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I did this for a fanzine nearly two decades ago, and it was never used as intended. Later, I found another zine that was happy to run this as the cover, but the experience of doing elaborate work like this on request and then being disappointed was so common that eventually I refused to do work on request.
There are a lot of in-jokes here. I'll try to identify most, starting from the upper left.
Overhead banners start with one that's actually art I did as a nametag. (It's posted elsewhere in my gallery on FA.) Next overhead ad is for a Worldcon in just about the last place you would ever expect it, Omsk in the old USSR. Note the year, chosen in the difficult to imagine future.... 2002. Next is a route map for the train -- a star map familiar to any amateur astronomer. Finally at far right is an ad for a newspaper comic strip called "Goon Bleary". The Goon was a comic figure made famous by a 1950's fan named John Berry, whose favourite artist ATom (Arthur Thompson) drew The Goon in that style. Hanging from the hand-hold below is a House Gamin, one of my fictional inventions. The destination shown on the lead car seen through the window is Willow Run, a fictional town and alternate history of mine.
Below all that are a number of sitting figures. Left to right, is a member of the Offworlders Club (an SF group from Willowrun), a robot whose head is a video camera and is running what it sees on the VCR in its lap, Saara Mar, myself asleep on her shoulder, and another member of the Offworlders. I had models and bios for a number of the club members, so their appearance isn't arbitrary. Tangel' is standing. Everyone is reading a fanzine (except me, I'm asleep remember). Pulp, File 770, Innuendo, and YHOS were all real zines at the time I drew this. F770 is still being published and is in fact where a lot of my SF art appeared over the years. Note that Tangel's copy is addressed to her in Willow Run. I may not be reading a fanzine, but my t-shirt is one I designed for a small relaxacon called Ditto. I invented that too, but it was actually a real con that moves from place to place and is still running to this day. Ditto 2007 was held in a small town where ancient fan Art Widner lives. Art was the editor of the fanzine YHOS. Small world.
On the floor of the car is a plastic bag with the logo of Bakka printed on it. Bakka was and is the specialty SF book store in Toronto. The paperback leaning against it is "Gypsies", Robert Charles Wilson's third novel. Bob is an old buddy, and the book was probably just out when I drew this. A little to the right of that is a copy of a fanzine called Sticky Quarters, now long defunct. The art on the cover is made up, but also in the style of Arthur Thompson (above). As is the cover of Innuendo, for that matter.
I think that's all the main points.
There are a lot of in-jokes here. I'll try to identify most, starting from the upper left.
Overhead banners start with one that's actually art I did as a nametag. (It's posted elsewhere in my gallery on FA.) Next overhead ad is for a Worldcon in just about the last place you would ever expect it, Omsk in the old USSR. Note the year, chosen in the difficult to imagine future.... 2002. Next is a route map for the train -- a star map familiar to any amateur astronomer. Finally at far right is an ad for a newspaper comic strip called "Goon Bleary". The Goon was a comic figure made famous by a 1950's fan named John Berry, whose favourite artist ATom (Arthur Thompson) drew The Goon in that style. Hanging from the hand-hold below is a House Gamin, one of my fictional inventions. The destination shown on the lead car seen through the window is Willow Run, a fictional town and alternate history of mine.
Below all that are a number of sitting figures. Left to right, is a member of the Offworlders Club (an SF group from Willowrun), a robot whose head is a video camera and is running what it sees on the VCR in its lap, Saara Mar, myself asleep on her shoulder, and another member of the Offworlders. I had models and bios for a number of the club members, so their appearance isn't arbitrary. Tangel' is standing. Everyone is reading a fanzine (except me, I'm asleep remember). Pulp, File 770, Innuendo, and YHOS were all real zines at the time I drew this. F770 is still being published and is in fact where a lot of my SF art appeared over the years. Note that Tangel's copy is addressed to her in Willow Run. I may not be reading a fanzine, but my t-shirt is one I designed for a small relaxacon called Ditto. I invented that too, but it was actually a real con that moves from place to place and is still running to this day. Ditto 2007 was held in a small town where ancient fan Art Widner lives. Art was the editor of the fanzine YHOS. Small world.
On the floor of the car is a plastic bag with the logo of Bakka printed on it. Bakka was and is the specialty SF book store in Toronto. The paperback leaning against it is "Gypsies", Robert Charles Wilson's third novel. Bob is an old buddy, and the book was probably just out when I drew this. A little to the right of that is a copy of a fanzine called Sticky Quarters, now long defunct. The art on the cover is made up, but also in the style of Arthur Thompson (above). As is the cover of Innuendo, for that matter.
I think that's all the main points.
