[Discussion refers to "Minister proposes 'language beauty contest,'" TBT #583, Nov. 21, 2007 ]
As an American and native speaker of English and frequent visitor to the Baltics, I respond to Nick von Stranz's letter (TBT #586), and provide a better English translation of the Estonian "Soida tasa ule silla."
Better than the technically correct but poetically dull "To move discreetly over to the other side of the bridge" might be "Soundlessly traverse the bridge" or simply "Quietly cross the bridge." The best of such formulations in American English language would be the poet Carl Sandburg's poem "Fog":
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on
Michael Fadus
Zurich, Switzerland
