The thesis, that it. For some time, my thesis was subject to my usual fiddly dawdling: some five hundred words here, another three hundred there. A book read, an article read and an outline drawn and redrawn a couple of times. Some angry words from my promoter.

So, today, as soon as I get a nap (because stress as usual cut into my sleeping cycle) I will collate all the information I have, write down as much of the thesis as I can and then prepare myself for a journey to the infamous Sosnowiec Linguistics Library.

What have I got to show for my research so far? About half of the whole thing actually! My thesis will concern itself with metaphor translation in text stylised as archaic. The "stylised" part is important as it frees me from actually delving into diachronic linguistics. I still don't have much in the way of stylisation (and my promoter declared I'm mostly on my own with it), but I have learnt loads about metaphor, its definitions and a bit about their translation (I still have to lay my hands on this one book).

My idea currently (which has been put down on paper, but in only a few words) is to first compare some metaphor definitions and their merits within the context of my thesis, i.e. which one will be best to settle on (will it give me a large enough and diverse enough sample? What can its implications bring to the analysis and conclusion? Will it blend?). Then I will decide on cognitive metaphor, because cognitivistics are the rage right now.

Well, actually, it's because cognitive metaphor is based on some very concrete ideas, among them that the ideas and implications behind simple and more complex metaphor are related to our bodies and our physical environment. Which, in simple terms, means "things are looking up" because UP IS GOOD and "this is crap" because POO IS BAD.

I know, scientific discourse is not one of my strong points.

Anyway, the whole translation process is in itself the simple part of the thesis. I mean, if you actually are versed in translation science already - it's mostly your usual stuff of process, strategy, technique, translator choice and translator creativity. Equivalence and whatnot. Because, no matter what some people say (Niranjana and Cheyfitz, I'm looking at you guys), translation science concerns itself with equivalence, not ideology.

Then again, I might as well accept that soon all social sciences will have to deal with the whole post-colonialism, hegemony stuff. I am so not looking forward to reading about Grampsci again. Can I have my field of science with no guilt-tripping stories of how some people used my profession to enslave people and maintain abusive powers structures? KTHX!

Back to the problem at hand: nap, writing, prepare for trip. Probably grovel over e-mail or phone with promoter.