybe austere or like a hermit. I don\u2019t remember why I used this word here.<\/p>\n

{{=========11: Leaving Town<\/h3>\n

Page 110: \u201cYou\u2019re the baddest <\/b>of them all,\u201d\u009d says Zoe. \u201cDon\u2019t worry. If you can stand just a few <\/em>more minutes, I have this atavistic desire to do a big shopping for our trip.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Does the \u201d\u02dcbaddest\u2019 here means Zoe thinks Villy is the coolest or the most powerful one?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Right, this is a Black English usage. Baddest is the best.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 116: Yes, the creepy hand crawled up Scud\u2019s leg and picked his pocket, and now it\u2019s up high on a thumb and two fingers, holding the jar of caraway seeds against its palm with two of the other fingers. To make things worse, Irav\u2019s little whaler snail is riding on the back of the rogue hand. Like Captain Ahab <\/b>on his ship. The frikkin hand bagged the snail too. Villy charges after it\u2014but there\u2019s no catching the hand. It skitters to Pinchley and Yampa\u2019s top-down <\/b>convertible and\u2014with a single, startling leap\u2014it springs to safety inside.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Who is\u00a0 \u201d\u02dcCaptain Ahab\u2019. And what do you mean by saying \u201d\u02dcYampa\u2019s top-down convertible\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Captain Ahab is the hero of the novel Moby Dick, and his is a whaler who wants to harpoon a whale. Yampa\u2019s car is, I beehive, a convertible, that is, a car whose top can be lowered. And the top is down. so the car\u2019s interior is open like a motorboat you can jump into.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 118: \u201cWhen Pinchley squats, he splits in two,\u201d\u009d says Yampa, making a rude sound with her mouth. \u201cIf we conjecture kac <\/b>is conscious.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> What does \u201d\u02dckac\u2019 mean?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Kac is shit. The word comes from Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange<\/em>, and is also a Greek root word, as in cacophony.<\/p>\n

Page 118: \u201cAll hail the followers of the One True Rump<\/b>,\u201d\u009d adds Pinchley. He bows so deeply that he falls onto the ground, but somehow he manages not to spill the precious cocoa. \u201cMighty Truban titans <\/b>we,\u201d\u009d says Yampa, helping Pinchley to his feet. Obviously these two are loaded from their cocoa party. They lean together, propping each other up like a pair of seedy clowns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if there\u2019s any classical allusion behind \u201d\u02dcOne true rump\u2019 and \u201d\u02dcTruban titans\u2019.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> These guys are stoned, high on the \u201cdrug\u201d\u009d cocoa, so what they say isn\u2019t very logical. They referred to Pinchley shitting kac, and now he is praising his own ass, in saying \u201cthe one true rump.\u201d\u009d On the home world of Pinchley and Yampa, there are two tribes or political parties and one is the Trubans.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 120: \u201cDone told you,\u201d\u009d says bleary Pinchley. \u201cNo real cars in Van Cott at all. Only thing they driving here is beetles, beetles, beetles. Can\u2019t road-trip no million miles in no beetle. Thing\u2019s gonna pupate, or some shit like that.\u201d\u009d
\n\u201cIt\u2019s larvae and caterpillars that pupate,\u201d\u009d corrects Scud. \u201cNot full-grown beetles.\u201d\u009d
\n\u201cOur pet professor,\u201d\u009d Yampa says to Scud, with a little bow. \u201cEgg, larva, pupa, adult. Lady Filippa\u2019s folk fashion that same flow<\/b>.\u201d\u009d
\n\u201cWhat-frikkin-ever,\u201d\u009d blusters Pinchley. \u201cSo maybe a car-beetle spawns a ribbon of eggs and keels over dead and the eggs hatch out larvae that eat the flesh of the passengers, which would serve you right if you\u2019re stupid enough to road-trip in a beetle.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> The sentence in bold doesn\u2019t really help me understand the relation between Lady Filippa and what\u2019s mentioned above. Are you trying to say that Lady Filippa belongs to the same kind of creature as beetles do?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> You need to understand that Yampa\u2019s speech is kind of a word game, very mannered. I often have her alliterate, that is start all the words with one letter. And sometimes to do this the meanings of the words is twisted and forced. Yampa mocks Scud by calling him a pet professor. There is a woman Lady Filippa in Szep City who they want to bring the caraway seeds to. Lady Filippa\u2019s race (folk) are organisms that undergo metamorphosis. When they see her, she will be a pupa. Now the car is a beetle, but it\u2019s not the same kind of organism as Lady Filippa.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 125: Villy enjoys the sound of her voice. \u201cYou\u2019re so alert,\u201d\u009d he says. \u201cDialed up high<\/b>.\u201d\u009d
\n\u201cI\u2019m glad I stuck with you,\u201d\u009d says Zoe. \u201cWhen Meatball knocked you out, I panicked and hopped back to Los Perros.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> What doest \u201d\u02dcdialed up high\u2019 mean?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Dialed up high is like turning a radio volume knob up to the LOUD setting.<\/p>\n

