"Do not ignore the mermaids"

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18 Comments

  1. AlexB said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 9:12 am

    Ah, le chant des sirènes!

  2. Jim said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 10:36 am

    And yet, this phrase seems magical somehow, and I have an urge to adopt it as my life's motto.

  3. Florence Artur said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 11:25 am

    Reminds me of some of the spam posts I get on my web site: pure poetry.

  4. Gregory Kusnick said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 11:29 am

    Can't wait to see the trailer.

  5. Margaret S. said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 12:31 pm

    There’s also another subtle (and more prosaic) semi-false friend buried in that sentence: "in case of" (no doubt the Spanish original was “en caso de”) more accurately means "in the event of".

  6. TonyK said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 1:29 pm

    Margaret S.: We are a bit short of volcanoes here in Britain, but "in case of fire" is very common in safety notices.

  7. Linda said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 1:53 pm

    On a campsite in France we were told that we would be warned of flash floods by means of "loud healers"

  8. gribley said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 2:11 pm

    I'm just a little disappointed that the fantastic phrasing in the tweet you post above seems to be a made-up example based on a GT mistranslation. I would so love to see that on a sign.

  9. Rodger C said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 2:14 pm

    I thought all the loud healers were in America.

  10. Guy said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 2:53 pm

    "In the event of" is still a possible (albeit slightly dated and formal-sounding) English meaning of "in case of". It hasn't been completely displaced by the extended meaning "as a contingency for". In this context, that meaning is still easily accessible to me without any confusion.

  11. E said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 3:41 pm

    I do not think that they will sing to me.

  12. AntC said,

    September 10, 2016 @ 8:05 pm

    This is talking about undersea volcanoes, I think. Eruptions highly likely to make the mermaids sing. Explains a lot about The Odyssey.

  13. AntC said,

    September 11, 2016 @ 12:05 am

    In case of ash clouds making driving conditions difficult, be sure to switch on your lighthouses.

  14. Dan Lufkin said,

    September 11, 2016 @ 8:47 pm

    Speaking of pure poetry, will we hear the mermaids singing, each to each?

  15. Kelly said,

    September 12, 2016 @ 1:43 am

    For a second I thought immediately of Iceland, the two twin pillars of their belief system being Eruptions and Fantasy characters….

  16. Jen said,

    September 12, 2016 @ 8:52 am

    A friend of mine suggests that they would be better placed to warn of tsunamis.

  17. Adam F said,

    September 13, 2016 @ 4:47 am

    "And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids,
    And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses:
    How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,
    For the sparkling waves are calling you to kiss their white-lace lips."

  18. Ralph Hickok said,

    September 15, 2016 @ 6:15 pm

    I have heard the mermaids singing each to each.
    I do not think that they will sing to me.

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