The best translation might depend on whether you’re translating to American or British English. The English C word has such strong vulgar and misogynist overtones in American English that I don’t even want to type it. To the Brits, it’s much milder, I think, so more like French “con/conne”.

Yes, that's definitely true. At 58, I don't consider myself elderly, but in Victorian times maybe I would have.

You can fiddle with the numbers by a few years, but it’s hard to get him to 60.

The depiction of their courtship depicts them as both young, so there’s probably not a many-year age gap between them. Say he’s 3 years older. Then he’s 55 when the ghosts show up.

When Marley dies, seven years before the main story, Scrooge’s ex has a baby, so she’s probably at most in her mid 40s. Call her 45 then, so 52 at the time of the story.

That’s the only problem with the Dylan Christmas album.

My first thought was that it should be Dolly Parton, if only she had children

(Tagging @fakeandybunn.bsky.social and @ashleysilverburg.bsky.social)

Sarah Caudwell (whom you should read right now if you haven't yet) knew all about this.

Your school put on more challenging plays than ours.

Yes, it's a funny word, isn't it? "wright" just means "maker", and the fact that it sounds like "write" is just a coincidence, as far as I know. A shipwright makes ships, a cartwright makes carts, and a playwright makes plays.

Perhaps your government has. Ours hasn’t.

In the language of that book from a while back (which I confess I never read), it's not lying; it's bullshit.