However, Carroll also introduces dialect and non-standard speech (the rabbit's servant, the Griffin) for comic effect, something that only 1875 consistently tries to imitate:

LC: 'Sure I'm here! Digging for apples, yer honour! ... Sure it's an arm, yer honour! (He pronounced it 'arrum'.) Sure it does, yer honour, but it's an arm for all that' (p. 60)

1875: 'Nu kommer jeg! Jeg graver Kantøfler op, husbond! Det er min Sandten en Arm, Husbond! ... Ja, så Skam gør den inte, men det er illigeveller en Arm' (p. 27)

1946: 'Jeg er her – nu kommer jeg! Jeg graver efter Æbler, deres Naade! ... Det er min Sandten en Arm, Deres Naade! Ja, det gør det, Deres Naade, men det er nu lige godt en Arm!' (p. 38)

1972: 'Nu kommer jeg! Jeg graver efter Æbler, deres Naade! ... Det er min Sandten en Arm, Deres Naade! Det gør jeg ganske vist Deres Naade, men det er nu alligevel en Arm!'(p. 27)

1982: 'Jamen a er da her og graver efter æbler, Deres Velbårenhed! ... Det er en arm, Deres Velbårenhed! ... Jow, jow, Deres Velbårenhed, men det er nu alligevel en arm!' (p. 34)

2000: 'Her, Deres Velburenhed! Jeg er ude at grave æbler op!' ... 'Det er en arm, Deres Velburenhed!' (Sådan udtalte han nu det fine ord) ... (p. 62)

Here, the 1875 translation is good at finding Danish dialect equivalents for the English – and Kantøfler, standard Danish Kartofler ('potatoes'), is in all likelihood what the gardener is digging for, cf. French pomme de terre. But to some extent all the translations try to imitate the gardener's non-standard language, unlike the following example, where only 1875 uses dialect:

LC: 'It's all her fancy, that: they never executes nobody, you know... ' (p. 125f).

1875: 'Det er nu hendes Kjæphest; de hugge slets inte Hoveder af, nej Skam gjør de ej ...' (p. 110).

1946: 'Det er noget, hun bilder sig ind – der er ingen, som bliver halshugget!' (p. 88).

1972: 'Det er alt sammen indbildning – der er aldrig nogen, der bliver henrettet ...' (p. 40f).

1982: 'Fantasien løber af med hende, for sagen er, at der aldrig bliver henrettet nogen ...' (p. 62).

1999: 'Det er fantasi alt sammen – de henretter faktisk aldrig nogen' (p. 74).

2000: '... Det er bare noget, hun bilder sig ind. I virkeligheden er der aldrig nogen, der bliver halshugget' (p. 156).

Linguistic problems

In Alice, precision is insisted upon, although not always achieved. As Humpty Dumpty reminds us, 'When I use a word ... it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.' But frequently, words in Alice have to carry more than one meaning. For reasons of space, we shall here confine ourselves to one example of a pun and the difficulties it presents for

translators.

The Griffin's account of its school days, which apparently resembled those of the typical public school boy at the time, offers several examples. For instance, the Griffin’s teacher was called Tortoise (taught us), and the number of lessons 'lessened' (that is decreased) every day.

LC: 'The master was an old Turtle – we used to call him Tortoise – '(p. 127).

1875: 'Skolelæreren var en gammel Søpadde – vi plejede at kalde ham 'Landpadden' (p. 112).

1946: 'Vores Lærer var en gammel Skildpadde – vi kaldte ham for Sildesnuden...'2 (p. 90).

1972: 'Da vi var børn [...] blev vi sendt på Sorø Akvademi hos doktor Dermatycholos Coriacea – vi kaldte ham Gamle Læderpadde – '3 (p. 41).

1982: Leaves out most of this and also the following speeches (p. 64).

1999: Like 1982 (p. 76).

2000: 'Vores lærer var en gammel havpadde, som vi drenge plejede af kalde Landpadden' (p. 158).

Generally, Danish translators give up when they come to the joke about lessons lessening; and the favourite solution to the 'Tortoise problem' is either to leave it out or to substitute a different word like 'landpadde' for 'søpadde', explaining that otherwise it would not be a nickname – true, but not really satisfactory in the context.

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