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 842 x 1094px
File Size 49.4 kB
I didn't find "oniric" in my Concise Oxford English, nor in the Merriam-Webster, so while neither is a recent edition, I seriously doubt this is a real word. Then again, there are words like "humongous" that are only now finding their way into new editions, so I'll concede a chance that "oniric" has entered the language recently. As for French, my Larousse's French-English/English-French doesn't include "onirique" either. Looking fromt he other direction, the French words for "dream, dreamer, dreamy, dreamily, etc." are all based on the verb "rever", though for "dreamy" the alternatives "melancolique", "irreel", and "vague" are also given. My Larousse is a pocketbook edition, so is far from the final word on French though. Do you speak or read French? I'm afraid I don't.
Fact is... I AM french ! ^^''
This is why I did this "frenglish" word, wrongly assuming it existed in english the same way as in french. I am very surprised your french dictionaries do not include this word by the way, it is not much used, but it is not a rare nor old term either...
This is why I did this "frenglish" word, wrongly assuming it existed in english the same way as in french. I am very surprised your french dictionaries do not include this word by the way, it is not much used, but it is not a rare nor old term either...
It's neither a very complete nor a very recent edition of Larousse's I'm afraid. Maybe if I bought a more recent edition it might include your word. Then again, "onirique" could be too new to appear even in recent French dictionaries. Slang can be very slow to turn up in formal references works. Another possibility, the French Acadamy is reluctant to acknowledge *any* language that wouldn't seem pure to Voltaire. I suspect its doubly reluctant to recognize provincialisms from French Canada or other parts of La Francophonie.
Oh, but "onirique" is neither recent nor slang at all, on the contrary, it is a very "beautiful" word that's primarily used by specialists like psychologists and artists (cinema, painting, books...)... I think it just comes from the fact that it is not the first term that's used, our beautiful language tends to shrink like a jellyfish under the sun, young people got less words nowadays in their vocabulary than a trained parrot.
If you look at this wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream and you click on the "french" version at the right, you'll see that "onirique" and "onirisme" will appear quite many times, often when linked to Freud's theories and the likes.
Anyway, I have got the same problem you encounter with this word in english, as I got at home a small translator for everyday use, but there are often words I don't find at all there, while I can find them in a huge Harraps I know I can always rely on. Also, it happens sometimes that I can't find a few words in an usual big french dictionnary, these are often very technical or old words but that are still in use. These are the kinds of words you find only in a specialized dictionnary, or in a big encyclopaedia in many volumes.
Still, I am quite puzzled by the fact you don't find this word in your Larousse dictionnary...
If you look at this wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream and you click on the "french" version at the right, you'll see that "onirique" and "onirisme" will appear quite many times, often when linked to Freud's theories and the likes.
Anyway, I have got the same problem you encounter with this word in english, as I got at home a small translator for everyday use, but there are often words I don't find at all there, while I can find them in a huge Harraps I know I can always rely on. Also, it happens sometimes that I can't find a few words in an usual big french dictionnary, these are often very technical or old words but that are still in use. These are the kinds of words you find only in a specialized dictionnary, or in a big encyclopaedia in many volumes.
Still, I am quite puzzled by the fact you don't find this word in your Larousse dictionnary...
I think we can conclude the word isn't used in English, but its omission from my Larouse must remain a mystery I guess. Still, it's not large edition. Yet it says on the cover "Newly revised and expanded, including most-used Canadian expressions". It claims to be handy-sized too. On the backcover it says there are over 35,000 entries, which is not really a lot for a comprehensive dictionary. So chalk it up to a not very authoritative edition.
According to a friend of mine born in a French speaking part of North Ontario, a commonly heard French expression is "backez le truck".
In English speaking parts of Canada we're supposed to learn at least some French, but we do a mighty poor job of it. Classes started in grade nine when I was in school, when I was 14 -- not the best age to start learning another language. And somehow the teachers manage to instill only a kindergarden level of comprehension before French becomes an elective subject and most students drop it. I did particularly badly, since my hearing was a little impaired and spoken French sounded long one long vowel and some murmered shadings to it that might be consonents. I was able to read it rather better. Even so, there seemed to be millions of irregular verbs, and about a thousand tables of so called regular forms that I could never memorize. English is probably as bad if you have to learn it, but I already knew that. : ) In any case, in most of the English speaking parts of the country, you never get to use French once you leave school, and most people forget virtually everything. You remember just about enough to make sense of the French side of cereal boxes and so on.
In Toronto there are about 50,000 residents whose first language is French, but 250,000 whose first language is Chinese, or Italian, or about four other languages. Montreal, on the other hand, was about 50/50 in the old days. Quebec City is more like Toronto in only having a handful of Anglophones and 95% Francophone. There are truly bilingual parts of the country, but by and large Canada is either French or its English, unfortunately. Quebeckers don't seem to like to mix much, and the English speaking seem lethargic about learning other languages. Bilingualism generally means you speak Urdu and Enlish. Portuguese and English. Arabic and English. Or Vietnamese and French. Oh well.
