El diccionario de Huckleberry Finn en nannicantipot

Capítulo 2

Viene a cuento aquí decir lo siguiente: hay numerosos usos de tiempos verbales que no se corresponden con la norma gramatical que enseñan en las escuelas de inglés y que a mí, personalmente, me parece que contribuyen a enriquecer el texto y a hacer su lectura mucho más fructífera y divertida. Pero no podemos ponerlos todos y no lo vamos a hacer. Citamos los casos que aparecen al principio del capítulo por aquello de tomar nota y después, en general, pasamos del tema porque indicar todos los casos no lleva a ningún lado:
• When we was pasing the kitchen... por we were passing the kitchen.
• There warn't a sound... por there wasn't a sound.
• I dasn't scratch it... por I don't scratch it.

Y mil más. Es que algunas son geniales: warn't no es ni was not ni were not, sino algo así como un híbrido. Dasn't sería doesn't, pero en la primera persona del singular en lugar de la tercera, lo cual no impide que ese presente contínuo sea mucho más asertivo que I don't scratch it. And so on.

	Stooping down	Ir agachado, con la cabeza y los hombros inclinados hacia adelante y hacia abajo.
	We scrouched down	"Nos agachamos". Es agacharse con los miembros pegados al cuerpo, hecho una bola. También se puede decir we crouched down.
	Set.	Esta palabra ya apareció en el capítulo 1; en este libro, en muchos casos significa sentarse, to sit, con el que guarda alguna relación etimológica (ver, precisamente, cap. 1). En otros, es como un genérico para "poner algo en un estado concreto", lo cual es más acorde con su acepción usual. Y también tiene significados más concretos, como disponer (cubiertos en una mesa, flores en un jarrón, el sedal en el río,... todo de ese estilo). Estos son los casos que encuentro en este capítulo 2. Aparecerá más adelante. (He) was setting in the kitchen door. I was going to set still. I set my teeth hard. Set him under the trees. (Everybody) set still.
	If you are with the quality...	Quality: High social quality. The distinction associated with it. (Collins). ...si estás con los señores, con la gente bien.
	any wheres where it won't do for you to (scratch)	En cualquier sitio donde no sea conveniente (rascarse)
	Betwixt	Otra palabra para between (arcaico) (Collins)
	to resk	to risk
	by and by; by-and-by	poco a poco; rodando, rodando; pasado un tiempo.
	fetch up on	Collins: Informal. To fetch up at or to fetch up in: llegar a un sitio.To fetch up on: Nautical. to stop suddenly, as from running aground (aground: encallar un barco).
	The steep top of the hill	La parte más empinada de la colina.
	saddle-boils	saddle es silla de montar. Boil es un forúnculo. Pues eso, heridas o irritaciones como las que dejan las sillas de montar en los animales, ¿no?
	to be looked up to
	To let on	Hacer saber, dejar que se sepa algo, revelar. ("please don´t let on that you knew me when..." Bob Dylan).
	(to be) corked up	ser reprimido o inhibido por los demás. Collins: To cork up: to restrain: to cork up the emotions.
	He got so stuck up on account of having seen the devil.	Collins: Stuck-up: Informal: conceited, arrogant, or snobbish.
	we unhitched a skiff	unhitch es desatar (porque hitch es atar algo, especialmente por un lapso limitado de tiempo, según Collins). Skiff es una barquita y es una palabra interesante porque viene del alemán antiguo skif y ...ta-chaaan, existe en castellano: esquife o esquilfe.
	(we) pulled down the river	pull: to row a boat (Collins). To pull es aquí remar.
	the big scar on the hill-side	scar: a bare craggy rock formation. A similar formation in a river or sea. (Crag: roca o pico vertical y rugoso). (Collins).
	a clump (of bushes)	Clump: a cluster, as of trees or plants. (Collins) Cluster: a number of things growing, fastened, or ocurring close together.
	Tom poked about	Collins, to poke about: to search or pry. Viene a ser registrar, rebuscar.
	amongst	among
	he ducked under a wall	Duck: to move (the head or body) quickly downwards or away, esp. so as to escape observation or evade a blow. Se agachó para pasar por un agujero bajo la pared.
	(They) hacked a cross in their breasts	Cortar, dañar. Aquí es hacer una marca con cortes.
	his name (was) blotted off of the list	Collins: blot, often followed by out: to darken or hide completely. Obscure. Obliterate. Creo que sirve para este caso, aunque sea blot off: su nombre era tachado de la lista.
	high-toned	High in tone. U.S. informal: affectedly superior. Una banda con clase (se refiere a una actitud de superioridad más bien afectada).
	he hain't got no family	haven't got. Lo incluyo porque es menos común que ain't.
	it wouldn't be fair and square	no sería justo; no sería correcto
	everybody was stumped	Stump es un muñon, pero como verbo to stump es to stop, confuse, or puzzle. (Collins).
	muddled up	muddle up: To mix up; jumble. Confuse. (Collins) Jumble: To mingle in a state of disorder. (Collins)
	bothersome	molesto.
	if they move a peg
	Not by a good deal	Por nada del mundo, etc. Mira en el Capítulo primero: not by a considerable sight.
	I don't take no stock in it	Mira el Capítulo 1.
	cluttered up	To clutter up: to strew or amass objects in a disorderly manner.
	cry-baby	Llorón, quejica. (Y otro nombre para el pedal del wah-wah).
	clayey	Manchado de yeso.

