Original versions of "Translating Translating Apollinaire" copyright 1979 bpNichol

These translations and extra matter copyright 1991 stuart pid

Thanks to Paul Dutton, Karl Young, and Quicksoft.
and of course especially to bpNichol for the original TTA.

This portfolio published by IZEN, POB 1157, Athens OH 45701.

---

Introduction

In 1964, bpNichol had his first published poem, "Translating Apollinaire". Starting in 1975, he embarked on a program of putting this poem through as many transformation and translation devices as he could devise. A preliminary report, Translating Translating Apollinaire, was published by the Membrane Press in 1979. It contained results from several completed and incompleted experiments, ranging from replacing words with synonyms and antonyms to using the poem as a machine for generating line drawings. Also included was an invitation to create and submit additional translations.

As my response to that invitation, here are four sets of translations of "Translating Apollinaire" for addition to the body of TTA work.

Group 1 contains four translations based on principles of physics; actually the last three should be called "transforming translating apollinaire" because rotation and rescaling are different types of coordinate transformation than translation. These are photocopies.

Group 2 was produced by taking some versions of TTA having a low number of current english words and using the PC-Write version 2.71 spelling checker to make replacements. The program would pick a replacement from its 50,000 word vocabulary by matching the first few letters. In all cases, i used the first word suggested, and anything the program ignored (considered correct) was left in. This included any words with less than three letters (some suggested replacements were one or two letters long). Note that the current version of PC-Write has an "improved" spelling checker that no longer make these arbitrary and alliterative alterations. These are computer printouts.

Group 3 is a single translation of the original made by deleting everything except the words ending in "ing". This is another computer printout.

Group 4 is unlabeled, and should be numbered TTA 26. It was created by copying the original poem, each time reducing by a factor of 71%, then enlarging in inverse steps (141%) to original size. The reduction/enlargement was performed on a Xerox 1040 copier, and these copies made with a Xerox 1075. The numbers underneath the poem were written onto the reductions to indicate the number of times the poem had been reduced.

The numbers in the heads, eg TTA 12, refer to the original experiments in Translating Translating Apollinaire. TTA 29 is reserved for versions by writers other than bpNichol. TTA 26 is reserved for versions generated by copiers. I do not know of a number for versions generated by computer, so i used TTA 29.

So here is my contribution to TTA.

stuart pid
Athens, Ohio
August 23, 1991

TTA 29-42:  Replacing all words more than two letters long
in TTA 42 with the first replacement specified by the PC-
Write (version 2.71) spelling checker.

Icc   went upped,
Simon se magill   frame Iv   hafnium in  n trepidation,
eugene   rafael for se sunniness

                     great torsion of stan
bimetallic bi se Aztecs, term thais hepatica ut
to offs thais, wetter aeneas beating

                     montana,
caldera winded, Mace Pick hyacinth in se sunniness
vocable for centuries

cars whizzing bi, sunniness
thurs trepidation passband,  n dozen
nepal wave films, flem
on drywall' glasses

flat on thais baffle in se graffiti
n dozen body slay turpentine brunette

sunniness glaring of se pages, "solely
couch courage", rows in mi window
flat on mi baffle on se flora
bicycle ix of hz
for an instant

TTA 29-39: Replacing words in TTA 39 with replacements
suggested by PC-Write (version 2.71) spelling checker

Icicle   winged up,
Simon thiamin Moan   front Ufos   hijack in au target,
eva   reacquainted forum thiamin sun

                       geriatric thrall of stick
bulb by thiamin At, tears thermal heartfelt outer
tepee offer thiamin, whack amnesiacs beatings

                       mountains,
colander windy, Moan Pick hierarchic in thiamin sun
unfounded forum central

caribbean whizzed by, sun
thrum target passion, au dysentery
new wave filbert, flicks
on dysentery' galaxies

flathead on thermal backs in thiamin garb
au dysentery boeing sly teutonic brown

sun galas off thiamin pages, "solar
couch coupe", rhombi in mo wine
flathead on mo backs on thiamin fluoresce
bed auxiliaries of ithaca
forum amnesiacs instantly

TTA 29-18:  Replacing words in TTA 18 (view 6) with
replacements suggested by PC-Write (version 2.71) spelling
checker.

                                                tnt na roger
                                          ti fo erbium gnome
                         room eider no keaton ym no talisman
                                 woe ym ni sloan ,"zurich up
                          lien" ,segment eider fi serape nut

                                  ny gnome ymca seismic nf a
                       sst eider ni skeet riffle no talisman

                                             session 'sri no
                                  gnome ,smock eve wenatchee
                                     nf a ,gnome sees urinal
                                           nut ,yb gnome sri

                                            seismic roger do
                         nut eider ni gnome ucla uhf ,do dna
                             ,snick

                            gnome dna texaco ,meir refill ot
             tuple strafe riffle gnome ,schedule eider yb tm
                  enough fo sri taffeta

                              nut eider roger gnome   enrage
            ,efface a ni hi   aegis morgan   nail eider noms
                                         ,pu gnome   surreal

TTA 29-12:  Changing words in TTA 12 using PC-Write (ver.
2.71) spelling checker

achromatic   ghana pu,
imp eider aardvark   foal adelaide   ghost in a efface,
eel   aces for eider nu

                     aeneas epa fo enough
bimetallic by eider Acetate, aegis eider aeneas ouch
ot effort eider, etymology ado abel

                     aims,
ce diocesan, accident cd diabetes in eider nu
diabetes for ceil

acrylic ghost by, nu
hub efface agitate, a dens
enzymatic afar films, ceil
no deities' aeneas

afoot no eider abcs in eider ague
a dens be lloyd gino bo

nu aeneas fi eider aeneas, "einstein
couch d", lloyd in my dins
afoot no my abcs no eider floor
bd aardvark fo it
for an ainu

TTA 29-8:  Replacing word groupings of TTA 8 with the first
replacement specified by the PC-Write (version 2.71)
spelling checker.

Mace   aviary un,
dwight fi arty   cicada Judea   mound ta i nsf,
rsx   nh tea rind ghost

                     dingy industrial ch arsenal
window wr each hinkle, nh zenith zenith nu
ri esc myriad, gestapo and rom

                     aren't,
cold drive, erudite vesicle nebraska of ft mon
myocardial clad beatings

comic nh lm, shabbily
atchison diet latch, n built
bystander lowland yd, lickers
as singe' ninth

iliad oo rink stone so uranium forsake
f erg instance th omicron eskimo

sst reawaken onondaga nu nonsubscribers, "nonowners
Pica cutlass", suntan nt he they
theta he th ethel ir the is
mu owes tr ee
treacheries es turning

TTA 29-7:  Replacing words in TTA 7 with first replacement
suggested by the PC-Write (version 2.71) spelling checker.

Aardvark   aardvark aa,
aardvark aardvark aardvark   bd bd   cd cc c cd,
cd   dds eel eel ee

                     eel eel ee eel
eel ee eel eel, fi fi fi ghana
gg ghana ghana, ghana hi hi

                     hi,
ike ike, ike ike ike ii iii iii
ike lloyd lloyd

lloyd Mnemonic mn, no
no no no, n no
no no no, no
oo oop' oop

oop oo oop oops pp rsvp rsvp
r rsvp rsvp rsvp rsvp sst

sst sst sst sst sst, "sst
tub tub", tub tt tt tub
tub tt tu v uu v v
v wyatt ww ww
x yy z

TTA 29:  Replacing all words in original with spaces,
excepting words ending in "ing".

           winging

           reaching


                     tearing
                       beating


                        hiding


     whizzing
           passing
                flickering



                      turning




becoming