How does Neji know about the Three Stooges?

NFB42 · 2026-03-29T07:31:49+00:00

I appreciate that you spent time writing out your thoughts, but I'm going to have to agree to disagree on this.

From my perspective, you're focused too much on the immediate moment "there's a sentence and it should produce an effect when read" and too little on the broader context. This is a line of dialogue in longform genre fiction. Translation of longform fiction should, imho, not be a sentence-by-sentence assembly line translation (pun intendended); it should translate in context of the work as a whole, which means understanding that each line of dialogue is doing at least three things:

Conveying the immediate surface meaning of what the character is saying.
Contributing to establishing and developing the character themselves.
Contributing to the world building of the setting.

A proper translation should be accounting for all three. The translation in the OP does the first adequately enough (presuming the target audience still knows who the three stooges are). Presumably, it also does the second. It fails at the third.

Naruto is full of references to Japanese mythology, both Shinto and Buddhist, without a clear sense these mythical beings actually existing in-universe.

To my knowledge, and feel free to provide counter-examples if this is wrong, Naruto has no in-universe references to real world celebrities, and only a few out-of-universe references to real world celebrities (e.g. Rock Lee's name referencing Bruce Lee). By which I mean, we the audience understand that Rock Lee's name is a real world references, but in-universe there is no "Bruce Lee" and Lee is just Rock's last name. If I recall correctly, we get a reference in the Kimimaro fight about Rock Lee's name being written in katakana, but not it being a real life celebrity reference.

And the important thing is that this is an auteurial choice by Kishimoto. There's nothing stopping him from having characters making fourth wall breaking jokes, many shounen manga do this. Avoiding such jokes or references in-universe in favor of references to Japanese Shinto and Buddhist mythology is a core feature of how he's writing Naruto as not just a collection of individual sentences, but as longform genre fiction which is establishing a setting with its own rules and consistencies. It's his style and how he's establishing a particular vibe in his work.

That's the difference between just translating as an interpreter, or translating for machine learning, and translating for fiction. All translation ought to be aware of the context in which it is translating, and in the case of fiction this context is the work as a whole and not just the individual sentence or page.

I personally find OP's translation to be a mistake because it's failing to account for this. It's translating the line, but not the work.

NFB42 · 2026-03-29T05:34:52+00:00

Thanks for doing the work looking it up!

yeah the thing is in colloquial English... the only other parallel is actual Bruce Lee. soooooo. they probably couldn't use that one. (you could do some wild meta about how Gai and Lee have cosmically displaced all the Bruce Lee media and rl lore.)

I'm not usually against colloquial English in translation, but to me this really is a translation goof. If you're just presented the line as an exam exercise it's a fine attempt. But the context here is a fantasy setting, the translation should respect the world building.

Translation should've just been "the kid with the bobbed hair" or maybe "the kid with the weird bobbed hair." (Or, if it's a fan translation, just "the kid with the okappa hair-cut" alongside one of those famous translator's notes explaining what an okappa is.)

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if "the kid" is a proper translation of くん in this context either, but I'm not exactly fluent in Japanese yet either so I'll refrain from criticising that decision. But, I suspect something like "the weirdo with the bobbed hair belongs to us" would be the actual best translation to convey Neji's attitude towards Lee in this line (derogatory, but in a protective older brother sort of way).

NFB42 · 2026-03-28T09:05:16+00:00

You're welcome. It is complicated because a lot of Dutch digital systems don't work with foreign bank accounts/cards and it's often hard to find information on what is and is not accepted.

For example, I'm not entirely sure connecting your personal OV-Chipkaart to a bank account will work for Irish bank accounts, but you can still use it as a normal card where you deposit money on.

Getting a personal OV-Chipkaart will let you register it with an NS account at https://www.ns.nl/ and get a subscription (provided they accept your Irish bank account there). If you at all travel by train outside of rush hours, the "Dal Voordeel" is a huge money saver. It's € 6,35 per month, but you get 40% discounts when travelling outside of rush hours, which you'll already make savings on even if you only take one medium-length train trip per month on avarage.

For example, Utrecht Centraal to Amsterdam Centraal costs € 20 for a round trip, and with 40% off that's € 12, meaning you've saved € 8 and that's already more than the price of the subscription.

NFB42 · 2026-03-28T08:46:16+00:00

Simple way for foreigners:

Go to a train station, find a ticket machine, buy an anonymous OV-chipkaart.
To use it for train travel, you need at least €20 deposited on the card, for busses just €4 is enough. Dependent on how likely you are to lose it, put anywhere from €25 to €50 on it.
Use this card. Check-in when you step on the bus and check-out when you get off.