Incluyo aquí algunas expresiones que no viene a cuento traducir pero que resultan interesantes por su fuerza expresiva. Algunas, por su construcción, que se me antoja bastante "alternativa" pero muy eficaz. El significado viene dado por sí mismo.

in upwards of a thousand places

Dog my cats if...

...but nothing would do Tom, but he must crawl to where Jim was (...) and play something on him.

(to be) monstrous proud (about something)

ever so fine. The stars over us was sparkling ever so fine.

Why blame it all, we've got to do it.

How in the nation

(to be) as polite as pie

what`s the line of bussiness of this gang?

That ain't no sort of style

We are highwaymen. (Frase a retener y soltar en el momento más inoportuno. Or wouldn't you pay to be a highwayman?)

just so as to (do something). No es una construcción incorrecta ni especial, pero la pongo porque es interesante tomar nota de ella. Quiere decir "hacer una cosa con el propósito o la finalidad de conseguir otra".

Reproduzco los pasajes en los que habla Jim porque la manipulación del lenguaje que hace el autor es impagable y qué menos que ponerla en todas partes.

Who dah?	who is there?
Say – who is you? Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn' hear sumf'n. Well, I knows what I's gwyne to do. I's gwyne to set down here and listen tell I hears it agin.	ef por if; sumf'n por something; gwyne por going; agin por again.

Aquí reproduzco un pasaje de obligadísima lectura.

Tom, Huck, Joe Harper y Ben Rogers organizan su banda de salteadores ("We are highwaymen. We stop stages and carriages on the road, with masks on, and kill the people and take their watches and money") y sobreviene una discusión teórica de altísimo nivel sobre el arte del secuestro.

– Must we always kill people?
– Oh, certainly. It's best. Some authorities think different, but mostly it's considered best to kill them. Except some that you bring to the cave here and keep them till they're ransomed.
– Ransomed? What's that?
– I don't know. But that's the way they do. I've seen it in books; and so, of course, that's what we've got to do.
– But how can we do it if don't know what it is?
– Why blame it all, we've got to do it. Dont I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books and get things all muddled up?
– Oh, that's all very fine to say, tom Sawyer, but how in the nation are these fellows going to be ransomed if we don't know how to do it to them? That's the thing I want to get at. Now, what do you reckon it is?
– Well, I don't know. But per'aps if we keep them till they are ransomed, it means we keep them till they are dead.
– Now, that's something like. That'll answer. Why couldn't you said that before? We'll keep them till they're ransomed to death – and a bothersome lot they'll be, too, eating up everything and always trying to get loose.
– How you talk, Ben Rogers. How can they get loose when there's a guard over them, ready to shoot them down if they move a peg?
– A guard. Well, that is good. So somebody's got to set up all night and never get any sleep, just so as to watch them. I think that's foolishness. Why can't a body take a club and ransom them as soon as they get here?
– Because it ain't in the books so - that's why. Now, Ben Rogers, do you want to do things regular, or don't you? - That's the idea. Don't you reckon that the people that made the books knows what's the correct thing to do? Do you reckon you can learn'em anything? Not by a good deal. No, sir, we'll just go on and ransom them in the regular way.
– All right. I don't mind; but I say it's a fool way, anyhow. Say - do we kill the women, too?
– Well, Ben Rogers, if I was as ignorant as you I wouldn't let on. Kill the women? No - nobody ever saw anything in the books like that. You fetch them to the cave, and you're always as polite as pie to them; and by-and-by they fall in love with you and never want to go home any more.
– Well, if that's the way, I'm agreed, but I don't take no stock in it. Mighty soon we'll have the cave so cluttered up with women, and fellows waiting to be ransomed, that there won't be no place for the robbers. But go ahead, I ain't got nothing to say.

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