¿Dónde han ido a parar los Snowden de antaño?

Question

From the context (more from 'Trampa 22') I read this as 'What became of the Snowden's of yesteryear' or maybe 'Where've they ended up....'
Is that an expression used in Spanish or one that has been 'made' to fit the English'

Answer 1

He's punning on "Where are the snows of yesteryear" (in French "Ou sont les nieges d'antans") from Marcel Proust's "La Recherche des Temps Perdus" (I forget what the title is in English but it's Proust's _big_ [i.e. long] book). So the author is playing on the similarity of "snows"/"Snowden".

Answer 2

samdie said:

He's punning on "Where are the snows of yesteryear" (in French "Ou sont les nieges d'antans") from Marcel Proust's "La Recherche des Temps Perdus" (I forget what the title is in English but it's Proust's _big_ [i.e. long] book). So the author is playing on the similarity of "snows"/"Snowden".

Ah thanks Samdie but it's A literary referance way above my head (never having read Proust) although it does explain why when the guy he's speaking to doesn't understand him he breaks into the French translation.

My main question is about the Spanish version (which on first reading I would see 'where've they gone to stop')

Answer 3

[url=http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/es-en/ir%20a%20parar%20a.php]http://www.wordmagicsoft.com/dictionary/es-en/ir%20a%20parar%20a.php[/url]

click on the Context link to see several messages that the phrase is used in. In many it seems to mean "ends up in".

Answer 4

Tad,

ir a parar: to end up,

Answer 5

Thanks Heidita