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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   1797 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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This is a perfectly legitimate translation.

No, it's a confusing localization—or, in Nabokov's words, a paraphrase.

A "shield" is not a unit of currency. It would be distracting to talk about people paying so many "shields" for something.

If "shield" sounds wrong to Anglophone ears, that's their fault for failing to acknowledge the validity of French currency units. And there are zillions of fantasy stories that use outlandish-seeming currency units with which readers quickly become comfortable.

"Crown" is not only British currency: Merriam-Webster has it as "any of several old gold coins with a crown as part of the device".

It doesn't matter. There is no good reason to falsely insert the French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. shields into the ranks of the English/British, Scandinavian, Czech, etc. crowns, and thereby erase a meaningful distinction between two categories.

It isn't a paraphrase any more than wiring "horse" instead of "cheval" is a paraphrase.

If "shield" sounds wrong to Anglophone ears, that's their fault for failing to acknowledge the validity of French currency units. It doesn't matter. There is no good reason to falsely insert the French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. shields into the ranks of the English/British, Scandinavian, Czech, etc. crowns, and thereby erase a meaningful distinction between two categories.

You've invented a distinction that does not exist. "Crown" is not limited to those things. I have already shown you the definition. It's a fact of life that no two words in different languages have exactly the same meaning.

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