GR translation: sunfishing in the clouds

[Mike Jing]

I hereby bow to your stellar qualifications and superior intellect.
Meanwhile, I will try to find a measure of consolation in the fact
that at least my translation may not be the stinkiest.

On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 10:45 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> Simple concept: fish imagery applied to a horse and a balloon.
> Unless, maybe, the character making the observation was a cowboy.
> BTW, WTF are your qualifications?
>
> On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 9:01 AM, jochen stremmel <jstremmel at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Sorry, Mike, for bringing that unqualified remark upon your head. The
>> motion of the "nervous balloons" is rough enough to strum cables.
>> Could one not call that violent?
>>
>> And to please David, perhaps, I found the following quote by a horsewoman:
>>
>> Sunfishing, otoh, is a full-blown buck where the horse swings its body
>> side to side while in the air - think of the way a fish on a line will
>> fling itself side-to-side.
>>
>> Although I'm not sure that "sunfishing" horse means applying the
>> imagery of that fish to the horse. I'd rather think the man who
>> applied that image first to a horse (perhaps the brother of the one
>> who created the metaphor "firewater") never saw a sunfish in his life.
>>
>> Jochen
>>
>> 2012/5/11 David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>:
>>> "Sunfishing applied to horses" may be obscure, but your saying you
>>> lean toward that translation makes me think your GR translation is
>>> going to be a real stinker, for at least 2 or 3 reasons:
>>>
>>> 1. There is no "violent motion involved here." You have pulled that
>>> out of thin air.
>>>
>>> 2. A Sunfish and the balloon resemble each other, and a fish on a
>>> taught line is a common image.
>>>
>>> 3.  Sunfish exist.  A. "Sunfishing" horse is applying the imagery of
>>> that fish to a horse, much like Pynchon is applying that imagery of
>>> that fish to a balloon.
>>>
>>> If Chinese doesn't allow "verbing" of nouns, a hyphenated or compound
>>> word such as "sunfishlike-moving" would be the next obvious choice.
>>>
>>> David Morris
>>>
>>> On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 11:20 PM, Mike Jing
>>> <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Sunfishing, as applied to horses, is indeed an obscure cowboy term.
>>>> In fact, I didn't even know it existed.  And the image of a fish IS
>>>> explicit.  But somehow I'm still leaning towards horses, probably
>>>> because it feels more like a proper verb.  Besides, the "verbed"
>>>> sunfish does not automatically imply the violent motion involved here,
>>>> although it could.  Decisions, decisions....
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 9:23 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> There is no hint of horses in the text.  The image of a fish is
>>>>> explicit, even one on a fishing line, maybe fighting to get loose.