{{=========13: Borderslam Inn<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 143: \u201cWe only eat mini Thudds after they\u2019re dead,\u201d\u009d says Hungerford, chuckling. \u201cWouldn\u2019t be humane otherwise. What with them having some rudimentary intelligence. <\/b>Fortunately, a lot of them mini Thudds die on their way down from Borderslam Pass.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Are you saying that those mini Thudds do have some intelligence?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Yes, this is a Southern English usage \u201cwhat with them having\u201d\u009d just means \u201cbecause they have\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 150: \u201cScrew this,\u201d\u009d says Villy and cranks the engine speed to a chattering scream. The spinning tires throw up a monster rooster tail<\/b>. The whale rises up and hydroplanes the remaining half mile to the far shore. And then they start the climb.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I don\u2019t quite get the point of the \u201d\u02dcmonster\u2019 rooster tail thrown by the tires. Does it mean that the spinning tires stirred up a great amount of dust?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> The spray of water that a motorboat throws up behind itself is called a rooster tail. And her \u201d\u02dcmonster\u2019 means big.<\/p>\n

{{=========16: Thuddland<\/h3>\n

Page 173: \u201cJust about,\u201d\u009d says Pinchley. \u201cThe way I\u2019ve doctored up this car, she practically drives herself. But keep in mind the diorama has teeth<\/b>. Be glad I finally fixed that driver side window so it\u2019s easy to close.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201cthe diorama has teeth\u201d\u009d here means it\u2019s still dangerous to drive with the upgraded car.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> A diorama is a museum-type display of stuffed animals against a painted backdrop. But this prehistoric scene isn\u2019t a safe display, it\u2019s alive and things in it can bite you.<\/p>\n

Page 180: \u201cThere there,\u201d\u009d says Zoe, teasing Villy and babying him at the same time. \u201cPut your wittle<\/strong> head on my shoulder and get some more sleepy-bye.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if \u201d\u02dcwittle\u2019 here means \u201d\u02dclittle\u2019.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> She\u2019s doing baby talk: wittle for little and sleepy-bye for sleep.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Page 182: \u201cI\u2019m on it,\u201d\u009d says Pinchley, all smooth and urbane. \u201cDon\u2019t need to slow down one tit or jottle, son. I\u2019ve got me a deluxe model glassblaster beetle<\/b>. Better than the healer tongue I used for the cracks after your brother rolled the car.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m not sure what \u201cglassblaster\u201d\u009d means. Is like describing something that\u2019s high-class and powerful?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> It\u2019s another of Pinchley\u2019s seemingly endless supply of \u201ctool creatures\u201d\u009d. It fixes glass, like the windshield, and it spits out the glass fast, blasting it forcefully.<\/p>\n

