Main
Date: 23 Sep 2007 07:10:24
From: Nomen Nescio
Subject: Double-entendres in MY SYSTEM?
Maybe I'm just a dirty old man, but I'm wondering whether
Nimzovich was deliberately making sexual references that,
intentionally or not, have gotten lost in the translation to
English. I wonder whether "the horny passed pawn" might be
more consistent with what the author originally wrote.
"Position play" and "prophylactic" also seem suggestive, but
maybe that's just me.






 
Date: 24 Sep 2007 13:38:34
From: Taylor Kingston
Subject: Re: Double-entendres in MY SYSTEM?
On 23, 1:10 am, Nomen Nescio <nob...@dizum.com > wrote:
> Maybe I'm just a dirty old man, but I'm wondering whether
> Nimzovich was deliberately making sexual references that,
> intentionally or not, have gotten lost in the translation to
> English. I wonder whether "the horny passed pawn" might be
> more consistent with what the author originally wrote.
> "Position play" and "prophylactic" also seem suggestive, but
> maybe that's just me.

If anyone were likely to take this sort of nonsense seriously, it
would have been GM Reuben Fine in his egregious 1956 paper
"Psychoanalytic Observations on Chess and Chess Masters," later
published as "The Psychology of the Chess Player" (Dover, 1967). An
embarrassingly bad work full of factual inaccuracies and contrived
Freudian "insights." Nimzovitch gets only one paragraph, which
mentions only his oddity of doing calisthenics between moves during
tournament play. It says nothing of a sexual nature about him.



 
Date: 23 Sep 2007 13:53:57
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Double-entendres in MY SYSTEM?
Nomen Nescio <nobody@dizum.com > wrote:
> Maybe I'm just a dirty old man, but I'm wondering whether Nimzovich
> was deliberately making sexual references that, intentionally or
> not, have gotten lost in the translation to English. I wonder
> whether "the horny passed pawn" might be more consistent with what
> the author originally wrote. "Position play" and "prophylactic"
> also seem suggestive, but maybe that's just me.

The earliest usage of `prophylactic' meaning `condom' known to the OED
is 1934, nearly ten years after _My System_ was written. Prophylaxis
has meant `taking measures to prevent something from happening' since
the C16th.


Dave.

--
David Richerby Revolting Robot (TM): it's like a
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ high-tech robot but it'll turn your
stomach!