Just in case you haven’t seen these ...

[snorkackcatcher]

A few interesting things seen recently:


France and UK considered 1950s 'merger' -- a report on Monday suggested that Britain and France talked about a "union" in the 1950s, even discussing the possibility of the Queen becoming the French head of state, according to a document someone found in the British archives. I must admit, when I saw this in the paper my eyes instinctively flicked to the top of the page to see if it said "April 1^st". Now I knew that Churchill had proposed such a thing in summer 1940 as a desperate solidarity-showing exercise, but reviving the idea a decade and a half later seems very strange. This is pretty much what you would describe as a historical bombshell if true, although apparently the French archives have no record of it whatsoever, which makes me wonder if some practical joker has sneaked a forged document into the archives (that sort of thing has been done before, I believe).



TV series of 'A Song of Ice and Fire' -- HBO in the States have acquired the rights to ASOIAF and are proposing to film it on a one-book-per-series basis. This is probably a good approach, as they're long books and the LOTR (and to an extent HP) films show what happens when you try to cut down long books into 2-3 hours of screentime, and it's not always pretty. On the other hand, they might well cancel the show part-way through leaving the rights in limbo ... I did notice an aside in the article which stated Martin "won't complete the seven-book cycle until 2011", to which my reaction was, I'm afraid, "yeah right, and then some"!



All About Romance's Yearly Cover Contests -- a link seen on ladybracknell's LJ. What you probably want are the links to the "worst cover" contests -- classic bad cover art from romance novels ranging from the ludicrous to the creepy to the anatomically impossible. Also notable for some of the cattier comments which suggest that certain shipper mindsets transfer well to this fandom -- because heaven forfend that average-looking people should ever get laid in a romance novel. (All right, I know, as a reader and writer of HP fanfiction I'm not in a good position to snark at anyone else's literary tastes.)


A terminology question: suppose for the sake of argument that in DH Bill and Fleur get married, and so later on do Harry and Ginny -- what's the term for Gabrielle Delacour in relation to Harry? Can the term "sister-in-law" be made to stretch that far? Does "sister-in-law by marriage" make any sense? Or am I stuck with the clumsy "wife's brother's wife's sister"?

Lyrics: The last one was of course from The Eton Rifles by The Jam in 1979, a classic from one of my favourite bands! lazy_neutrino and ladybracknell spotted it. A bit more recent is this one:

But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.
In your head, in your head they are fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are crying (1990s)

Comments

[golden-d.livejournal.com]

Well, there's always "brother-in-law's wife's sister," which is only slightly less clumsy, but at least a teensy bit better.

[golden-d.livejournal.com]

...and I just have been browsing through the Worst Romance Novel covers, and actually let out a shriek at 2003's Second Runner Up, the "mutant baby in a leopard suit." *shudders* So...disturbing...

[snorkackcatcher]

There are worse ones. :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Mmm. True. I suppose I could always have Harry not being sure what to call her either. :)

[dreamer-marie.livejournal.com]

The song: Zombie, by the Cranberries.
*is proud she knows it*
As for a French-British merger with the Queen of England as head of State... No offense, but I doubt that the French would ever have considered it. It would be perceived as if the 100-Year War and the French Revolution had happened for nothing. So I agree with you that it's probably a practical joke.

[prelud.livejournal.com]

Zombie! I love that song.

[jellybellys.livejournal.com]

Dammit! I thought it was that, and then I was like, no, it doesn't say Zombie anywhere... ;o) I need to get that CD.

[snorkackcatcher]

Well, I try not to give it away by including the bit with the title. :)

[jellybellys.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that might make it too easy for the slow people like me. ;o) I only get the obvious ones.

[snorkackcatcher]

Yep.

[snorkackcatcher]

I thought it might restart the Hundred Years War, so definitely no offence. Apparently the papers were declassified twenty years ago but have only just been noticed, which is a bit strange. If true I have absolutely no idea what Guy Mollet could have been thinking of. (Although the secondary proposal to join the Commonwealth made slightly better sense, on a trade basis.)

[tree_and_leaf]

Brother-in-law's wife?

That sounds odd, though. Wife's sister-in-law.

I think the French PM probably revived the idea purely for the amusement on seeing de Gaulle's reaction... Did you see Marcel Berlin's take on it in the Grauniad a few days ago?

