# backbone-of-England surname and English scale



## parolearruffate

Ciao,
chi mi sa spiegare questa frase?
His backbone-of-England surname and English scale concealed the fact that he was not English at all.
Grazie


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## Einstein

_Backbone of England_ = la parte solida, più tradizionale dell'Inghilterra. Qui (con i trattini perché fa da aggettivo) si capisce che aveva un cognome tutto inglese.
_English scale_ è meno facile, ma direi che aveva una corporatura tipica di un inglese (forse era di un paese dove la gente in generale era più piccola).


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## raffavita

Ciao a tutti.
 Incredibile a dirsi, ma sto traducendo la stessa identica frase e non sono convinta di "scale."

Ho pensato anche io a* stazza, corporatura*.
Non sono del tutto convinta, però.

Altre ipotesi?
Grazie mille a tutti voi e Buone Feste!


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## rocamadour

Io direi: "Il suo cognome di soldida discendenza angolosassone e l'aspetto tipicamente inglese dissimulavano il fatto che non fosse inglese affatto".
Secondo me il significato di *scale* è il secondo tra quelli che in genere riportano i dizionari, ossia _scaglia_, _squama_, _incrostazione_, etc. (ovvero il rivestimento esterno).

Buone feste a te, Raffuzza!


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## london calling

rocamadour said:


> Io direi: "Il suo cognome di soldida discendenza angolosassone e l'aspetto tipicamente inglese dissimulavano il fatto che non fosse inglese affatto".
> Secondo me il significato di *scale* è il secondo tra quelli che in genere riportano i dizionari, ossia _scaglia_, _squama_, _incrostazione_, etc. (ovvero il rivestimento esterno).


Non mi sarebbe mai venuto in mente scaglia/squama leggendo la frase in inglese. Rivestimento esterno forse sì, però. Comunque, per cercare di capirci qualcosa, sono andata a leggere il contesto:

_His backbone-of-England surname and English scale concealed the fact that he was not, at least technically, English at all. British by nationality and passport, yes, but German by birth, French by upbringing, and Jewish by religion.

_e sono d'accordo con te, si riferisce all'aspetto esteriore.


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## raffavita

Ciao ragazze!


Perfetto, allora.

Grazie mille!


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## mr cat

Could scale refer to his voice here? As in the modulation, his accent? I know it would be an unusual use of the word but would make sense, and scale meaning outward appearance is also a bit unusual in this sentence.


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## Anja.Ann

Ciao a tutti  

Seguendo Mr. Cat nell'ambito musicale  ... potremmo intendere "scale" come "registro" e "stile"?


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## rocamadour

mr cat said:


> Could scale refer to his voice here? As in the modulation, his accent? I know it would be an unusual use of the word but would make sense, and scale meaning outward appearance is also a bit unusual in this sentence.



Secondo me mr cat ha ragione!!! 
 La sua interpretazione ha molto più senso del mio "barbaro" tentativo...


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## raffavita

Hi, Mr Cat.

I'm wondering whether there is a typically British-sounding voice.

Una voce tipicamente anglosassone?
Grazie anche a te.


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## rocamadour

raffavita said:


> Hi, Mr Cat.
> 
> I'm wondering whether there is a typically British-sounding voice.
> 
> Una voce tipicamente anglosassone?
> Grazie anche a te.



Non la voce, ma la cadenza sì! Penso che l'imitazione del tipico inglese possa essere fatta in tutte le lingue...


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## luway

A me 'scale' per 'size/dimension' (o, meglio, per 'proportion') continua però a suonare plausibile...



rocamadour said:


> Non la voce, ma la cadenza sì! Penso che  l'imitazione del tipico inglese possa essere fatta in tutte le  lingue...



In effetti, considerando la 'cadenza' potrebbe starci anche questo, per estensione...
(scale - *7. * _Music_  An ascending or descending collection of pitches proceeding by a specified scheme of intervals)


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## raffavita

All I know about this man is that he is quite tall!

This is tough. Ouch!


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## rocamadour

Ok, è alto... Quindi potrebbe essere entrambe le cose. Ma in che paese si trova quest'uomo?


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## raffavita

_In Cornovaglia.
Ma non è affatto British._


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## mr cat

An English accent, as you may find in Cornwall or anywhere in England, in this context simply means one that does not sound foreign and may suggest an RP accent. I would also add that scale here is definitely ambiguous so I would suggest translating it with whatever you feel defines him as English.


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## Giorgio Spizzi

Cari Raffa e tutti.

