Girl Genius V: Madre de Diodes!

[Gez]

We also know from Othar's Twitter that Voltaire has built the scribing engine of Paris' Autonomous Library. And quite earlier in the comic, the inventor of the calming pie thought that his recipe surpassed Brillat-Savarin's creations.

[LurkerInPlayground]

Yes, this has me thinking that Gil's accounting of Zola's escapades may not have been entirely accurate. She seems more cunning, at least, than he gives her credit for being. It's possible that he was being played all those times he rescued her... or simply that Spark-y hubris led him to underestimate her.

No. Gil's assessment of her is accurate. There is no conspiracy theory involving just how about how her every action is some underhanded stratagem. She just wastes all her cunning on "get-rich-quick" styled schemes or more appropriately "get-important-quick" schemes.

It's important to note what Gil *is* saying, which is that she's dumber than he is (i.e. Gil is a genius compared to virtually everybody) and that she gets herself into trouble because she has really bad judgment. Fans simply need to separate the ability to make raw calculations (i.e. intelligence) from judgment or emotionally-charged decisions.

Smart people make really dumb decisions because of the latter reasons simply because they never stopped to think it through or cannot stop to think it through. Zola has just such a blind spot about being special or the heroine of her own fairy tale -- even if she isn't especially dimwitted.

What's more, she learned from her previous mistakes, but this largely took the form of her being incredibly ruthless. This is perhaps the "wrong" lesson to take away from her previous escapades, as it still made her take an incredible risk while deliberately setting out to make enemies.

[Midnight Lurker]

Can anyone translate the French on that blueprint?

[Elaro]

I can. It's terrible French, though.

Here goes.

FIRST PANEL
Un Lapin Géant : A Giant Rabbit
Déguisement : Disguise [Note: They were trying to say "A giant rabbit disguise", but the actual grammar for that would be "un déguisement de lapin géant". The actual expression, though, is "un costume de lapin géant".]
Oreille : Ear
Dents : Teeth
Cravate d'arc : Bow tie [the actual French for bow tie is "noeud papillon".]
Fourrure [misspelled in the comic] : fur
Épaule : Shoulder
Mamelon : the male equivalent of a teat
Joint : Joint
Griffes : Claws
Peu vilain: "A little bit of villain" ? I have no idea what they mean. Perhaps they were referring to the potbelly? If so, then the word is "Embonpoint". Wierd.
Queue Pelucheuse (non montrée) : Furry tail (not shown)
Chat : Cat
Genou : Knee
Frapper du pied la chose : Hit, with the foot, the thing. [Yeah, I don't know what they mean by that.]

SECOND PANEL
Modèles idiots de costume de lapin: Stupid models of rabbit suit. [I think the correct French phrase here is "Modèles idiots d'un costume de lapin" (Stupid models of a rabbit suit), and not what's written in the comic. Sigh.]

[Ganurath]

I can. It's terrible French, though.

"I was built to create, not translate! Philistines..."

[Eldan]

Well, considering where the arrow is pointing, "Peu vilain" might be supposed to mean "naughty bits". I agree on the terrible french, though. (Mine isn't much better, but still, 9 years of french in school aren't easily forgotten.)

[Jahkaivah]

I keep on forgetting that we are in a filler arc

[VariaVespasa]

Well, considering where the arrow is pointing, "Peu vilain" might be supposed to mean "naughty bits". I agree on the terrible french, though. (Mine isn't much better, but still, 9 years of french in school aren't easily forgotten.)

I dunno, I found it quite easy to forget. Thank god. German was MUCH more fun. Its like building a language with lego. :)

[Eldan]

We have even more german in school. Our ancestors could never come up with a written language, since every second town has it's own words, phrases, grammar and pronounciation. And, of course, they can't possibly write them the same way as the others over there on the other side of the river.
So, the only solution was to just adopt german as the written language and forget about the entire thing.

[Gez]

Terrible French.

"Un lapin géant déguisement" should be "Costume de lapin géant"
"cravate d'arc", as said, should be "noeud pap"
"Frappen (sic) du pied la chose" should be, well, I'm not sure what they were trying to say, but "piétinner la chose" would already be better.
"naughty bits", on the top of my head, I don't see a direct equivalent. Plenty of similar expressions ("intimate parts", "family jewels" and so on) but not "naughty bits". Still, "peu villain" is nonsensical. Translates to "not much villainous"...

[Eldan]

I know. I just looked at the where the arrow was pointing, got myself a list of all translations of both "peu" and "villain" and still took me five minutes to come up with something tha tmade sense. I could be wrong, though.

