Posted on February 24, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 30 Comments
A big ol’ advertisement for the Turkish version of Old Man’s War, plastered on the side of a bookstore. This, as they say, does not suck. Picture by Twitter user Kitabet, who currently resides in that fair city.
Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, contributor – AMS
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Güzel! Tebrikler.
It had to be done… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQrKZcYtqg
Sent by Instangram, presumably.
Must…get…that…font…
Er…nice picture. Anyone know what that font is called?
The cover art is interesting, as going by the art, it isn’t an SF book, it’s a Clancy/Bond/Robinson-esque techno-thriller. Even the font could feasibly work for either one. Still, it’s awesome to see the book featured that prominently.
Awesome. Two whole walls!
Just totally cool.
Nice!
*puts on sunglasses*
Tebrikler! You do mean “Istanbul” in the title right? Or was it somehow a joke on instagram that went right over my head?
No, it was a typo. It’s now fixed.
You’re a big turkey!
Er, I mean you’re big IN Turkey. That’s what I meant to say. Really.
Very cool. What a great ad.
@Cambias — now you stop that; it almost got a whole splat of tea on the keyboard. Sheesh.
Very nice, John. It’s nice to see that finding these still excites you.
If you want to be really picky, İstanbul should have a dot on the I even when capitalized.
From what I’ve heard, every gal in Constantinople lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople. So if you’ve a date in Constantinople she’ll be waiting in Istanbul.
(But that is really awesome!)
If you want to be really picky, İstanbul should have a dot on the I even when capitalized.
only if you’re writing in turkish. in written english a capital I never has a dot. if you’re always going to insist on spelling cities how they are spelling in the native version of the alphabet, then we all need to start writing بغداد and Москва.
Well, sure, that’s all well and good…but what about Constantinople?
The heck with Constantinople; what about Byzantium?
“Kitabevi”==bookstore, by the way. The book title translation is literal. And the cover design is awesome.
Now that’s not quite fair. Turkish orthography uses a modified version of the Roman alphabet, just as English does; it’s no more extreme than someone being picky about the umlaut over “uber”. (The dotted I isn’t a matter of convention, if that’s what’s causing the confusion — dotted and undotted I are two different letters representing two different vowels.)
Now that’s not quite fair. Turkish orthography uses a modified version of the Roman alphabet, just as English does; it’s no more extreme than someone being picky about the umlaut over “uber”. (The dotted I isn’t a matter of convention, if that’s what’s causing the confusion — dotted and undotted I are two different letters representing two different vowels.)
the difference is that when “uber” came into the english language it already had an umlaut. the written english word “Istanbul” (without a dot) predates that written turkish word “İstanbul” (with a dot). to say that it is more proper to write the name with a dot over the capital letter is like saying that when attaturk announced that his country would adopt the modified latin script in 1928, that somehow the orthographic rules with the system he chose became binding on english writers worldwide, nothwithstanding the fact that they already had a well-established standard method of writing that city’s name.
sorry, i don’t buy it. nor do i put an umlaut over the “u” in “turk”, nor did any english language news source that i was aware of ever spell tansu ciller’s last name “Çiller” (with the cédille on the “C”) back when she was the prime minister.
As they say in Turkey, Congratulations.
Hm. I take your point as to the orthography at time of adoption. I can’t speak as to the former prime minister, but consider that it is proper to write Beijing rather than Peking. Clearly orthographic reform by the country in question — here in transliteration, not in the native writing system — does, or may, have significance for foreign writers. And the Peking/Beijing change-over is markedly more recent than 1928, as well as a much bigger change.
Huh! Savasi! That’s the name of the dwarven race in the Guilded Age webcomic! Now I just have to figure out whether it means “old man” or “war”.
You learn something every day.
Aha! I had just started reading this blog six weeks ago, and had no idea who blogger John Scalzi was until I rounded the corner and came face to face with that big advert in the window. I live just five minutes from that kitabevi (Alkim is its name). I’m glad you can see the poster in all its glory!!
Huh! Savasi! That’s the name of the dwarven race in the Guilded Age webcomic! Now I just have to figure out whether it means “old man” or “war”.
Actually, the word has a possessive suffix and its original is “savaş” (or savash) which means “war”.
Did the original “Old Man’s War” just get released in Turkey? Wasn’t that published in 2004? I understand that translation takes time and setting up distribution etc., but that seems like a really long time. It’s good to hear that it is available to more people. It was one of my favorite SF series.
Came for a They Might Be Giants reference in comments.
Leaving satisfied.
Is-tan-buuuuuuuuuuulllllllll (oooooooWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
I hope that Turkish Old Man’s War fares better than Turkish Star Wars…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js6NqlAc29I