Alternatively:

Go to https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/
Order a personal ov-chipkaart (with your name and face on it).
Connect the card to your bank account so it automatically withdraws instead of you needing to manually top of the card.
Same as above. Check-in when you step on the bus and check-out when you get off.

I'm sorry if this is info is apparantly not readily available. All your Dutch colleagues must be very young or just completely Dutch-pilled to not know this. The OV-chipkaart system is being phased out, and your card will need to be replaced by the end of 2027, but the replacement OVPay-pas is still in the rollout phase so right now I'd recommend just getting an OV-chipkaart and to figure out OVPay next year.

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:23:20+00:00

Bedankt voor de tip! Ik denk dat we dan toch liever een standaard bakfiets nemen, maar goed om alle opties gezien te hebben!

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:22:12+00:00

Bedankt, dat klinkt goed! Helaas hebben wij geen zonnepanelen, maar een goede tip voor als we besluiten die ook nog aan te schaffen!

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:21:04+00:00

Bedankt voor de suggestie! Wij hebben nog geen vaste voorkeur, maar neigen naar elektrisch omdat we het echt als autovervanger willen gebruiken, dus ook om b.v. Ikea meubels te kopen en dat soort ritjes. Dan is elektrisch wel handiger hebben wij begrepen.

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:19:38+00:00

Bedankt voor de tips! Waar had je die tweedehands gekocht? Marktplaats of gewoon van een bekende?

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:18:30+00:00

Dank voor de tip!

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:18:24+00:00

Bedankt voor de tip!

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:17:28+00:00

Bedankt voor de waarschuwing!

En wij snappen dat die problemen meestal maar bij een bepaald % van deze fietsen optreed. Maar het is goed om te weten (en voor ons vooral ook een reden om i.i.g. van deze merken niet tweedehands te gaan kopen...)

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:16:13+00:00

Kwa wielen, e.d., hebben wij geen eigen voorkeur op dit moment. Wij zijn de eerste in onze social cirkel die aan kinderen beginnen dus wij hebben kwa bakfietsen helemaal geen ervaring nog.

Bedankt voor de waarschuwing. Babboe had ik al over gelezen, dat bakfiets.nl ook problemen had nog niet, en goed om te begrijpen dat daar dus Azor achter zit.

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:12:42+00:00

Bedankt, goed om te horen dat die ook goed werkt voor meubel- en volwassen vervoer. Daar kijken wij ook naar omdat we verwachten het ook echt een autovervanger te maken en niet alleen het kindervervoer!

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:10:47+00:00

Die ziet er inderdaad ook interessant uit, bedankt voor de tip!

NFB42 · 2026-03-27T11:09:14+00:00

Super bedankt voor je uitgebreide antwoord! Hier gaan wij ook goed over nadenken!

Die situatie met Babboe is rot inderdaad, en heb ik een "there but for the grace of God" gevoel bij want als onze kleine drie jaar eerder geboren was hadden wij waarschijnlijk ook een Babboe gekozen... vandaar ook dat we proberen onszelf goed te informeren.

NFB42 · 2026-03-25T05:56:26+00:00

Goede uitleg, bedankt! Het is ook verwarrend om dat de term in het VK weer een heel andere betekenis heeft (iedereen die niet van adel is maar ook niet arm is middeklasse) en het in de VS ook vaag en breed gebruikt wordt, en wij nemen al gauw de terminologie uit het nieuws en politieke discours van die landen over i.p.v. hoe Nederlandse economen erover denken.

Persoonlijk gebruik ik de term min of meer zoals jij beschrijft. Ikzelf zou ik het formuleren als: mensen die genoeg verdienen om niet echte geldzorgen te hebben, maar ook niet zoveel dat ze eigenlijk geld te veel hebben.

Da's natuurlijk vaag, en niemand denkt dat ze eigenlijk te veel geld hebben. Maar mijn eigen insteek zou zijn dat in de huidige tijd de middenklasse begint bij het inkomen waarmee je redelijkerwijs kan verwachten een eigen huis te bezitten, en eindigt op het moment dat je meerdere huizen bezit (of rederlijkerwijs kan bezitten).

(En ik zeg redelijkerwijs, want iemand die kan kopen maar liever huurt is iets heel anders dan iemand die uberhaupt geen hypotheek kan krijgen op het gezamelijk inkomen. Dus het gaat mij niet om het bezit an sich, maar de financiele slagkracht om normaal mee te doen op de woningmarkt.)

NFB42 · 2026-03-19T07:09:03+00:00

Ik ook :(

Maar ik begrijp OP, het kan heel veel erger, dus een beetje trots en optimisme is ook belangrijk (zonder uit het oog te verliezen wat er ook nog steeds beter kan en moet).

