[extropy-chat] The Idiad

[Damien Broderick]

Iliad made ezeyr 4 u

By Julie Henry
June 7, 2004

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/06/1086460177124.html?oneclick=true

This literary masterpiece is looking a little battle-scarred. "Sing, 
goddess, of the accursed anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, which brought 
uncounted anguish on the Achaeans," Homer may have written in The Iliad.

Computer giant Microsoft, however, prefers something less lyrical. "Wot 
hapnd when Agamemnon n Achilles had a barny?" it asks in a new version of 
The Iliad produced to appeal to the text message generation.

The interpretation of Homer's classic by Microsoft, has been criticised for 
trivialising one of the greatest works of European literature.

The "translation" of the first five books of the 24-book Iliad condenses 
37,000 words to 32 lines of mobile telephone text message language, 
complete with sad and smiley faces and love hearts. In book three, a duel 
between Paris and Menelaus to determine possession of Helen, is reduced to: 
"Paris went 2 fight Menelaus. But he was wiv fright. Hector told im 2 b a 
man. Shame on him! Helen went 2 watch from da walls."

Book five, in which mortals fight the gods in a Homeric narrative rich with 
visual detail and poetic invention, is compressed to: "Aeneas da Trojan 
hero woz hit by Diomedes n Aphrodite went 2 help im. Da Gods withdrew. Ares 
helped da Trojans but Athena helped Diomedes 2 spear im." [etc]