Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Help me understand this phrase, please (Exempt someone you love from morbidity)

Hi everybody!
I'm translating a novel, based on true story durign US Civil War, about 
a woman who, rather than let someone plow over the field where they had 
been buried, decided to bury more than 1,000 soldiers in her own 
backyard. She's also sheltering dozen of orphans and one, in particular, 
has the bad habit to follow her into the cemetery. She doesn't want him 
to and tries her best to be persuasive. And at this point, in the novel, 
come this phrase:
«She'd have made it so that ne never went into any cemetery again and 
never heard of or saw a dead person the rest of his life. She'd done 
plenty of time with the dead, more than enough time to **exempt the 
people she loved from morbidity**». Can anybody please explain me the 
phrase in ** **? What's morbidity, in this case?
Thank you very much for your help!
Claudia

 Claudia
Hello Claudia, the phrase you submitted us doesn't seem to be too much 
obscure. "Exempt someone you love from morbidity"
should mean "Eccetto (esente) chi tu ami morbosamente".

 should mean "Eccetto (esente) chi tu ami morbosamente".
"Esentare quelli che ama dalla malattia".
("malattia" in realta' credo non sia il termine piu' preciso... ma il 
concetto e' quello, non mi viene in mente nulla di piu' preciso ora).
-- 
Laz - [
http://www.dimensionedelta.net
]
"You were the Chosen One!"

Claudia ha scritto:

tiro ad indovinare: la donna non vuole che il ragazzo la segua perche' 
pensa che egli lo faccia per morbosita'
lei ha gia' visto cosi' tanti morti che i suoi amati dovrebbero essere 
esentati dal possedere questi istinti morbosi
forse ....
titolo ed autore dell'opera?
saluti
V.

 wrote in message 
news:434ab99a$0$13357$4faf...@reader2.news.tin.it...

It should mean this - but I'm not quite convinced it does . The context 
should help Claudia decide - if the woman clearly thinks the boy is 
following her because of an unhealthy fascination with the dead bodies , 
then it must mean exactly what you say . I'm not sure , because on the face 
of it the whole sentence suggests that her experience and that from which 
she wishes to save her loved ones is the same (and her interest in the dead 
certainly isn't morbid)  - her experience should be extensive enough to 
'buy' the people she loves the right not to have that experience ; so if the 
orphan is following her because he has become so attached to her that he 
can't bear to let her out of his sight (rather than because of any interest 
in the dead) then 'morbidity' might be taken to mean something like 
'unpleasant and unhealthy experience' . I have to confess that I don't know 
whether it actually could have ever been understood in that way ; an 
American would have a better idea , I think (I'm English) .
Mike


Scusa, Legolas, ma non credo proprio che sia "eccetto chi tu ami 
morbosamente! Prova un po' a tradurre tutta la frase (non limitarti solo 
all'oggetto, altrimenti cosa ho messo una quotation a fare?), ti pare 
abbia senso? C'č quel more than enough time TO exempt [..] che rende la 
tua soluzione non accettabile. Secondo il mio modesto parere, 
ovviamente. Comunque ti ringrazio molto, per avermi risposto, =) perciň 
del tempo speso per pensarci e scrivermi.
Claudia

 
=) come ho risposto a Legolas, hai letto _l'intera_ citazione che ho 
scritto _all'interno_ del messaggio? Direi che, in questo caso, la 
soluzione non è appropriata. Comunque grazie per avermi risposto, quindi 
per aver dedicato del tempo al mio problema =)
Claudia

 
Dear Mike, I've to tell you this ('unpleasant and unhealthy experience') 
was exactly my first guess: she has spent so much time with death she 
now hopes that her loved ones wuold be spared the burden she was forced 
to bear. (I got the same suggestion in another NG). So, thank you very 
much for you explaination, it was of great help =)
Claudia

 soluzione non è appropriata.
Ehm, no, e' appropriata, e lo dico proprio perche' ho letto tutta la 
citazione (mi pare ovvio). "Malattia" nel senso che state discutendo 
"unpleasant and unhealthy experience"... ho scritto che non era il 
termine piu' adatto, ma non mi veniva di meglio, no? Ho trovato una 
bella definizione in giro: Morbidity sta a desease come mortality sta a 
death. Continuo a non trovare un bel termine italiano per renderlo, ma 
il concetto e' chiarissimo.
-- 
Laz - [
http://www.dimensionedelta.net
]
"Well I jumped into the river too many times to make it home"

 Claudia
Dear Claudia,
You convinced me that the phrase sounds weird! Sorry, I was of no help to 
you. Maybe some native speaker can put it right :)