Archive for Febrero, 2007
Dear colleagues,
In a posting on the popular list web4lib@webjunction.org, dated Sunday, 11 February 2007, Richard Wiggins offered the following comment in which he refers to his wife –also a librarian:
[…] I think what inspires her notion of a library sitcom was the day she sat on the reference desk and an undergrad came up and asked how to find something. Like many libraries, Michigan State’s library has carefully laid out color-coded tapes on the floor showing how to get to the right shelves. Informed to follow a certain tape the student stared at it, looked up puzzled, and said “But it ends here.” My wife told her “It also begins here.”
Translation:
En la popular lista web4lib@webjunction.org (web for libraries) Richard Wiggins se refiere a su mujer, también bibliotecaria, en este mensaje de correo distribuido el domingo 11 de febrero de 2007, :
[…] Pienso que la idea de una comedia cuya acción transcurre en una biblioteca se le ocurrió un día en que estaba sentada en el mostrador de referencia y una estudiante universitaria se acercó a preguntar cómo encontrar algo. Como muchas otras, la biblioteca del Estado de Michigan ha pegado cuidadosamente en el piso cintas de colores codificados que muestran cómo llegar a las estanterías adecuadas. Informada para seguir un determinado color la alumna se quedó mirando la cinta fijamente, desconcertada, y dijo: “Pero termina aquí”. Mi mujer le dijo: “También empieza aquí”.
Veamos el vocabulario:
post = contribución a un blog o a una lista
sitcom = situation comedy = comedia basada en la vida cotidiana
to be puzzled [tu bi pásld] = estar perplejo, desconcertado
to lay out = extender, trazar, exponer
to stare at = mirar fijamente
undergrad = undergraduate student = estudiante de licenciatura
Nos leemos,
Alice Keefer y Tomàs Baiget
Hi,
In a previous strip (not shown in Q&J), Mel, the library manager, decided to rearrange some furniture and to put her desk in the middle of the reading area, in order to control badly behaved users. Dewey, who normally is totally indifferent to management initiatives, responded unpleasantly to this latest change.
In the current strip, we find Dewey seated at Mel’s newly positioned desk, but not bothering to supervise user behaviour:
http://www.overduemedia.com/archive.aspx?strip=20070126
Two teenagers are talking playfully on either side of a bookshelf.
Mel: Why aren’t you stopping them?
Dewey: I’m at my desk.
Mel: “My” desk.
Dewey: Whatever. It’s not my job right now.
Mel: Someone rubbed jelly donut into your shoes.
Dewey: I’m planning on sending you the cleaning bill.
Translation:
En una tira anterior (no introducida en Q&J) Mel, la gerente de la biblioteca, desplazó unos muebles y colocó su mesa en medio de la sala de lectura para vigilar más de cerca el comportamiento de los usuarios. Dewey, normalmente indiferente a las iniciativas administrativas, reaccionó esta vez de forma realmente desagradable.
En la tira de hoy, Dewey está sentado en la recién resituada mesa de Mel, pero sin prestar atención al comportamiento de los usuarios.
Dos adolescentes están jugando a través de una estantería de libros.
Mel: ¿Por qué no les dices que paren?
Dewey: Estoy en mi mesa.
Mel: “Mi” mesa.
Dewey: Da igual. Ahora mismo no es mi trabajo.
Mel: Alguien frotó el relleno de un donut de mermelada en tus zapatos.
Dewey: Pienso enviarte la factura de limpiarlos.
Vocabulario:
furniture = muebles (plural) pero el verbo utilizado es singular:
- The furniture was reorganised in order to optimize the space distribution.
- The tables and chairs were moved around in order to allow for more seating space.
to behave = comportarse; behaviour = comportamiento
- Both Dewey and the teenagers were behaving rather badly.
- Dewey’s unpleasant behaviour was quite uncharacteristic for him.
to bother = molestar, molestarse;
- The teenagers were bothering other library patrons.
- Mel was bothered by Dewey’s attitude because he didn’t even bother to ask them to stop.
to rearrange = volver a colocar o arreglar
- Mel rearranged the papers on her desk.
- If the library decides to open on Sundays, the staff’s work schedule will have to be rearranged.
to rub = frotar:
- Before she moved her desk, the back of Mel’s chair used to rub against the wall.
whatever = lo que sea.
All the best,
Tomàs Baiget & Alice Keefer
