Posted by Tim Johns on May 30, 2003 at 11:17:24 from 147.188.176.135 user Tim.
A current student and an ex-student of mine are currently collabor-
ating in translating "Swallows and Amazons" into Chinese, and from
time to time bombard me with questions about expressions which they
find particularly difficult to understand. A recent query concerns
the oath "Shiver my Timbers". I assume that this is constructed on
the lines of "Damn (my eyes)": ie "May I go blind if I am not telling
the truth." I take it also that "timbers" here means "ship's timbers":
could it also, however, mean "my personal timbers" - ie my legs?
Either way, I suspect that a generalised piece of nautical swearing in
Chinese will be the best that can be managed to convey the flavour of
the original, but it would be interesting to have the observatons of
fellow Tarry timber-shiverers.
Tim Johns