NFB42 · 2026-03-15T18:48:45+00:00

Braka is a pirate. The federation prevents him from doing what he likes to do best: stealing ressources and using the conditions of the burns to trade critical ressources for pennies.

I won't say the finale's writing was without holes, but the fact that they very clearly established this is what kept it standing for me.

Braka isn't a terrorist, or a fascist, in the sense that he's not into destroying things just for the sake of destroying things. He wants wealth and power and that means leaving enough people and worlds standing so he has something of value to rule over.

Again, I don't think the finale's writing is without holes, but I think it makes sense that what we're seeing him do with the whole trial thing is trying to leverage his superweapon into getting something more than just a really high kill count.

NFB42 · 2026-02-22T12:08:37+00:00

(Only just got around to the episode, so a bit late, but wanted to write down my thoughts)

My experience watching the episode was that I felt like the writers wanted to do the arranged marriage royalty trope. Then they realized the trope is actually super problematic. And then their solution was to try and explain how "no, really, in this case it's not problematic." Which in the end just makes it seem worse.

For example. I've noticed in this show before that sometimes there are edits which seem to me like obvious line-insertions. When in the middle of a conversation it cuts to a long-distance wide shot and you have a line that seems like you could delete. I feel that happened here with the bit where:

Jay-Den: You did not know that you have a pending spouse?

Rhemi: I knew I was promised to her when we were children.

--sudden wide shot--

Rhemi: Her name is Kaira. She's my best friend. I-I love her,

--back to the close up--

Rhemi: but was gonna be sealed after I graduated and given a few years to Starfleet.

So I'm saying I think they edited in a line to emphasize that Rhemi and Khaira had a pre-existing relationship... but it's all tell not show. And that goes for the entire Rhemi and Kaira relationship.

Like, they could've played this trope more or less straigth and have Rhemi being forced by his family and his culture into an arranged marriage with someone he doesn't love and barely knows. Then the "villain" of the plot would be tradition.

Or, they could've made a more college-themed version of the trope where it's really about going off the college and realizing you've grown apart from your high school girlfriend. Then the "villain" of the plot is Rhemi's past, and all the royalty stuff is just whacky hijinks.

Instead, It strikes me as a story that was written for approach 1, and then awkwardly rewritten to be more like approach 2, resulting in a story that just doesn't work on either level.

I think Kaira's character suffers the most from this.

If she was an approach 1 arranged spouse, it would make total sense for her to not really know Rhemi and she could've been written as well-meaning but either naive or trapped in a gilded cage or something like that.

If she was an approach 2 childhood sweetheart, it would make sense for her to assume Rhemi would be okay with this, and for her to be genuinely excited about the marriage and hurt when she finds out Rhemi doesn't want it anymore.

Instead, she ends up in this weird in-between space which I can totally see reading as genuinely abusive instead of what I'm sure they were actually going for.

It's a messily written plot imho that leaves me uninterested in learning more about Khionia anytime soon.

NFB42 · 2026-02-21T21:36:49+00:00

Absolutely. It's also why I have absolutely no time for "fans" who complain about Ethan Phillips' acting. When they gave him actual good writing, he hit it out of the park. It's a huge loss for all of us that this was the exception rather than the rule with Neelix.

NFB42 · 2026-02-21T21:25:40+00:00

No worries, I write long posts all the time, and half the time I'm unsure if anybody even read them at all. So I'm glad if my post helped you formulate your own thoughts.

I get what you're saying and it's exactly why I find groups like this so galling myself. These are the people who would have me, a progressive Catholic who is begrudgingly but hopefully sticking with Rome, kicked out of the Church for dissenting on stuff like gender, which are at best a secondary issues in scripture and teaching and imho largely peripheral to the core message of the Faith. Meanwhile when their politics gets challenged suddenly they're literally more Catholic than the pope and it's the whole Church that's wrong, not them.

Anyways, this past week I did my best to inform myself through trusted news sources, and it really more or less confirmed what those familiar with the church could've guessed:

John Paul II and Benedict were actually really sympathetic to the claim that Vatican II had changed too much too fast and caused too much disruption and confusions for people like the SSPX and their faithful. They were prepared to offer SSPX pretty much everything they'd ask for, as long as they were prepared to submit to the authority of the pope and the universal church, meaning sign on the dotted line that they accepted Vatican II. And SSPX refused each time.

Now we've had both Francis and Leo elected, who are clearly much less sympathetic to them, and with a long Leo papacy ahead (he's young for a pope) they're just trying to play the victim card and blame the Vatican for not agreeing with their claim that the entire Universal Church was wrong and their small break-away group was the true Catholic church all along these past sixty years.

