La Bandera De Las Estrellas

Bush a complètement badtripé lorsqu'il a appris qu'on venait de traduire l'hymne national américain en espagnol.

Ce texte rigolo publié sur le webzine Slate offre une réflexion intelligente sur le sujet.

"S'il faut absolument connaître les paroles de l'hymne national pour être un Américain à part entière, dit l'auteur, alors aussi bien renvoyer 80 % de la population!"

Extrait:

"The Star-Spangled Banner," which Congress designated as our official national anthem in 1931, presents unusual challenges for even the most nativist of native speakers. The first is mastering the lyrics penned by the lawyer-poet, and I hope better lawyer than poet, Francis Scott Key.

Key's first verse, it is true, is etched onto most American minds by countless baseball games, where it concludes with subtle local variations: ". or the la-and of the freeeeeee, and the home of the BRAVES!"

But stop 50 people on the street of any American city, and you would be shocked to find one who could begin the second verse:

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?"