oppenheimer

[perigra]

oppenheimer said
"now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds"

this sound like bad english to me.

what do you think?

[delboy3]

He was quoting the Mahabarata [sic]

[perigra]

ah yes now that rings a bell!

so who translated it to english?

were they having a bad day?

[badboy78]

"If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds"

Bhagvad Gita (part of the maharabata i cant remember which) an ancient Indian text spoken by Krishna

[legend004]

I suspect like many ancient texts , they dont translate perfectly into english.
As english didnt exist at that time they cant be said to be bad english.
English can only be said to be a language that cant translate many languages perfectly


dth ?

[whiffey]

The English is grammatically correct, even if unusual.

[tiggerblue10]

Don't think the Japanese were concerned about the English language and how bad it was used!

[legend004]

Surely the point is that its from a language older than english , so its the english thats unusual , not the original ?

[whiffey]

I'm not sure what the point is anyway, Oppenheimer chose a memorable snippet to describe a hugely important milestone in human existence, why pick holes in the grammar?

[legend004]

Surely its not grammaticaly correct as you say , isnt it
now i have become .not now i am ?

[perigra]

i was just wondering why he used bad grammar for this "hugely important milestone"

he could have done the cacan while shouting "did you hear that f***ing bang" and that would have been a "memorable snippet" which i'd have asked a question about too!

[legend004]

Or sang along to britneys ooops i did it ?

[perigra]

i think president truman sang that one after nagasaki!

[pastafreak]

Sometimes when long -held translations are...ummm-updated or "improoved"....the words no longer have the same power and are not so evocative.