[lit-ideas] Re: "Bleach smells like bleach"
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 7 Feb 2005 12:33:12 EST
In a message dated 2/7/2005 11:53:47 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
pas@xxxxxxxx writes:
"Bleach smells like bleach"
>
>-- The line is supposed to be ironic, but I wonder if other grammatical
>variants -- without 'like' -- are possible to the native speaker.
I think you are going way too deep on this one JL -- but that's what makes
this all fun, right?
----
Well, I was thinking how it would be subtitled in other languages.
In Italian:
smell: sentire
fiutare
odorare
olezzare
bleach: cloruro di calce
But I don't imagine the English line translates as:
Cloruro di calce fiuta _come_ cloruro di calce.
It would seem that the natural way to translate the line is _without_ using
'like', and my point is that there does not seem to be in English a
grammatical way of saying that bleach _smells_ bleach, only _like_ it?
Cheers,
JL
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