According to a friend of mine born in a French speaking part of North Ontario, a commonly heard French expression is "backez le truck".
In English speaking parts of Canada we're supposed to learn at least some French, but we do a mighty poor job of it. Classes started in grade nine when I was in school, when I was 14 -- not the best age to start learning another language. And somehow the teachers manage to instill only a kindergarden level of comprehension before French becomes an elective subject and most students drop it. I did particularly badly, since my hearing was a little impaired and spoken French sounded long one long vowel and some murmered shadings to it that might be consonents. I was able to read it rather better. Even so, there seemed to be millions of irregular verbs, and about a thousand tables of so called regular forms that I could never memorize. English is probably as bad if you have to learn it, but I already knew that. : ) In any case, in most of the English speaking parts of the country, you never get to use French once you leave school, and most people forget virtually everything. You remember just about enough to make sense of the French side of cereal boxes and so on.
In Toronto there are about 50,000 residents whose first language is French, but 250,000 whose first language is Chinese, or Italian, or about four other languages. Montreal, on the other hand, was about 50/50 in the old days. Quebec City is more like Toronto in only having a handful of Anglophones and 95% Francophone. There are truly bilingual parts of the country, but by and large Canada is either French or its English, unfortunately. Quebeckers don't seem to like to mix much, and the English speaking seem lethargic about learning other languages. Bilingualism generally means you speak Urdu and Enlish. Portuguese and English. Arabic and English. Or Vietnamese and French. Oh well.
"backez le truck" ? Never heard that, that must be from the area your friend lives - proof in that french-english mix typical from Quebec for example.
I know what you mean about learning french. If there is no age to begin learning a language (my dad started learning arab at 75 with quite some success - and he is Dutch !), french is indeed a VERY difficult language, one of the most in fact according to specialists, between all the irregular forms, the synonyms with slight signification gasps, the way words agree... That is why France got the highest level of dyslexics. As for me, I almost lost everything I learnt from german, though I studied it for seven years...
I know what you mean about learning french. If there is no age to begin learning a language (my dad started learning arab at 75 with quite some success - and he is Dutch !), french is indeed a VERY difficult language, one of the most in fact according to specialists, between all the irregular forms, the synonyms with slight signification gasps, the way words agree... That is why France got the highest level of dyslexics. As for me, I almost lost everything I learnt from german, though I studied it for seven years...
My friend (who told me about the very irregular French verb "backez" is from Northern Ontario, where there's a variety of mixes of French and English. Specifically he was born in South Porcupine (there is no North Porcupine, the town got its name from the small river its situated on). Some towns like Hearst, midway between the north shore of Lake Superior and the Hudson Bay shoreline, is a town of under 6,000 that's 96% Francophone, though technically in "English Canada". Kapuskasing, 75 miles east on the same (and only road) is about 50/50. Timmins, further east and south and closer still to Quebec, is more English yet. Go figure...
What seems to have happened is that large numbers of Quebecois from the western parts of the province moved into Northern Ontario, following jobs in lumbering, mining, and the railroad. They went about as far as Manitoba, where there was already a mixed Indian/Francophone population known as the Metis. But that's about as far as the French language really moved in Canada.
There are, of course, French speaking parts of the Canadian maritime provinces.
Most English speaking Canadians speak a variety of English that's almost identical with the Midwestern American variety, but has some subtle holdovers from a Scottish accent. Most Americans find it hilarious and joke about Canadians saying "aboot" instead of "about". But you could equally claim the say "aboat". In actuality it takes something of a good ear to hear the difference.
What seems to have happened is that large numbers of Quebecois from the western parts of the province moved into Northern Ontario, following jobs in lumbering, mining, and the railroad. They went about as far as Manitoba, where there was already a mixed Indian/Francophone population known as the Metis. But that's about as far as the French language really moved in Canada.
There are, of course, French speaking parts of the Canadian maritime provinces.
Most English speaking Canadians speak a variety of English that's almost identical with the Midwestern American variety, but has some subtle holdovers from a Scottish accent. Most Americans find it hilarious and joke about Canadians saying "aboot" instead of "about". But you could equally claim the say "aboat". In actuality it takes something of a good ear to hear the difference.
Apart from myself, the other human commuters are fictional people. They have counterparts in prose, and bear a passing resemblance to the pesonalities of well-known SF fans. But I can't honestly say they are caricatures. I have done a few, mind you. There's one of Sean Connery as 007 somewhere in my gallery, one or two of Marc Schirmeister, oneof Jay Ward, and probably others that don't come to mind.
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