Somewhere or other

Somewhere or other
 

In a country which was somewhere or other, there lived...

This is a sentence from a tale. Does 'somewhere or other' mean 'en cualquier pais'? Is this a common sentence in tales? (I mean, such as 'once upon a time').

Thanks. :)

Yes, it means that it doesn't matter in context. But it can matter in common speech -

A: Have you seen the newspaper?

B: Yes, I saw it somewhere or other.

(= I know it exists, but I can't remember exactly where I saw it)

:)

That's what I guessed, but I don't remember having seen it before. :thinking:

Many thanks. :)

Y eso se traduce como "estaba en alguna parte/algún lugar..."

Gracias, Chileno. :)

No. ¿Dónde la has visto? Me suena a The Princess Bride.

¿No es común en cuentos? :thinking:

Es un cuento de mi libro de texto de inglés.

Oh, I don't know that it's necessarily UNcommon. I mean, if you start a story with "Once upon a time....", I would not be surprised to see ".... somewhere or other ....." in that story. Maybe it's more common in the US?

Yes, it starts "Once upon a time...". :)

Do you prefer to say story instead of tale? (I mean 'cuento infantil'). :thinking:

Hi Irmamar - In conversation, the term 'story' is more commonly used.

'Tale' is more a literary term, as in "A Tale of Two Cities" (book title).

Conversationally, however, someone exaggerating a real-life story may be described as "telling tall tales".

Thank you, Hermit. :)

Does 'tall tale' in this case mean 'exageración' (even 'mentira')?

Yes, and 'a tall story' :)

Hermit definitely beat me to it, and explained it much more elegantly than I would have.

A "story" is any story, true or false, told in a narrative style, written or spoken, etc.

A "tall tale" is usually extremely improbable and unbelievable, told in an exaggerated fashion - but typically told as if it were true and factual (yet SO exaggerated, that you know for sure that it's NOT true!). Again, it could be told or written, but I would say that there is an aura of oral tradition implied with the word "tale"....

Sometimes the word "tale" is used to talk about lying (you mentioned "mentira"). For example, a child tells his mother a story, and the mother says "stop telling tales". That means that she knows that the child is lying.....

If I EVER hear "Once upon a time....", I think of "fairy tales" like Cinderella, Snow White, Jack & the Beanstalk, etc. "Once upon a time..." might not be solely reserved for "fairy tales", but traditionally so. They also end with "And they lived happily ever after." :D See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_upon_a_time

Related, to start a story with "It was a dark and stormy night...." is sort of a joke - a story that would be overly-serious and overly-dramatic. And it is classically how Snoopy (the comic strip dog) would start the novel that he was repeatedly attempting to write.... See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_was_...d_stormy_night

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived....

Oooh - are we creating a fairy tale here?

....a beautiful princess and her lonely widowed father, the king of the land.....

Thank you Lou Ann for your detailed explanation. But I still have a question: Why did you write "fairy tales"? I meant those tales/stories (cuentos para niños, cuentos de hadas, príncipes, etc.). :thinking:

Tales is a more general term (as I described). I knew what you wrote. I just wanted to add a little bit more information, so I included "fairy tales" (isn't that what "cuentos de hadas" means?) and "it was a dark and stormy night". Just extra information, that's all.....

Hola solo inicio a escribir en el hilo, pero

Fairy tale significa lo que dijes (cuentos para niños, cuentos de hadas, príncipes, etc.)

Y Tall tale significa un cuento que es probablemente falso

Cuando pienso en "a tall tale" lo viene a la mente..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pecos_Bill

Bueno "tale" se usa bastante, pero menos que "story":



Hay ciertas frases con "tale", la mayoría de las cuales ya se han mencionado.

A tall tale - un cuento exagerado, una mentira.
A fairy tale - un cuentro de hadas
To tell tales - mentir, contar chismes ("Dead men tell no tales")
To live to tell the tale - contarlo

To tell tales significa inventar historias
Pero la palabra telltale (una palabra) en from de adjectivo tiene otro significado. Significa evidencia que dice la historia.

Ejemplo: When John came home from work late, his wife saw a telltale
lipstick mark on his collar.