inverted

English translation: the opposite of the normal, back to front

04:14 Dec 15, 2012

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Poetry & Literature

English term or phrase: inverted

It was not very long after speaking the Goney that another homeward-bound whaleman, the Town-Ho,* was encountered. She was manned almost wholly by Polynesians. In the short gam that ensued she gave us strong news of Moby Dick. To some the general interest in the White Whale was now wildly heightened by a circumstance of the Town-Ho's story, which seemed obscurely to involve with the whale a certain wondrous, --------------inverted --------------visitation of one of those so called judgments of God which at times are said to overtake some men. This latter circumstance, with its own particular accompaniments, forming what may be called the secret part of the tragedy about to be narrated, never reached the ears of Captain Ahab or his mates. For that secret part of the story was unknown to the captain of the Town-Ho himself. It was the private property of three confederate white seamen of that ship, one of whom, it seems, communicated it to Tashtego with Romish injunctions of secrecy, but the following night Tashtego rambled in his sleep, and revealed so much of it in that way, that when he was wakened he could not well withhold the rest. Nevertheless, so potent an influence did this thing have on those seamen in the Pequod who came to the full knowledge of it, and by such a strange delicacy, to call it so, were they governed in this matter, that they kept the secret among themselves so that it never transpired abaft the Pequod's main-mast. Interweaving in its proper place this darker thread with the story as publicly narrated on the ship, the whole of this strange affair I now proceed to put on lasting record.

Thank you!

Michael Kislov KudoZ activity Questions: 834 (none open) (2 without valid answers) (33 closed without grading) Answers: 2655 Russian Federation
Local time: 21:44

Selected answer:the opposite of the normal, back to front

Explanation:
The text is insufficient to know just what was inverted, but it was "one of those so called judgments of God". Whatever it was, it happened in a way that was the opposite to what was normally expected.

Selected response from:

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 15:44

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

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4 +4

the opposite of the normal, back to front

Martin Riordan

Answers

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

the opposite of the normal, back to front

Martin Riordan
Brazil
Local time: 15:44
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 42

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inverted

English translation: the opposite of the normal, back to front

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