11/29/2011

Here's the punch line to Camillo's joke that I started last week:

11/29/2011

Il policeman, che probabilmente secondo il solito era briaco, le addito una strada e quest’anima (che non avev ancora imparato he per non perdersi bisogna consultare una mappa e non domandare informazioni ai policemen) si avvio per la medesima.

The policeman, who because he was alone was probably drunk, recommended a street and this soul (who hadn’t yet learned that if you don’t want to get lost you consult the map, you don’t ask the policeman for directions) started down the same.

Dopo una lunga caminata quest’anima si arriva in una gran citta con grandi edifizi, strade larghe e mal selciate, un cielo piuttosto caliginoso e tante altre cose che non piacequero molto al nostro buon uomo, il quale si era fatta un’idea molto diversa riguardo al Paradiso.

After a long walk, this poor soul arrives in a big city, with big buildings, wide streets and poor roads, a more or less hazy sky and a bunch of other things that didn’t appeal much to our good man, and made quite a different impression of Heaven.

Arrivato al canto d’una strada trova un’anima d’un amico morto poco dianzi e dopo complimenti d’uso gli dice: Mio caro, m’avevan detto che il Paradis era tanto bello e chi ci stava tanto bene, ma ora che ci sono giunto mi trovo proprio deluso, mi pare che questo Paradiso non sia molto piu bello e comfortable di Chicago. Caro mio, respose l’altro, ti sei sbagliato di strada, questo paese dove tu sei arrivato e che tu trovi tanto simile a chicago non e il Paradiso, e l’Inferno.

Just at that minute, he runs into a friend who had just died at that very minute, and after greeting him, he says: My friend, they told me that Heaven was beautiful and that everyone there was happy, but now that I’ve arrived I’m disappointed, it seems to me that Heaven isn’t much more beautiful or comfortable than Chicago. Dear friend, says the other guy, you took the wrong road, this place you’ve come to, the one you find so similar to Chicago, isn’t Heaven, it’s Hell.

November 17, 2011

If anyone out there is following my slow progress--I could use some help with today's translation. I think Camillo is telling a joke--or at the very least being sarcastic and funny about what life is like in Chicago. My translation needs help--it's not really capturing what he's saying. So, if you feel like taking a peek--let me know what your take on this passage is.

Dalle rive del Mississippi

Minneapolis, Minn September 20, 1893

Carissima mamma,
Eccoti una storiella un’po maligna che mi ha raccontato qualche tempo fa un newyorkese a proposito di Chicago e dei suoi abitanti. Dunque devi sapere che secondo la detta storia una chicagoano un bel giorno si mori. E una cosa che capita a tutti ed in tutte le parti del mondo, ma spcialmente nell’Illinois ove abiualmente si beve acqua di cui un goccia contiene 1400 colonie di microbi e dove i treni ferroviari han l’abitudine di telecoparsi quasi ogni giorno (osserva la bellezza e l’evidenza del verbo telescopare inventato qui per dipingere un treno che entra dentro l’altro). Lasciata la spoglia terrena, quest’anima chicagoana si diresse verso il Paradiso ove aveva intenzione di prendere dimora se non che non conoscendo la strada domando al primo policeman che trovo quale fosse la via del Paradiso.

Dearest mother,
Here’s a bad joke that someone told me a little while back...A New Yorker was talking about Chicago and its inhabitants. But you need to know that according to the story it was a good day in Chicago and then you die. This is one of those things that everyone gets, everywhere, but especially in Illinois where its normal everyday people drink the water--in which one drop contains 1400 colonies of microbes and where the trains have the habit of [telescoparsi?--crash into each other?] almost everyday (see the perfect evidence--the verb “telescopare”-telescope--was invented here to describe one train that enters into another). Leaving the barren earth (?) the spirit of the chicagoans is headed to Heaven where he intended to take home, if not the way he knew, the one he asked the first policeman who was drunk as usual and had found the only real road to Paradise.

November 9, 2011

Ho ricevuto una tua lettera ed una tua cartolina susseguente. Perche non hai permesso a Carlo di mandarmi giornali e viceversa non me ne hai mandato nessuno? (due in tutto) Ho lasciato le trattative per il brevetto ed ho deciso di non andar avanti nei miei brevetti e cio per non aver noie. Ho fatto una bestialita a prenderli e questa non sara ne la primane probabilmente l’ultima. Pero di questo un po di colpa ne ha ferraris che quando gli domandai per messo di Carlo consiglio mi ripose piuttosto incoraggiandomi. Una delle mie espreienze attuali e di non domandare mai la via alla gente per strada ma consultare invece la carta e di non domandare consiglio a nessuno e consultare invece la propria ragione.

Io ti lascia per ora ma ti scrivero a lungo un’altra volta.

Salutami tanto tanto lo zio, Emma, Carlo, i bimbi, Ep e Tom.

Ricordami alle signore Carenzi, Gozo, Riva, Rossi, Demaria, Realis, etc.

Un bacio da
Camillo

I received one of your letters and one of your subsequent cards. Why didn’t you give Carlo permission to send me papers and vice versa you haven’t given mine to practically anyone (two in total). I have given up my negotiations for my patent and I decided to not move ahead with my patents to avoid trouble. It was a beast to bring them with me and this probably won’t be the first or last time I do it. However, a little of the blame for this mess lies with Ferraris, because when I asked him for advice by way of Carlo he gave me more or less encouraging advice. One of my experiences, actually, is that it’s better to never ask the people by the road, but instead look at the map and not ask anyone at all--then you really get the right answer.

I’m leaving you for now, but I’ll write a longer letter soon.

Send my love to uncle, Emma, Carlo, the babies, Ep and Tom.

Say hi to Carenzi, Gozo, Riva, Rossi, Demaria, Relais, etc.

A kiss from
Camillo

November 8, 2011

Probabilmente mi fermero circa 3 giorni a Milwaukee, 4 a St. Paul e Minneapolis, 3 in viaggio sul Mississippi da Minneapolis a St. Louis, 5 a St. Louis, 4 a Pittsburgh e Indianapolis, 5 a Buffalo e Toronto, 2 a Montreal, 3 a Quebec, 2 nel Vermont e 5 nelle 1000 islands e montagne circovicine, 2 a Portland, 10 a Boston, 1 ad Albany, 1 a New York (prima volta), 5 a Philadelphia, e 12 a new York in ritorno.

Tutti questi dati sono molto poco approssimativi e forse un po’maggiori del vero. Ad ogni mondo se mi scriverai al 1 di ottobre indirizza le lettere a Quebec, Candada. Se al 10 di ottobre a Boston (Poste restante). Dopo il 10 di ottobre indirizza le lettere a New York presso il signor Bolognesi e Co. Exchange place 67. Naturalmente i telegrammi ulteriori modificheranno queste instruzioni.

Probably I’ll stop about 3 days in Milwaukee, 4 in St. Paul and mInneapolis, 3 travelling on the Mississippi from Minneapolis to St. Louis, 5 in St. Louis, 4 in Pittusburgh and Indianapolis, 5 in Buffalo and Toronto, 2 in Montreal, 3 in Quebec, 2 in Vermont and 5 in the 1,000 islands and mountains around there, 2 in Portland, 10 in Boston, 1 in Albany, 1 in New York (the first time), 5 in Philadelphia, and 12 in New York on the return.

All of these dates are more or less approximate and maybe a little more than they will actually be. Wherever I am you can write to me in Quebec until the first of October. Up til the 10 of October you can send the remaining items to Boston. After the 10th, address the letters to Mr. Bolognesi and Co, 67 Exchange Place. Naturally telegrams would change these instructions.