Porco Rosso: Panoramic vs Binocular Vision

Un discorso sull'aviazione maiale...

George: Why did Porco change into a pig?

Mario: Because he had self-esteem issues. His friends died in an air battle. He felt guilty so he transformed himself into a pig through remorse.

George: Self-esteem issues? So he became a PIG? Why didn’t he become a… a… LUNCHBOX?

Mario: Maybe it was because Miyazaki loved that era of antique airplanes and animated air races. Set among islands in the Adriatic. A Time of Cherries. An era when pigs might fly. Pre-Animal Farm.

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Voice-over

Pig vision is an interesting hybrid concept. Pig panaoramic vision is 310 degrees and their binocular vision is 50 degrees. So they can see behind them to sense danger creeping up, but they still have some degree of bifocal stereoscopic vision for calculating distances. Un aviatore ideale.

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Insulting is a delicate art

Lori’s English is pretty good but she has a problem with an exam question and seeks a native speaker colleague’s advice.

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Lori: Here’s the question: "She plays [ ] a professional than an amateur." The correct answer is “She plays [more like] a professional than an amateur.” Can you say “She plays [less like] a professional than an amateur”?

Larry: Sounds funny.

Lori: But is it grammatically wrong?

Larry: Guess not, but a native speaker wouldn’t say it.

Lori: Why?

Larry: Much more likely to describe the "amateur" much more fully, justify it. Like “She plays less like a professional than an out of practice amateur. Praising is easy. “You did well.” Insulting is a delicate art, if I say to someone, “You’re a pig,” I'm being boorish and pulling myself down to the level I perceive them to be at. Effective insults require ornamentation and embellishment. Saying something like, “Your manners would offend Orwell’s porcine communists,” elevates you to some perch above the person being put down.

Lori: Then we'll have to justify [more like] and disallow [less like] through data from a concordancer?

Larry: Yup. And claim the item is testing competence in insult protocols, not grammar.

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Voiceover

Devising exam questions which purport to test purely grammar is very difficult. Without contextual background such as knowing who is speaking or writing, multiple correct answers are possible.

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