_"... non era per niente inglese. Britannico per nazionalità e passaporto, sì, ma tedesco per nascita, francese per formazione, ed ebreo per religione."
_
Quanto a "scale" io voto per:

1. figura
2. fattezza/e
3. personale

GS


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## raffavita

Ciao Giorgio!
Long time no see, uh?
Anche io sono più incline a leggere "scale" come "aspetto, fattezze, ecc.

Bellissima traduzione!
Grazie a tutti voi!!!


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## rocamadour

raffavita said:


> Bellissima traduzione!



Decisamente. Concordo 
Ciao Raffuzza, ciao tutti!


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## You little ripper!

I agree with Einstein that it's referring to his size.

scale
_singular/uncountable] the size of something especially when it is big._


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## raffavita

Hi, Charles!!

 It's nice to see you!!

Thank you sooo much!!
Thank you, everybody!


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## Einstein

Charles Costante said:


> I agree with Einstein that it's referring to his size.
> 
> scale
> _singular/uncountable] the size of something especially when it is big._


Mi sembra la cosa più credibile. Insolito, sì, ma per la voce lo trova meno plausibile ancora; non si direbbe "scale", ma "accent" o "intonation".

Squame no, assolutamente, a meno che non avesse una strana malattia della pelle e dal testo non risulta!


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## raffavita

Ciao Einstein!


Allora, o stazza, mole... o aspetto, che è più generico.
Ora faccio testa o croce.
Grazie mille a tutti voi! E buon anno!!


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## Anja.Ann

Charlie, Einstein, ciao! 

Please, forgive me but, if so, it would mean that all "English people" have the same _scale_: the original sentence says _"English _scale", that is, "scale" is a typical feature characterizing English people?
Don't you like "aspetto", as suggested by Raffa?


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## Einstein

Anja.Ann said:


> Charlie, Einstein, ciao!
> 
> Please, forgive me but, if so, it would mean that all "English people" have the same _scale_: the original sentence says _"English _scale", that is, "scale" is a typical feature characterizing English people?
> Don't you like "aspetto", as suggested by Raffa?


Yes, I think "aspetto" could work. The important thing was to avoid references to the voice or the reptilian skin.


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## rocamadour

Einstein said:


> Yes, I think "aspetto" could work. The important thing was to avoid references to the voice or the reptilian skin.


Beh, non si può dire che ci manchi la fantasia...


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## london calling

Einstein said:


> Yes, I think "aspetto" could work. The important thing was to avoid references to the voice or the reptilian skin.


That's what I meant in my post as well! As I said, I could (just about) take "scale" to mean "covering" of some sort, so _aspetto (esteriore)_ works from that point of view if you will, but I think the most important thing is that if you read the text it's quite obvious that the author's saying essentially he could pass for English (but not because of his voice).

I still find the use here very odd, in any case. As Anja says, do English people all have the same "scale"?? Plus,  _English scale_ to me means Imperial weights and measures, for the records...


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## mr cat

Hi London Calling, whilst I agree that of the options 'scale' meaning size would be the most obvious, as you have pointed out, to suggest that his size defined him as English doesn't make sense either (unless of course he was to be found among a generally small race). I don't think that his voice can be dismissed totally, after all this is creative writing, and in sociolinguistics there is something known as 'formality scale' (obviously a more standard use of the word) which refers to register. The word scale in the given text could be substituted for register and would then make more sense. However I concur that it would be simpler to go with 'aspetto' !


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## london calling

mr cat said:


> Hi London Calling, whilst I agree that of the options 'scale' meaning size would be the most obvious, as you have pointed out, (Not me!  I didn't advocate "size", for the same reason you state here) to suggest that his size defined him as English doesn't make sense either (unless of course he was to be found among a generally small race). I don't think that his voice can be dismissed totally, after all this is creative writing, and in sociolinguistics there is something known as 'formality scale' (obviously a more standard use of the word) which refers to register. The word scale in the given text could be substituted for register and would then make more sense. Definitely a possibility, that's a new one on me, thanks..  However I concur that it would be simpler to go with 'aspetto' !


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## mr cat

Sorry LC , I was confusing you with Einstein's much earlier post.


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## Anja.Ann

mr cat said:


> Hi London Calling, whilst I agree that of the options 'scale' meaning size would be the most obvious, as you have pointed out, to suggest that his size defined him as English doesn't make sense either (unless of course he was to be found among a generally small race). I don't think that his voice can be dismissed totally, after all this is creative writing, and in sociolinguistics there is something known as 'formality scale' (obviously a more standard use of the word) which refers to register. The word scale in the given text could be substituted for register and would then make more sense. However I concur that it would be simpler to go with 'aspetto' !



Hello, Mr. Cat  

I'm glad to read that "register" would make more sense than "scale" in this case: I suggested "registro" and "stile" in my post #8 ... I thought of a possible connection with music where "scale" is "register" and "style"


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