https://belletra.com/editor-at-large/im-so-disorientated/ English Translation from German, Spanish, and Catalan; English Editing and Writing Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:26:37 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.2 https://belletra.com/editor-at-large/im-so-disorientated/#comment-659 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:26:37 +0000 http://belletra.com/?p=74#comment-659 It’s just a UK/US thing. Using “orient” as a verb sounds instinctively wrong to British ears. It can also be confusing (at a push, “to orient yourself” could mean to behave in an eastern, or oriental, fashion). Tomartoes, tomaytoes, etc etc.

]]> https://belletra.com/editor-at-large/im-so-disorientated/#comment-282 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:27:53 +0000 http://belletra.com/?p=74#comment-282 It has always been my understanding that orientation, and its related words, derived from the Christian habit of positioning a corpse during burial such that it would be facing East, towards Jerusalem, in order to be prepared for the second coming and Judgement. Disorientation would involve facing a corpse in a different direction, something that was usually inflicted as a punishment for religious crimes. Oliver Cromwell, for example, was exhumed, drawn, quartered, and then re-buried facing West.

]]> https://belletra.com/editor-at-large/im-so-disorientated/#comment-281 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:48:03 +0000 http://belletra.com/?p=74#comment-281 Ah, but where are you from?

]]> https://belletra.com/editor-at-large/im-so-disorientated/#comment-279 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:44:26 +0000 http://belletra.com/?p=74#comment-279 It’s disorientated for me all the way.

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