I beg to differ, at least on one account. You see, as I mentioned earlier, neither English nor Chinese was my first language, i.e. I had to learn the language before I could use it. It always fascinates me to learn different expression people use to describe simple phrase. 'Fit as a fiddle', 'sick as a dog' ... Although I do not play fiddle, I've been around fiddles for quite a while when I was in the orchestra, yet I cannot tell whether a certain fiddle is fit or not (all I can tell is whether it is in tune or not). I used to own several dogs, but I have never seen them sick.
So to me, those expressions are amusing, albeit do not make any sense.
Back to wuxia translation: I find ‘bashful flower obstructing the moon’ is more fascinating than a simple 'beautiful', same thing with ‘sweeping away a thousand army’ against 'total annihilation'. And I want to share these expressions in their original language to my readers. Who knows? Perhaps like me, they'd like to know too.
Do you think I am a freak for being fascinated by those expressions? Or actually nobody cares so I might as well use the simplified, common English expressions? But then again, in the special case of Deer and Cauldron, Minford has already done that. And the main reason I re-translate the story is precisely that. An spcnet member was kind enough to send me an electronic copy of his work, but comparing his work with Jin Yong's original, I found most, if not all, of these 'special expressions' are lost. I mean, come on, 'By my plight and troth!'? (The original was 'A real man gave his words, a team of four horses cannot chase it'.)