[snorkackcatcher]

I didn't, no (and I couldn't find a link). I must admit, I do like the idea of it being done solely to raise the General's blood pressure.

Actually, I rather like "wife's sister-in-law" -- thanks!

Have a link?

[tree_and_leaf]

The article is here, but the relevant section starts about half way through:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1992109,00.html

Re: Have a link?

[snorkackcatcher]

Ah, thanks. Yes, very sensible. I still can't imagine what Mollet was thinking, though!

Re: Have a link?

[tree_and_leaf]

.... I think this will remain one of history's mysteries!

[masterofmystery.livejournal.com]

'Wife's sister-in-law's sister'? I dunno, that's quite the relationship there.

[snorkackcatcher]

Yeah. Fortunately, I've just discovered that I can write around it. :)

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle Delacour? No relation at all, I think. Gabrielle is Bill's sister-in-law, and Fleur is Harry's sister-in-law, but Gabrielle isn't Harry's anything, or even Ginny's anything.

Of course, it took me about five minutes of trying to figure out how this would map onto my own family to work this out, so I think you could probably get away with "sister-in-law."

[tree_and_leaf]

I now have the line from 'Iolanthe' about 'He shall prick that annual blister/ marriage with deceased wife's sister' running around in the back of my mind.

[snorkackcatcher]

I know -- it feels like there should be a term for it (and according to sugarannie, there is in German, which unfortunately doesn't help unless perhaps there's a corresponding term in French). Fortunately, however, I was doodling with Gabrielle's introductory paragraph last night and this morning and realised I could just phrase it as something like "Ginny had never been fond of her relative by marriage ..."

[sugarannie.livejournal.com]

The song is "Zombie" (Yay, I knew one again)...

To your terminology question.
In German, there is the term "Schwippschwager/Schwippschwägerin" for that kind of relation. Although it is more colloquial, it exists.
No idea about English, though.

[snorkackcatcher]

It is indeed. I'm glad to hear that the idea does make sense, although I suppose I can't use it as Harry's most unlikely to know colloquial German terms. :(

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Well, the song is 'Zombie' by the Cranberries. As for Harry-to-Gabrielle, I don't know. I guess sister-in-law-by-marriage would work, since sister-in-law would refer to a sister Ginny had, and Fleur becomes (presumably) Ginny's sister-by-marriage. If that makes any sense.

Another good thing about HBO doing ASOIAF is that they are a premium network and are subject to far less censorship than most regular networks in the US. Meaning they won't have to whitewash the novels.

[snorkackcatcher]

That's a thought -- a bowdlerised version would miss a lot of the point! As for the term, I seem to have stumbled across one of those things that seems to make sense but doesn't have an actual standard term. :)

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Well, how often do you need such a term? I mean, I'm pretty sure that at least three of my four aunts and uncles by marriage have siblings, but I have no recollection of actually having met any of them, and while I suppose my parents would have met them at the weddings, I doubt that it's ever happened since.

Then again, things might be very different in the wizarding world, where everybody seems to know everybody else.

[snorkackcatcher]

Not often, admittedly. :) I suppose I imagined it was the sort of thing that people once kept track of, in the days when they knew whether someone was a third cousin twice removed or whatever.

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't know if you're familiar with these at all, but HBO was the network that did the series Rome last year, and they teamed up with the BBC to do the Elizabeth I miniseries starring Helen Mirren. Though they're best known for Sex in the City and The Sopranos, I guess, so they've got no qualms about violence or sex.

[snorkackcatcher]

Aren't they cancelling Rome though? I'm sure they haven't reached the point where the barbarians are storming the gates yet. :)

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

Are they? I'd only heard about the second season! If so, that's a shame. Rome was great fun.

[snorkackcatcher]

Found a link. :)

[themolesmother.livejournal.com]

A French-English merger? Bloody hell, now I've heard it all.

dreamermarie is right. The French'd never have gone for it. For a start it makes complete nonsense of the whole "separation of church and state" thing they're so big on.

Would have been interesting to see them try, though. The Hundred Years War would be as nothing to the resulting kerfuffle.

MM

[snorkackcatcher]

I'm not sure the Brits would have gone for it either. :)