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Prevod - Rumunski-Engleski - A da cu bâta în baltă. A se îneca ca ţiganul la...

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A da cu bâta în baltă. A se îneca ca ţiganul la...
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Podnet od iepurica
Izvorni jezik: Rumunski

A da cu bâta în baltă.
A se îneca ca ţiganul la mal.
Napomene o prevodu
This are Romanian sayings and I would like to find out the correspondents in British English. I am not interested in a translation word-by-word.

Natpis
Ziceri
Prevod
Engleski

Preveo emanuel stroia
Željeni jezik: Engleski

Drop a brick.
To lose by a neck.
Napomene o prevodu
Or:
Put one's foot in it.
To give up just as you're about to succeed.
Poslednja provera i obrada od IanMegill2 - 21 Novembar 2007 01:59





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19 Novembar 2007 05:15

kafetzou
Broj poruka: 7963
Ian, please read the discussion under the rejected translation.

CC: IanMegill2

19 Novembar 2007 05:30

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
Yeah, I was hoping if we put it out there, somebody might come up with something better...
But then again, if they just think the English means what the Romanian means, they're just going to vote in favor of it anyway, and we'll be no further ahead...
Hmmm...

19 Novembar 2007 05:38

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
"All that effort for nothing"?
"To get cold feet just as you're about to succeed"?
"To not finish what you started"?
"To not see something through to completion"?
Hmmm...

19 Novembar 2007 06:34

emanuel stroia
Broj poruka: 8
Hello Ian,
I found out the french version, "faire naufrage au port", could you please tell me the english version?

19 Novembar 2007 07:58

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
Ha ha! That's really funny!
I'll give it some thought and get back to you soon!
We don't say "get shipwrecked in the harbor" in English!

19 Novembar 2007 11:23

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
There's this half-joking expression:
"To snatch defeat from the jaws of victory"
which is a sarcastic reversal of the usual expression
"To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat"
Hmmm...
All the other idioms above ("faire naufrage au port" included) don't imply that the person gave up/stopped trying just at the moment he was going to succeed. They mean he just got very unlucky just as he was about to succeed, and that this bad luck was the cause of his failure...
We need to find an expression which reflects this giving up, not just bad luck...

19 Novembar 2007 14:33

kafetzou
Broj poruka: 7963
What about that first one, "drop a clanger"? I've never heard of that, Ian, have you?

19 Novembar 2007 14:47

miyabi
Broj poruka: 98
A se îneca ca ţiganul la mal = a nu reuşi, a eşua într-o acţiune tocmai când era pe punctul de a o duce la bun sfârşit.
"A se îneca ca ţiganul la mal" doesn't mean that the actual person gave up or stopped trying just when he was about to succeed. It just means he failed (right before he was able to complete the action) as in he *almost* succeeded in doing something.

19 Novembar 2007 14:52

kafetzou
Broj poruka: 7963
OK; I stand by "to not quite make it", as I said here.

19 Novembar 2007 14:54

iepurica
Broj poruka: 2102
I have to contradict you here. I have heard it several times with that meaning, otherwise the saying has absolutely no sense. The orgins consists in the fact that gypsies are known as not being too perseverent.

Actually my father use it quite often in my past, to the point when I was close to end something after a lot of work and suddenly I could not anymore and I wanted to give up.

19 Novembar 2007 15:04

miyabi
Broj poruka: 98
Definiţia de sus este luată direct din dicţionar... ceea ce înseamnă că este 100% corectă. Nu cred că este folosită pentru persoanele care renunţă, cel puţin în dicţionar nu este dat acest sens - şi sinceră să fiu, nici eu n-am auzit-o ca fiind spusă într-un astfel de context.

The definition of above is taken from a dictionary... It just has to be right. So I agree, "to not quite make it" is the closest you can get to the actual meaning of that Romanian saying.

19 Novembar 2007 15:14

iepurica
Broj poruka: 2102
It's also used when one works a lot and spends a lot of effort and, on the last "meters", does something stupid and everything is compromised.

I don't know, you decide, it seems that it does not have any correspondence in English. I just wanted an equivalent in order to be able to explain to my friends....

20 Novembar 2007 07:19

emanuel stroia
Broj poruka: 8
How about this one: "He came safe from the East Indies, and was drowned in the Thames"....a chip off the old block, sort of.

20 Novembar 2007 09:05

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
Yeah, that's the same as "getting shipwrecked in the harbour."

Hmmm...Well, there seem to be two interpretations of the phrase here (or at least two ways of using it) , so I guess we can put one of them in the main Translation field, and the other in the Remarks section:

To give up just as you're about to succeed

and

To miss by a neck(/nose; to not quite make it; close, but no cigars; all that effort for nothing; etc....)

iepurica, because you're the one who requested this translation, why don't I let you decide: which version do you want in the main Translation field, and which version in the Remarks?

20 Novembar 2007 09:08

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
Oh, sorry, kafetzou!

Yes, I think "to drop a clanger" might be British; I've heard/read it, but never used it myself...

20 Novembar 2007 09:13

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
Also, I think I should cut that expression
It's the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
from the Remarks section, because it seems to have a very different meaning from everything we've discussed so far.
It means
"little bad things accumulate, and finally there are so many little things that a big problem occurs."


So I'll cut that, unless anyone has any objections...

20 Novembar 2007 09:46

iepurica
Broj poruka: 2102
I guess we can let it as it is and to put this one: "To give up just as you're about to succeed" in the remarks field. And you're right about "It's the last straw that breaks the camel's back.", just delete it.

And thanks for the efoort, I would not guess a Romanian saying can cause so much trouble.

21 Novembar 2007 01:57

IanMegill2
Broj poruka: 1671
Great! Then that's what I'll do!

Don't apologize, iepurica! That's what is for! I learned a lot with this thread!