Pre War

Mattias Hallin cmhallin at susbus.be
Wed Feb 3 09:49:54 CET 2016


Kriton,

English is of course ot my native tongue either, but to the best of my knowledge: no! There is not general usage of which I am aware of the term "pre-war" being used as a metaphor for "ancient".

The term is still used today in certain circles to refer to the (perceived or real) superior qualitty of goods produced between the two world wars, not least when it comes to certain musical instruments (banjos, guitars, mandolins, brass instruments and so on), but I have never come across the term in the sense you mention in at least American English. In British English, I think it may sometimes be used to mean "old-fashioned", particularly about morals, social conventions and the like, but this is not quite the same as "ancient".

/Mattias


---
Mattias Hallin · Brussels · Belgium ·<cmhallin at susbus.be>
"Oh bury me thar! With my battered git-tar!
A-screamin' my heart out fer yew!"
2 februari 2016 19:54:05 +01:00, skrev Kriton Kyrimis <kyrimis at alumni.princeton.edu>:

> I'd like to thank all the people who replied to my question.
> 
> Most people focused on discussing war-time rationing and why Donald's bonbons dated from before the war. Perhaps I should have made it clear that I already understood that.
> 
> My question still remains: does "pre-war" mean "ancient" metaphorically in English, as it does in Greek?
> 
> We mustn't forget that older stories, when read by modern readers, can be read in today's context. While "pre-war" meant one thing during the war (e.g., pre-rationing, in the good old days of peace, etc.) it could mean something entirely different (e.g., ancient) today, as it does in Greek. While Donald's nephews would grab the opportunity to devour the pre-war candy, as they did in the story, a modern child would keep away from 75 year old candy, which would probably be shriveled and moldy with mold that was shriveled and moldy itself. I assume that this is the reason why the label on the box was modified in later reprints of the story. Donald was trying to lure the kids with the best candy available to him, not with stale and possibly poisonous candy.
> 
> Kriton.
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