[General] Catch-22 Amateurs Question

[trunar]

Hi. I'm making the translation of the book to my native language, and I a bit confused with the sentence: 'The Hapsburgs are shaky' referring to Austria. The country is a republic since 1918, but the novel's scene of action is takes place during WWII. So why Hapsburgs? Is it some kind of nickname for Austrians or what?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi. I'm making the translation of the book to my native language, and I a bit confused with the sentence: 'The Hapsburgs are shaky' referring to Austria. The country is a republic since 1918, but the novel's scene of action is takes place during WWII. So why Hapsburgs? Is it some kind of nickname for Austrians or what?

I just found the passage. Yes, Milo means the Austrians. He wants payment before delivery because he doesn't trust the Austrians enough to extend credit to them.

Remember that Milo is a fast-talking wheeler-dealer who uses a lot of colorful verbal short-hand to express himself.

 

[GoesStation]

Mr. Minderbinder is also extremely well connected. He probably meant the Hapsburg family itself, which was undoubtedly still filthy rich at the time. (For unknown reasons, we Americans insist on spelling Habsburg with a P.)

 

[GoesStation]

You must have somehow escaped reading Joseph Heller's Catch-22, one of the great novels of the twentieth century.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've read it but there is no way I would have recognised a short excerpt from a book I read over twenty years ago. Needless to say, the source and author should have been given in post #1.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Nobody having provided a link to anything, I have no idea what is going on here.

I just Googled Catch 22 and the quote, and it took me right to the passage.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Mr. Minderbinder is also extremely well connected. He probably meant the Hapsburg family itself, which was undoubtedly still filthy rich at the time. (For unknown reasons, we Americans insist on spelling Habsburg with a P.)

Yeah, that makes sense. I'll bet you're right. I read it in the sixties, so on the fine points I'm hazy to the point of fog-bound.

 

[alexpen]

Is it some kind of nickname for Austrians or what?

Do you think this is a linguistic question?