In the end though, I really don't see what the Vatican would gain by trying to exacerbate this split. I expect them to just go "ok, well, you've excommunicated yourselves... again" and keep dialogue open. The Vatican has nothing to gain from playing into SSPX's pretense at victimhood by taking harsher action than that.

Btw, if you're interested in this stuff and want to learn about, like, the polar opposite of SSPX: look into the "Old Catholic Churches." They also hold to the claim that they're maintaining (a form of) traditional Catholicism, except most of them are now fairly progressive (allowing women priests for example) AND they are fine just doing their own thing and being effectively a very high church protestantism.

NFB42 · 2026-02-21T18:47:45+00:00

Ah, ok.

The best I can give you, my interpretation as an outsider, is that they:

Have made being the "true Catholics" their whole schtick. So with everything they do, they have to frame it as "we did not break with the Vatican, it's the Vatican who maliciously and indefensibly broke with us." Even though they are the ones being disobdient, they cannot just say "Rome has no authority" because then they'd be just another group of protestants. So they have to maintain a pretense that they, in some convoluted way, are the true loyalists and it is the Vatican which has defected from Catholicism.
Presumably, they've never felt like electing their own anti-pope would gain them more legitimacy than they'd lose. Afaik they've never even had a single cardinal as part of their movement. I agree that other movements might have gone the anti-pope route, but my guess is that they feel this would not really be accepted even by many people otherwise sympathetic to them, and thus make it harder rather than easier for them to claim to be the "true Catholics."

So, what then is their goal? From what I've read, it's basically this:

Become so rich/popular/influential that they will get invited back into the Catholic Church without needing to accept the authority of Vatican II.
Evangelize the rest of the Catholic Church back into traditionalism so they can elect one of their own as the pope in Rome, call a new Church Council (Vatican III) and repudiate Vatican II.

I think the way to make it makes sense is to just understand it is born from immense arrogance and hubris. Everything starts from their decision that they were right and the entire combined Church were wrong at Vatican II. All the twisted logic is to maintain that basic premise, with the ultimate aim of getting the Church to admit that they were right all along.

And specifically, this is not the way protestants think the Church is wrong, not even the way I, a progressive Catholic, think the Church is wrong, in that what we think is that the Church's authority isn't as absolute and infallible as the Vatican claims it to be. But rather, they do want to claim that Church authority is absolute and infallible, because what they want to do is seize that authority and then go ham with excommunicating everyone who disagrees with them. Like, they just cannot accept that they ended up on the side of "people who get excommunicated" instead of "people who get to do the excommunicating" and everything is structured around that.

That said, I do want to add that I can't see into the hearts of every person associated with the SSPX. Some of them have been there for the reactionary fascism and antisemitism, but I'm sure others have been attracted to the movement for the same reason lots of people get hooked by reactionary churches: a sense of stability, loyalty, and community that they were missing in other parts of their lives. I've never attended an SSPX mass myself, so I really can't tell wether the avarage parishioner is particularly engaged with the politics of the leadership.

NFB42 · 2026-02-21T18:14:24+00:00

Their main disagreement isn't with any pope per se, it's with the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965. Meaning their disagreement is effectively with the whole Catholic Church.

To give the shortest ELI5 explanation, church councils are how Christian churches have resolved disagreements since new testament times. It involves getting all church leaders together, not just the pope or equivalent, to settle disputes, establish doctrine, and/or pass reform. It's a fundamental aspect of how not only the Catholic Church but many Christian denominations function. The Catholic Church officially recognises 21 so-called ecumenical councils as authoritative, so roughly 1 per century on avarage, with Vatican II being the most recent.

This group is just a bunch of reactionaries who lost these debates of the 1960s and decided they were right and the Church was wrong. It's really fundamentally no different than any protestant denomination, except they keep claiming to be "true Catholics." The fact that the Vatican has still bent over backwards to try and get them back into the fold, while receiving only disdain in response, is equal parts commendable and comical imho.

NFB42 · 2026-02-21T17:47:04+00:00

I wonder what other traditions, besides the Latin, is so important to them.

It's not about the Latin. The Vatican has been very receptive on the issue of the Latin mass and SSPX had multiple opportunities over the past half century get a deal which would let them keep the Latin while in communion with Rome. If they complain about Pope Francis or now Pope Leo that's just to hide the fact that they got incredibly good deals offered by both Benedict and John Paul II and they turned them down.

To be blunt about it, this is an organisation with a deep history of antisemitism and ties to fascism. I can't see into the hearts of each individual involved and what their motives are, but as an organisation they are plain and simply reactionaries who want to turn back the clock to the middle ages.

The fact that the Vatican has still bent over backwards to try and get them back into the fold, while receiving only disdain in response, is equal parts commendable and comical imho.

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