alexpgp | Translating Peter I...

Pavel P. buttonholed me after lunch about a humorous illustration he found featuring a quote attributed to a decree issued by Peter I (the Great) on December 9, 1709. To wit:

Подчиненный перед лицом начальствующим должен иметь вид лихой и придурковатый, дабы разумением своим не смущать начальство...

I showed him my Google trick of mixing languages in a query, and we found a site that had a passable translation:

Before his superior, a subordinate must appear both lively and feeble-minded, lest he subvert the leader with his wits...

but I figured I could do better. And so, during a break in this afternoon's schedule of on-call "leisure," I've come up with:

A subordinate should appear to his supervisor as energetic yet dim-witted, so as not to unsettle management with his grasp.

What do you think? Too flowery?

For some reason, though, this quote reminds me - while the idea of provenance bounces about in my noggin - of a quote that enjoyed some currency some time back, attributed to one Petronius Arbiter (who indeed did write something called Satyricon), but who will likely be evermore remembered for something he didn't write, on reorganization:

"We trained hard...but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization."

The quote - wherever it came from - is worth reading once and no more. Whatever truth it contains hasn't even the staying power of a teabag, which can be used another time or two before giving up the ghost. Come to think of it, the humor of the quote from the Decree of December 9 is of a "funny-once" variety, too.

(How did I get off on that tangent? Back to work!)

Cheers...