[eee]

Enough with the French lessons! Focus on the important stuff! Like how adorable Zeetha looks in the last panel! That hanging forelock really does things for her...

Also, it appears Krosp has just gotten really, really large.

No good can come of this.

[Occasional Sage]

No good can come of this.

Except that the last panel can (by squinting just a bit) show Agatha groping Zeetha. Let's hear it for unintentional fanservice!

[lord_khaine]

Except that the last panel can (by squinting just a bit) show Agatha groping Zeetha. Let's hear it for unintentional fanservice!

are we sure its unintentional?

[Brother Oni]

Could 'peu vilian' be a nickname for genitalia, much like OotS Roy's 'trouser titan' reference?

I suddenly get an image of Mini-Me from Austin Powers now...

[Gez]

Could 'peu vilian' be a nickname for genitalia, much like OotS Roy's 'trouser titan' reference?

I suddenly get an image of Mini-Me from Austin Powers now...

Yeah, it's a naive, clumsy, approximatively literal translation of naughty bit. "Peu" in "un peu de" could translate to "bit" in "a bit of", "naughty" as in "naughty children" could translate to "villain" in "villains enfants", and who cares that they're not the actual translations needed in the context they're used? So they wanted to translate "naughty bit" and it came out as "not very ugly". Just like "bow tie" came out as "cravate d'arc"...

Not a nickname, just the English-to-French equivalent of Engrish. Flançais?



And the rabbit hole is not open yet. I expected it to be the reason for a post at this time...

[Ganurath]

Not a nickname, just the English-to-French equivalent of Engrish. Flançais?

I believe the technical term is Frenglish.

[Gez]

I believe the technical term is Frenglish.

Non, that is when you have a mélange of both vocabulaires because people use expressions or verbs of the other language when they're too paresseux to souvenir themselves of the adequat word in the language they are using.

Just like Engrish is not Japenglese or whatever other portmanteau word you want but pure English, just with mistakes committed through a lack of actual familiarity with the language, here we have English-free French but with mistakes.





AND to move away from this debate, the rabbit hole is open. Zeetha is still horribly cute.

[eMpTy Kay]

Sneaky Gate is open

Spoiler

Show

Zeetha's bunny tail is so cute. Is it wrong that I want a bunny outfit like that for my wife?

And we see that we had been given a foreshadow of the clock in the tummy

[BRC]

Spoiler

Show

Fashion Clank is giving Der Kestle a run for it's money in terms of which is my favorite sentient clockwork thing

[Ganurath]

Spoiler

Show

It's got a clock on its tummy!

[dogmac]

Empty Kay, I was just thinking "Is it wrong I want a bunny outfit like Agatha's"?

[Oracle_Hunter]

It looks like the Foglios are taking "cute ears" lessons from Shaenon Garrity.

Also: Phil's latest fetish gear only serves to remind me that his was the mind behind XXXenophile.

Is he the dirtiest old man in webcomics? Do we want to see his competition?

[FoE]

Depends on how you term "dirty".

I dare any one of you guys to tell me that's not awesome.

[Knight13]

Is anyone else really surprised the Zeetha of all people is all happy about the clock? I can see her being like that if the suit had big swords or something, but a clock just doesn't seem like her cup of tea.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Is anyone else really surprised the Zeetha of all people is all happy about the clock? I can see her being like that if the suit had big swords or something, but a clock just doesn't seem like her cup of tea.

Just because Zeetha is a Hot Amazon, she doesn't have to limit her interests to weaponry. For example, she's a huge fan of debauchery, innuendo, and cultivating unusual skills

[Gez]

She also likes to tweak people. And making comments about the clock is to Krosp the same thing as making comments about the hat to Gil.

My attempts to replace "sneaky gate" by "rabbit hole" while we're in this filler story are so far unsuccessful.

[lord_khaine]

a am a bit surprised Krosp isnt happy about being in a 4 meter tall robotic powered battlesuit with claws, fangs and steam comming out of the nose.

[Oberon]

a am a bit surprised Krosp isnt happy about being in a 4 meter tall robotic powered battlesuit with claws, fangs and steam comming out of the nose.

Same. Who wouldn't want that?

Also, I love the title of this thread!

[Gez]

Same. Who wouldn't want that?

Also, I love the title of this thread!

You can thank Señor Professor Diaz for that one. Who, I'm surprised it hasn't been pointed out yet, is an extended cameo of Cameron Diaz -- look at his hat and compare to Diaz's stickman persona.