Page 183: Scud bombs on<\/b>. He uses his teep to sense the myriad of minds in the jungle and, equally important, he senses the relatively empty zone wherein lies the road ahead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Does \u201cbombs on\u201d\u009d here means Scud keeps doing very well?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> To \u201cbomb along\u201d\u009d in a car means to drive fast.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 186: A nearby sky vine dangles from its mile-high hovering float, not far from skeenky<\/strong> Poppo, who is drifting away like a cloud.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Does \u201cskeenky\u201d\u009d here means stinky?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Skeenky is another of those made-up insult words of not quite certain meaning. Skeenky, skeevy, scuzzy, skanky, scurvy. Not necessarily stinky. Just strange and unpleasant.<\/p>\n

Page 190: \u201cSkorkers<\/b><\/em>!\u201d\u009d cries Pinchley, losing his cool and dropping into the Szep tongue himself. \u201cDrive, Scud! And Meatball, get ready to zap those sneevers <\/em>where it hurts!\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m aware that skorkers belongs to the Szep tongue. Does it mean \u201d\u02dcstop saying that\u2019 or \u201d\u02dcbastard\u2019?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> A skorker is like a bastard.<\/p>\n

{{=========17: Surf World<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 218: \u201cThat wave is gonna to have a tube on its front side,\u201d\u009d says Villy. \u201cUp at the top, where it curves over. We\u2019ll shoot that tube, right, Yampa? Mucho smeel in there. The one true light.<\/b>\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m not quite sure what the one true light stands for.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> He\u2019s a surfer excited about the tube at the top of a wave. He supposes it has a lot (mucho) of consciousness-vibe (smeel) and that you can contact the pantheistic\/mystic\/stoner deity known as the One, or the White Light, or the Absolute.<\/p>\n

{{=========18: Beach Party<\/h3>\n

Page 226: \u201cBeat it, Meatball,\u201d\u009d interrupts Pinchley. \u201cTold you already. Amscray<\/b>. Last thing we frikkin need is a leech-saucer spy in our car. I got a feelin\u2019 you\u2019re gonna call down another hit on us.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m not sure what \u201cAmscray\u201d\u009d is.
\nRudy:<\/b> This is 1930s slang, known as pig Latin. You put the start of the word in back and add ay. Scram means go away, so pig Latin for it is Amscray. People used to say that!<\/p>\n

{{=========19: Riding the Ridge<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 262: \u201cWery many fossils here in our canyons,\u201d\u009d says Gunnar, cutting off Scud. \u201cPinchopods, dungosaurs, blahceratops, squatoons, and bone-bones<\/b>. No vanting more. You know vell vhat we vant.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m not sure what \u201cblahceratops” and \u201csquatoons\u201d\u009d are. What kind of fossils are they?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> This is complicated. It\u2019s like a way of making fun of science education. These are all silly made-up names for types of fossils. Or maybe they\u2019re used by Gunnar because he doesn\u2019t know proper English. Pinchopods might have claws. Dungosaurs leave fossil turds. A blahceratops is kind of boring or \u201cblah.\u201d\u009d A squatoon, well, squat is a kind of rough word meaning \u201cshit\u201d\u009d or \u201cnot much\u201d\u009d (\u201cYou don\u2019t do squat for me.\u201d\u009d), so a squatoon would again be a kind of boring dinosaur.<\/p>\n

Page 264: \u201cDon\u2019t you guys be beatin\u2019 up dust <\/b>and making a hoo-roar,\u201d\u009d says Pinchley. \u201cThis here ant\u2019s a-ponderin her specific moves.\u201d\u009d
\n\u201cAw\u2014\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Does \u201cbeatin\u2019 up dust\u201d\u009d here means excitedly praising or shouting out loud?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Beating up dust would mean making excitement (roar or hooray or hoo-roar). I used to use this expression when our three kids would be too active in the house. \u201cDon\u2019t beat up dust!\u201d\u009d Like stirring up dust and making me sneeze.<\/p>\n

