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Thread: Your Lordship

  1. #1
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    Default Your Lordship

    A man in a piece I'm translating is addressed, in the third person, as "Your Lordship" (I translate). The speaker says to him: "I'll let Your Lordship know if the police ask about (you?)." Or about him? It's the third-person pronoun in French, but what is done in English? Perhaps the subject of some monarch will be able to tell me.
    Last edited by Bubba; 19-Feb-2012 at 07:43.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Your Lordship

    Grammatically speaking, I think "you" would be the better choice, but it sounds too informal compared to the "Your Lordship" start of the sentence. Perhaps "though" would work?

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    Default Re: Your Lordship

    Thank you, Stevie B., but I think "Your Lordship," "Your Excellency," "Your Majesty," and so on are actually third-person forms of address, so "you," grammatically at least (but perhaps not colloquially), is wrong. And why "though"? Do you mean "thou"? I think your suggestions here reveal that, as an inhabitant of a people's republic, you aren't quite up to snuff on how to address those of high station!

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    Default Re: Your Lordship

    Quote Originally Posted by Bubba View Post
    Thank you, Stevie B., but I think "Your Lordship," "Your Excellency," "Your Majesty," and so on are actually third-person forms of address, so "you," grammatically at least (but perhaps not colloquially), is wrong. And why "though"? Do you mean "thou"? I think your suggestions here reveal that, as an inhabitant of a people's republic, you aren't quite up to snuff on how to address those of high station!
    Bubba, I'm not sure where my mind was in my earlier posting because, grammatically speaking, "you" is clearly not the correct choice. I also meant to write "thou," not "though." As a spelling snob who knows how to spell the word "thou," I am left floundering for an excuse. The best one I could come up with is that muscle memory caused me to add the additional -gh since I don't typically write in olde English. Are you buying that explanation?

    Regarding your wrong-headed assertion that I am not "up to snuff" when it comes to addressing "those of high station," I can simply point to the many flawlessly-written exchanges I've had with Eric - whom I believe is the one and only member of the World Literature Forum royal family.
    Last edited by Stevie B; 18-Feb-2012 at 01:03.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Your Lordship

    Wouldn't it be possible to have a bit more context and the original sentence?
    Anyway, would it be too bad to repeat Your Lordship, or a similar form (Your whatever)?
    The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Your Lordship

    I think "you" is alright if followed by "sir".
    "My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful, and optimistic. And we’ll change the world."--Jack Layton

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Your Lordship

    Quote Originally Posted by Loki View Post
    Wouldn't it be possible to have a bit more context and the original sentence?
    Anyway, would it be too bad to repeat Your Lordship, or a similar form (Your whatever)?
    It's Granada in the 1820s; an innkeeper is speaking to a traveler:
    – Oui, seigneur voyageur, lui dit l’hôte, j’avertirai votre Seigneurie dans le cas où la police de Grenade la ferait demander.
    You'll see the French pronoun la. For that reason, I ended up (not with complete confidence) using him in my translation, which you can find here.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Your Lordship

    Thank you for the link and the explanation. It would've been easier to translate into Italian, as they are closer in terms of pronouns.
    The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.

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