Hi again,
In a great biography of W. Churchill I've found the story of a giant poster that appeared in the Strand, London, in the summer of 1939.

The big thing said: What Price Churchill?

Reading the chapter in which the reference is included, or at least the best part of it, I cannot ascertain for sure what was the intention of the plea. At first sight it looked as an interpellation asking How much have you been paid, you traitor? —and therefore coming from Chamberlainites and pro-appeasement MPs (even at this advanced stage of pre-WWII events).
The alternative (and doubt) is that it may be implying the opposite, e.g.: How much do you want to be reinstated in the government? (so: please accept, you saviour of the fatherland, so to say).[I tend to think that this the good interpretation, but I need to check it for sure. No Internet explanation found, just images.]
Spanish history was far away from the British one in those days (and still is), so, strange as it may sound, I have no real idea about the intention of this local fact, which on the other hand I suppose to be a well known one for Londoners and British alike.

Thanks a lot for all your help. :-)

CM

It was put up by an anonymous supporter of Churchill - at the time several newspapers (Times and Express excepting) were also running blatant campaigns to get him appointed to the cabinet, which Chamberlain was adamantly resisting, even then. The hoarding site was owned by a London advertising company which ran billboards throughout the city called "A.A. Co Ltd" and had offices nearby. Its chairman was a staunch supporter of Churchill so he probably paid for it.

The intended meaning was to "get him appointed at any price" and around the same time the Evening Standard ran an editorial with this as the headline too.

I see, nordmann. It's then tantamount to a particular kind of appraisal —and that solves the point.

Thanks once again. I feel really luky to have access to this forum. 

Take care,

CM

Yes, it's s piece of phraseology.

From Collins online dictionary;

You use what price in front of a word or expression that refers to something happening when you want to ask how likely it is to happen. You usually do this to emphasize either that it is very likely or very unlikely.

eg:
What price a glorious repeat of last week's triumph?

Yes, I understand. It's meaning is nevertheless quite far from obvious to the Spanish own phraseology (or at least mine). The more books I translate (more than a hundred in 20 years), the more I see how different (and how similar, on some concerns) are the British (or English native speaker) and Spanish mind frames. But that's the whole interest of that exercice, isn't it? —Set aside what can be learnt from the actual contents of the books themselves.

Thanks again.

CM

Yes ComicMonster, the same with Dutch, although it is perhaps more similar to English than Spanish.

Some words in English have still their original concept, while they in Dutch are had an evolution to another concept. For instance "wijf" that had up to the 19th century and even in dialect up to the Sixties the same concept as the English one and is now pejorative.
https://www.vandale.nl/gratis-woordenboek/nederlands/betekenis/wijf#.XHb1O8JYYdV

PR

Beware, Paul. In expressions like "Fishwife" it has a rather different meaning. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fishwife

Not to mention an Alewife. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alewife

ComicMonster wrote:

Spanish history was far away from the British one in those days (and still is), so, strange as it may sound, I have no real idea about the intention of this local fact, which on the other hand I suppose to be a well known one for Londoners and British alike.

By coincidence I'm currently reading Una Breve Historia de la Guerra Civil Española (2009) by Inigo Bolinaga. For me it's more of a brain training exercise than anything else because I'm not at all fluent in Spanish. In fact I'm barely a beginner and so I'm regularly needing to refer to my Collins Spanish Dictionary & Grammar to get along. One passage in particular is causing me difficulty. It relates to Franco's early career as a junior army officer in Morocco in the 1920s:

'Fue uno de los militares más decididos a la hora de sostener la guerra contra la República del Rif hasta derrotarla, costara lo que costara, haciéndose así un puesto destacado entre los sectores más duros y bellicosos del ejército; tanto que es famosa la anécdota que cuenta que organizó un banquete con motive de la llegada a África del dictador Miguel Primo de Rivera, en el que todos los platos estaban compuestos por huevos, haciéndole ver que eso era precisamente lo que le faltaba. No hay duda de que a Primo de Rivera se le debió de indigestar el banquete, pero no se atrevió a firmar un expediente que sin duda habría merecido. El cadete “Franquito” de la academia militar, moreno, bajito y de voz atiplada, se había convertido en un mito par alas nuevas generaciones militares, que le admiraban como uno de los heroés de Marruecos. Ya era un símbolo. Y contra eso no podía hacer nada ni siquiera el dictador.

Apócrifa o no, la anécdota del banquete de huevos sirve como ejemplo del talante que se gastaban los militares africantistas, entre los que decididamente se hallaba Franco, contra todo aquel que se atreviera a insinuar el abandono de la zona de inflencia española en el norte de África.'