{{=========20: Not Mom<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 276: \u201cMy name is not Crusty Crab,\u201d\u009d he says with a creaking hiss. \u201cIt\u2019s Klactoveedsedstene<\/b>. Give me that saucer pearl.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if I can transliterate the name Klactoveedsedstene?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> This is a word make up by the famous bebop saxophone player Charlie Parker. He called one of his songs, \u201cKlactoveedsedstene\u201d\u009d and when someone asked him what it meant, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s just a sound, man.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

{{=========21: Harmony<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 305: \u201cStratocasting,\u201d\u009d says Zoe.
\n\u201cStratocaster <\/b><\/em>is a model of Fender guitar,\u201d\u009d says Villy, talking slow like Zoe\u2019s out to lunch. \u201cAs it happens, my brah Znork in our surf trio plays a Fender Telecaster<\/em>. Me, I have a cheap-ass git-box from N-Mart.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m aware that Stratocaster is a classic model of Fender but it becomes a kind of sound or performance given by Zoe and Villy to make their car go faster. I wonder if I could translate the word using a Chinese phrase that describes the sound of a Stratocaster.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Going for the sound seems like a good idea.<\/p>\n

Page 307: The guitar necks glow and flex as they dangle from the vine. Their bodies gleam with dark and kandy-kolor <\/b>paint. They pinch free of the vines and settle onto the unfolded red Harmon. The vines and the moir\u00c3\u00a9 mesh are gone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m not sure what kandy-kolor means.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Customized \u201chot-rod\u201d\u009d automobiles in Southern California in the 1950s. They used a special sparkling iridescent paint with the trademark Kandy Kolor.<\/p>\n

Page 309: \u201cNo!\u201d\u009d yells Scud. \u201cDon\u2019t show us your grahb<\/em>!\u201d\u009d By way of changing the subject, Scud quickly tells the others, \u201cPinchley says it\u2019s his turn to drive. Even if he doesn\u2019t\u2019t have his car.\u201d\u009d
\n\u201cPinchley will drive us home to Szep City,\u201d\u009d says Pinchley. \u201cFor Yampa\u2019s woeful wake<\/b>.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Does \u201cwake\u201d\u009d here means an occasion before or after a funeral when people gather to remember the dead person, traditionally held the night before the funeral to watch over the body before it is buried?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Yes, exactly.<\/p>\n

{{=========22: Stratocast<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 313: \u201cI see the colored things too,\u201d\u009d says Zoe. \u201cSmeel boomerangs. We\u2019ll chase them with our notes. Stratocast a goblin march<\/b>.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Does this \u201cgoblin march\u201d\u009d means they\u2019ll move forward like a goblin?<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Well, it\u2019s just a sound like you might image in a cartoon of marching goblins. I think the phrase is inspired by a passage where someone is listening to a concert in E. M. Forster\u2019s novel \u201cHowards End.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

{{=========26: Flat Cow<\/h3>\n

Page 383: \u201cThe near end of the cow tail acts like a zipper-pull on the edge of a change purse you might get as a souvenir of a visit to, say, El Zigurat Fabuloso de la Goob-goob<\/b>.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I\u2019m not sure what \u201cEl Zigurat Fabuloso de la\u201d\u009d means.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> In Mexico three are stair-stepped Aztec or Inca pyramids, or ziggurats, spelled zigurat in Spanish. Fabuloso is Spanish for Wonderful. And Goob-goob is a fabulous steppe pyramid.<\/p>\n

{{=========29: Cosmic Beatdown, Part 1<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 444: At least a dozen people were on that strip of lawn up there. Prosaic, stoic Principal Clark, Ms. Boot the enforcer, Chau En Lai <\/b>the valedictorian, handsome Coach Simmons, Amparo Quinonez from the Los Perros city council, and Zoltan Nemeth the photographer\u2014all of them murdered by the giant saucer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> Does this happen to indicate the name of the previous Chinese Premier, Chou En-Lai\u00ef\u00bc\u0178<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> I was just lookin for an Asian name, and maybe I took Chou En-Lai from the newspaper. We have a lot of Chinese students at Los Gatos. You can decide what to use…maybe it would be confusing and distracting to use the Premier\u2019s name. Maybe use your name! That would be funny for you and me to know this.<\/p>\n

