April 03, 2004
'Bread-loose citizen journalism'
While we are busily at work trying to get through oir reports on the final public hearing on same-sex marriage before the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners and on this week's multi-candidate forum and fair, we took a break and managed to come across this reference to our profile in Monday's Oregonian on a German weblog.
Not being at all familiar with German, we of course ran it through the Babelfish translator and ended up with this:
Bread-loose citizen journalism
In the Oregonian is a pretty Portrait of b!x, to the one-man local newspaper editorship behind the haven country communique.
Interesting to it (among other things.): Someone that daily seven one half cigarettes smokes, applies in the USA already as a chain smoker. And: It actually gives in the states adults to persons without driving licence.
B!x is a broken off student somehow and in haven country gestranded. In order better know its new environment to learn, he than Selfmade local reporters on the socks made and is written since then over the regional policy and economy in his Web log. The stupid to it: It does not bring in anything.
Nevertheless or straight therefore: A beautiful report.
Instantly our favorite online reference to ourselves and our newspaper profile. Plus, we now intend to make copious use of "the stupid to it" in our everyday conversations, where appropriate.
Comments (9)
myrln on 03 Apr 2004
Methinks Babelfish doth translate too loosely! A classic.And a prime place to be gestranded?
torridjoe on 03 Apr 2004
No promises, but let me crank up my German and see if I can fill in the holes:
Profitless Town Journalist (ie, the de facto town journo, done as a free service)
In the Oregonian is a cute portrait of B!x, the one-man editorial department behind Portland Communique.
Interesting things: he smokes seven cigarettes a day, which in the US makes you a chainsmoker. [Germany is still festooned with serious smokers; by comparison we are clean living folk==ed] And: in the US there are actually adults who do not drive.
B!ix is a dropout student, who somehow got stranded [perhaps run aground] in Portland. To better learn about his new surroundings, he became a self made local reporter pounding the pavement, and writes about the regional politics and economy in his weblog. The dumb [crazy] thing about it: he's not getting paid.
All the same or perhaps therefore, it's good reporting.
Congrats! You're a multinational conglomerate!
TJ
The One True b!X on 03 Apr 2004
Well, you know, I do occasionally refer to Portland Communique global headquarters.
Jason on 03 Apr 2004
The mystery is gone...b!X has gone public.
Maybe if I leave a trail of American Spirits, I can lure him back into hiding... :)
The One True b!X on 03 Apr 2004
Well, I haven't noticed any flock of groupies making downtown Stumptown an unbearable experience for me, so I think I'm still safe.
I will say, however, that the fact that so many more people recognize me and understand why I am there when I go out to report on things is tremendously useful.
gren99 on 03 Apr 2004
d'oh. i guess i'm a bit late with my translation. but for good measure, i did translate the postscript that the guy put up on his blog. here goes:
Breadless Citizen Journalism
In 'The Oregonian', there is a nice feature on b!x, the one-man community newspaper editor behind the Portland Communique.
The interesting stuff (among others): In the United States, a person who smokes 7.5 cigarettes is labeled a 'chainsmoker'. And: There really are some adults in the US who don't have a drivers license.
B!x is a college dropout who wound up stranded in Portland. In order to get to know his new neighborhood a bit better, he took up the beat as a self-made local reporter and since then has written about the regional politics and economy in his blog. The crazy thing about that: he isn't making any money off of this.
Besides that -- or perhaps because of that: a nice feature.
Postscript: In the mean time, b!x discovered the little link to this little blog, and, being quite amused by the Babelfish translation of this entry, he resolved that in the right opportunity, he would work the automatic translation of 'Das Dumme daran' ('the stupid to it') into conversations. Thus, one becomes the midwife to popularizing a phrase. Thank you. Please. Your welcome. ;-)
***
some notes:
i'm 33 and don't have a drivers license. i don't think we're THAT much of a rare occurrence. :)
in german, you aren't a 'student' until you hit the college level, ergo the terminology here means college drop out.
that first sentence of the postscript is a monster. well, either that or my german has gotten pretty crappy.
the bit about 'gefügelter Worte' in the second sentence of the postscript is a nice german turn of the phrase for which i can't really think of a good english analog of. it literally means 'words with wings' or 'winged words' -- think of it as meaning 'starting the latest verbal fad'.
the 'danke. bitte. gerne geschehen.' is a pretty typical (if ever-so tongue-0in-cheek) exchange that people might partake of if they are trying to laud one another for great public effect (or if they want to be ever-so smartass about the whole process of saying 'thank you'. :)
Jack Bog on 04 Apr 2004
I like the part about the socks.
Lynn Siprelle on 04 Apr 2004
Personally I'm fond of Portland being translated as "haven country." Sounds like a good name for a Portland blog...
longtimeportres on 07 Apr 2004
dude..7 smokes makes you a chain-smoker? God, what am I then @ 60 a day? Most would say...dead soon.