I've translated that as:

He was one of the soldiers most in favour at that time in support of the war against the Rif Republic, regardless of the cost, it being an outstanding issue between the harder and more bellicose sections of the army; so much so that there is a famous anecdotal story relating to the organization of a banquet on the occasion of a visit to Africa of the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera, in which all the dishes comprised eggs,? to see that thing precisely that which ?. Have no doubt that Primo de Rivera himself got indigestion at the banquet, but didn’t dare himself  to sign a document that without doubt needed to be discussed. The cadet ‘Franquito’ of the military academy, dark, short and with high-pitched voice, had converted himself into a myth for all the new military generation, who admired him as one of the heroes of Morocco. Already a symbol. And against whom no-one was able to build anything not even the dictator.      
 
Apocryphal or not, the anecdote of the banquet of eggs serves as an example of the talent the African soldiers, between those who decided to follow Franco, against all those dared to suggest the abandonment of the Spanish zone of influence in north Africa.    

As you can see that's a very poor and primitive translation with words such as haciéndole and faltaba untranslated. Needless to say I don't get the story of the banquet of the eggs and that's perhaps because I'm not even sure that I've translated it accurately. Any corrections or pointers, therefore, would be gratefully received.

Green George wrote:

Beware, Paul. In expressions like "Fishwife" it has a rather different meaning. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/fishwife

Not to mention an Alewife. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alewife

Gil (GG), up to my childhood as I knew some "viswijven" in Ostend, we had it both the honest way and the more pejorative one as in English




And as my mother went asking on Wednesday in our small city what fish they wanted for Friday and then distributed it on Friday with her bicycle, later my father with the van, and while I went to school overthere, my sister and I being in our grandma's house although our house was in Ostend, the schoolboys called me "viswijf" or "Mary fish", because my grandma was very well known in the small city. And in the inland small towns the fishbussiness was still seen in those! days as dirty. Now fish is a delicatesse overthere.

Alewife is our "elft, fint, geep" and is called "meivis" (mayfish) because it is catched mostly in May...
But I have never seen it at the fishmarkets of the Belgian coast, perhaps it was more for sport fishery?

Regards from Paul.

Hello Vizzer,
first of all, I apologize for my long-delayed answer. As a full-time job, translating is a wonderful profession, but one has to work very long hours (6.15 AM to 8.30 PM in my case, with nothing in between but breakfast, lunch and a short stroll for coffee).
But I absolutely want to try at least to throw some light to those eggs that cause you trouble.
I dare to say that from Pithecanthropus to perhaps cold cosmos death, eg (just one "g"), male attributes have persistently been considered as a sign of strength, virility, courage, power, gallantry and whatnot. If warm weather is a factor, Mediterranean people have perhaps more than diligently emphasized this binomial, but indivisible, quality. So, in serving PdR a menu which included a lot of eggs, the frail future dictator wanted to show the one in service, that he was lacking just that, eggs (as symbolizing bollocks), and therefore all the male virtues so highly priced by the young (and probably hipogonadic) Franquito, who by the same expedient was reasserting his own presumed plethora of such a miraculous ingredient.

Your translation is quite correct on the whole.

haciéndole ver que eso era precisamente lo que le faltaba


This is just: [They] were "making him see" (or putting him before the evidence) that this was precisely what he was "lacking" (or not having —or than half an egg was better than none…).

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

CM

Thank you so much CM for that and there's certainly no need to apologize for having given such a helpful answer and within 24 hours too. If anything I feel a bit guilty at having presented you with something of a busman's holiday there.

But yes - the phrase haciéndole ver que eso era precisamente lo que le faltaba is key to the whole passage. And your translation, plus the added nuanced explanation (which a native English-speaker mightn't get), makes all the difference. Thanks again.

Your phrase 'the eggs that cause you trouble' made me chuckle in more ways than one. The reason is that, although I like eggs (and dishes comprising eggs), they don't necessarily like me and can cause bloating. So I can well sympathise with Primo de Rivera and his indigestion in that respect. All we need now is for someone to say what all these egg-based dished were. I'll guess at tortilla (at least) and then perhaps also huevos rotos. That latter dish can sound unfortunate to English-speaking ears so maybe huevos estrellados might be a better alternative. That said - 'crashed nads' (as a translation) is probably even worse than huevos rotos but 'starry eggs' (on the other hand) sound just delightful.

No worries. My pleasure.

You have also draw a smile in my face with 'starry eggs' and other comments.

Wish I had more time, but I'll probably get my revenge when retired.

All the best.

CM

Vizzer wrote:

... I can well sympathise with Primo de Rivera and his indigestion in that respect. All we need now is for someone to say what all these egg-based dished were. I'll guess at tortilla (at least) and then perhaps also huevos rotos. That latter dish can sound unfortunate to English-speaking ears so maybe huevos estrellados might be a better alternative. That said - 'crashed nads' (as a translation) is probably even worse than huevos rotos but 'starry eggs' (on the other hand) sound just delightful.

What was the date of this banquete? ... I rather feel it merits an eggy dish-of-the-day.

In his book Bolinaga doesn't specify a date. The following webpage, however, gives it as 19 July 1924:

Ben-Tieb-y-el-menu-de-huevos

P.S. I suppose in English we'd tend to use the word 'nuts' where some other languages use 'eggs' in that way.