{{=========30: Cosmic Beatdown, Part 2<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 450: Reality is a sea of sensations, feelings, and tales, intricately linked, with everything alluding to everything else. And the stodgy, solid, kick-a-brick, <\/b>normative world\u2014that <\/em>part is the illusion. That <\/em>part is the dream. Either way, it\u2019s the same gnarly thing underneath. Feet on a welcome mat. <\/b>A tangle of talk. Yeah. Villy feels high as a kite.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Does \u201c kick-a-brick\u201d\u009d here means fucked-up here? Also I\u2019m not quite sure what \u201c Feet on a welcome mat\u201d\u009d means.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> The British philosopher known as Bishop Berkeley advocated the idealist or immaterialist doctrine which holds that everything in the world is a mind or an idea rather than a physical object. And the writer Samuel Johnson, speaking with a friend, kicked a brick and said \u201cI refute him thus!\u201d\u009d Jorge Luis Borges writes about this in an essay.<\/p>\n

So what is real after all? Thoughts or objects? In the end both are the same. \u201cFeet on a welcome mat.\u201d\u009d I\u2019m not precisely sure what I mean by this phrase…it\u2019s sort of a Zen remark. Something very immediate that you see, looking down, your feet on a welcome mat and maybe the \u201cmat\u201d\u009d is the world letting you in, welcoming your feet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> You say that \u201cfeet on a welcome mat\u201d\u009d means that when you stand at the door, your feet stand on the blanket that welcomes you. Perhaps the blanket you can see only brings you to the world you can enter. I like the poetic comments you put here. I feel you are revealing here a critical philosophical question: the relationship between the physical world and mind.<\/p>\n

Objective material conditions shape the way in which we can image the world, and the knowledge and imagination that we hold about the world can also influence how we can change the material world around us.<\/p>\n

This question has its very practical significance in China today, especially when AI, big data, etc. those digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in shaping Chinese society today. What algorithm we are able to produce has an enormous ramification of what kind of future we envision. In this particular historical conjunction, your work brings a timely alert, inspiring Chinese readers to think beyond. It is also because of this reason I am very keen to introduce your work to Chinese readers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 456: And then she switches to showing the tunnel as a cubist comic strip, featuring a cute high school teacher lady who\u2019s making love to conic sections<\/b>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder \u201cmaking love to\u201d\u009d here means she likes conic sections very much.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> Well, I think it means she\u2019s somehow having sex with the conic sections, or at least going on dates with them. Makes no sense\u2026but it\u2019s cubist!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Page 458: \u201cCan you tell that I\u2019m having gaps<\/b>?\u201d\u009d asks Villy.
\n\u201cYou\u2019re like a stone skipping across a poooond,\u201d\u009d moos the flat cow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lei Hao:<\/b> I wonder if the \u201cgap\u201d\u009d here means Villy thought he is not seen moving as a whole and continuously; instead, his appearance has been split by gaps due to the jump-cuts he experiences in the unspace.<\/p>\n

Rudy:<\/b> These aren\u2019t spatial gaps in his body, these are temporal gaps is his time line. Like a film in which certain sequences of frames are missing. Jump cut is a phrase for this in editing film. People who are high on drugs might have the experience at times. A stuttering of the visible world. Hop, hop, hop.<\/p>\n

And one again, if you want to get your hands on this amazing novel, here’s a universal ebook buy link<\/a> for it. Print editions:\u00a0Amazon<\/a>,\u00a0and Barnes & Noble<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oh, and thanks again to Marc Laidlaw<\/a> for writing the novel’s intro!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I went to an IOHK blockchain conference in June, and I met this bright young guy from Shanghai, Lei Hao. Turns out my SF novels like Postsingular and the Ware Tetralogy are quite popular among programmers and techies in China now. Lei Hao suggested that he might help me get some of my novels out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12775"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12837,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12775\/revisions\/12837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}