# το μαρτύριο της σταγόνας = (Chinese) water torture



## nickel (May 10, 2010)

*το μαρτύριο της σταγόνας
το κινέζικο βασανιστήριο*
ή, όλο μαζί αλλά σπάνιο: *το κινέζικο μαρτύριο / βασανιστήριο της σταγόνας*
Κανένα στα λεξικά μας, αν δεν κάνω λάθος. Χρησιμοποιείται μεταφορικά για κάθε αργή και βασανιστική διαδικασία.

Σύμφωνα με το OED:
*water-torture*, a form of torture in which the victim is made to endure an incessant drip of water on the head 

1928 G. B. Shaw _Intelligent Woman's Guide Socialism_ lxxxi. 415 The *{water torture} of the Inquisition, in which the fluid was poured down the victims' throats until they were bloated to death. 1946 ‘R. West’ _Train of Powder_ (1955) 8 Nuremberg‥was also the water-torture, boredom falling drop by drop on the same spot on the soul. 1974 L. Deighton _Spy Story_ x. 105 What am I supposed to do, give them the water torture? 1976 _Times_ 30 Aug. 8/5 Any individual‥is worn down by the Chinese water torture of daily stress. 1983 _Daily Tel_. 12 May 4/8 A former county sheriff‥and three former deputies were charged in Houston with using water torture to extract confessions from prisoners.​
Από τα παραδείγματα, αλλά και από τα διάφορα βασανιστήρια με νερό που περιγράφει η Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_torture) φαίνεται ότι, αν θέλουμε να γίνουμε σαφέστεροι, θα πρέπει και στα αγγλικά να αναφέρουμε το _Chinese_. Με τη διαφορά ότι οι Κινέζοι δεν έχουν καμιά σχέση με το βασανιστήριο, οι λεξιλόγοι πιστεύουν τώρα ότι έγινε μπέρδεμα με το γνωστό και από τον κινηματογράφο κόλπο που έκανε ο Χουντίνι όταν τον κλείνανε σιδεροδέσμιο σ’ έναν γυάλινο θάλαμο γεμάτο νερό κι αυτός κατόρθωνε να ελευθερωθεί εγκαίρως προτού πνιγεί (Chinese Water Torture Cell) και ότι το μαρτύριο της σταγόνας είναι μια δυτικότατη μέθοδος βασανιστηρίου που ανακάλυψε ο Ιταλός Hippolytus de Marsiliis, ο οποίος ανακάλυψε και το βασανιστήριο της στέρησης του ύπνου. Οι σύγχρονοι βασανιστές πρέπει να του έχουν στήσει άγαλμα.

Word sleuth Barry Popik tells me the first known use of the term was Harry Houdini's "Chinese Water Torture Cell," a stunt introduced circa 1903 in which Houdini was lowered into a tank of water upside down and had to come out alive. Popik says the drip-drip-drip method of torture, not referred to as "Chinese," is described in Brian Innes's _The History of Torture_ (1998) as having been invented by one Hippolytus de Marsiliis in 16th-century Italy. At some point subsequent to 1903, presumably, someone conflated Houdini's trick with de Marsiliis's torture, and the two have been linked ever since. 
http://www.straightdope.com/columns...ry-on-that-weird-medieval-cult-the-flatulents​
Your entire body is strapped down. Even your head is immobilized. You can’t move a muscle and can’t even imagine what kinds of horrors are planned for you. You look up and see that the spigot of a rotting cask is positioned directly over your head. What could it be? Hot oil? Wax? As you writhe against the restraints, your heart flutters in anticipation of what might happen next. Your eyes focus on the spigot and a small droplet of liquid that is hovering at the end of it, ready to drip upon your forehead. You wince and brace yourself as the liquid begins to fall, but nothing actually happens. It’s just a tiny drip of cold water.
[...]
What’s happening to you is something much stranger. It has come to be known as Chinese water torture, but was actually invented by a sixteenth-century Italian lawyer named Hippolytus de Marsiliis. (Marsiliis has quite a resume—see the next chapter on sleep deprivation.) He noticed that drops of water gradually wore away a stone and wondered if they would have the same effect on the human head. The answer is no—but the water can achieve damage of a slightly different variety. No one knows exactly why this slow drip method has come to be known as Chinese water torture, but escape artist Harry Houdini might have unintentionally coined the phrase in 1903. That year, Houdini introduced the "Chinese Water Torture Cell." It was a stunt in which the escape artist was dropped upside down into a box filled with water. Somewhere along the way, the term "Chinese water torture" was linked to the sixteenth-century Italian procedure. 
_Extreme Encounters: How It Feels to Be Drowned in Quicksand, Shredded by Piranhas, Swept Up in a Tornado, and Dozens of Other Unpleasant Experiences_ (Greg Emmanuel)​
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_water_torture
Γαλλικά: Supplice de la goutte d'eau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippolytus_de_Marsiliis
κινέζικο βασανιστήριο στο slang.gr (Μάλλον θέλει ξαναγράψιμο.)


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## SBE (May 10, 2010)

Το πρόσφατα επίκαιρο waterboarding πώς λέγεται αλλοδαπιστί;


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## nickel (May 10, 2010)

SBE said:


> Το πρόσφατα επίκαιρο waterboarding πώς λέγεται αλλοδαπιστί;



waterboarding = εικονικός πνιγμός


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## drsiebenmal (May 10, 2010)

Χωρίς να είμαι ειδικός βέβαια στις διαφορετικές τεχνικές, εικονικός πνιγμός δεν είναι όταν βουτάνε το κεφάλι του κρατούμενου και το κρατάνε μέσα στο νερό;

Και η βίκη λέει:

In contrast to submerging the head face-forward in water, waterboarding precipitates an almost immediate gag reflex.

Πνίξιμο το ένα, πνίξιμο και το άλλο, το waterboarding πιο άγριο ακόμη...


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## nickel (May 10, 2010)

drsiebenmal said:


> Πνίξιμο το ένα, πνίξιμο και το άλλο, το waterboarding πιο άγριο ακόμη...


Για χάρη σου, «άγριος εικονικός πνιγμός».


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## SBE (May 10, 2010)

Και μια που μιλάμε για σταγόνες.


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