Lost in Translation

[Dimandja]

Can you translate these words to English?

ilunga
shlimazl
naa

Try this link:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3830521.stm

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[DrJavaJoe]

I can't translate them into English but I say why try and not just incorporate them into the english language as we always do. Dimanja is an ilunga when it comes to moderating his History Forum



Two strings walk into a bar. The first string says to the bartender: 'Bartender, I'll have a beer. u.5n$x5t?*&4ru!2[sACC~ErJ'. The second string says: 'Pardon my friend, he isn't NULL terminated'.

 

[Stella740pl]

Dimandja, a famous explanation/translation is that "shlemiel is a clod who's always spilling soup. A shlemazl is the one he's always spilling it on".

 

[AnotherHiggins]

->shlemiel is a clod who's always spilling soup. A shlemazl is the one he's always spilling it on

And what about 'Hoss and Pfeffer, Incorporated'?

Sorry, just a Laverne and Shirley reference for anyone who grew up watching TV in the 70s.

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[/tt]Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.

 

[tsdragon]

Schlemazl is Yiddish. It's based on a german root word "schlecht" (bad), and (root unknown) "mazel" (luck). It means a person who always seems to have bad luck.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[earthandfire]

I think mazel is hebrew as in mazel tov - good luck

 

[Dimandja]

>It means a person who always seems to have bad luck.

Is there a similar single word in English that carries the same meaning?

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[tsdragon]

Yes, there is: schlemazel. It's been around in the US for so long now that a good percentage of people have at least some idea of what it means.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[Thadeus]

Additionally, isn't it the same as asking for a single Hebrew word for schlemazel?

Apparently the two roots were concatenated together into a single word in Yiddish... One could do this with most Hebrew words that are actually two concatenated roots.

~Thadeus

 

[MakeItSo]

I'll have a try around the corner: the German derivative is "Schlamassel", which according to my dictionary translates into
"snafu" - situation normal: all f####d up [Amer.] [sl.]


According to

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3830521.stm

Ilunga means "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time".
Would that be
a) a nonviolent person
b) a very tolerant person
[facetious]
c) a liberal?
[/facetious]

naa could be Urdu (

http://www21.brinkster.com/urdudict/alphabets/noon.html):

naa P&H / pref. no /not /termination of the infinitive



[blue]An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. - "Mahatma" Mohandas K. Gandhi[/blue]

 

[Dimandja]

>Yes, there is: schlemazel. It's been around in the US for so long now that a good percentage of people have at least some idea of what it means.

Didn't you just use the same word with an American spelling?

>Additionally, isn't it the same as asking for a single Hebrew word for schlemazel? Apparently the two roots were concatenated together into a single word in Yiddish...

I don't know Hebrew, but I doubt it. Sharing a root does not mean sharing the new word.

>Ilunga means "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time".

Ilunga is also a very popular name in the Kasai region of DR Congo. I never knew what it meant until I read that article.

<facetious>
This explains why the Belgians had free reign in that country for almost a century. But, they just couldn't resist testing fate a "third time", I guess.
</facetious>

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[Stella740pl]

Dimandja,

Why in the world it has to be a single word?
If a suitable single word existed in English, probably Yiddish/Hebrew one wouldn’t be adopted that widely.

Dictionary.com doesn't have a one-word synonym for it either. Their explanation is "An extremely unlucky or inept person; a habitual failure".

Didn't you just use the same word with an American spelling?
Wasn't that tsdragon's point? (Don't mind the spelling, there are several accepted alternatives.)

 

[tsdragon]

The definition you gave from dictionary.com isn't quite accurate. An extremely unlucky person is a schlemazel, an inept one is a schlemiel.

Jumping back a posting or two: it just occurred to me that what Laverne and Shirley were singing was not "Hoss and Pfeffer" it was "Hassenpfeffer", which is a German recipe for rabbit (hassen) with peppercorns (pfeffer). I think the only reason they used the word in the song is that they (or the writers) liked the way it sounds.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[earthandfire]

VB.NET has been getting on my nerves for the last hour or so and I remembered that somewhere I had a Yiddish-English / English-Yiddish dictionary. I've now found it and it shows the following:

shlemazel: unlucky person / clumsy oaf
shlemeil: simpleton / duffer / born loser

additionally it shows:

*shlep/shlepper: stupid oaf
klutz: clumsy person

it also gives the carry and long journey definitions

 

[Dimandja]

So, what do you call a "clumsy stupid oaf"?

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[SF0751]

My brother-in-law?

Susan
"Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example." - Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)

 

[DrJavaJoe]

[ROFL]



Two strings walk into a bar. The first string says to the bartender: 'Bartender, I'll have a beer. u.5n$x5t?*&4ru!2[sACC~ErJ'. The second string says: 'Pardon my friend, he isn't NULL terminated'.

 

[Stella740pl]

tsdragon,

They all are more or less inaccurate, maybe that's why this thread is called "Lost in translation". I personally prefer the one with the soup.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

...it was "Hassenpfeffer"...

I stand corrected. I honestly didn't know what the words were and I started off with a single word, but upon searching for the Laverne and Shirley theme song, I found a site that offered up 'Hoss and Pfeffer, Incorporated'. I googled that company name and found that there is/was such a company that distributed kosher foods. That clinched it for me.

Now I search and can't find my original source, but instead find this site that at least seems authoritative and says that lyric is, indeed, 'hasenpfeffer'. Oh well.

BTW, really like ilunga. I, for one, plan to start using it. Often.

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[/tt]Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.

 

[tsdragon]

There is a terrific book about Yiddish that's been out for decades, so I don't know how easy it would be to find (and my copy was eaten by termites). The books is The Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten. It's not only informative, but very entertaining.

There also used to be a board game based on Yiddish (probably mostly stereotypical) life in NY/NJ and loosely based on Monopoly. It was fun to play and very educational (it's where I picked up a lot of the Yiddish expressions I know). Unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember what the verdammt game was called. About the only things I can remember are that instead of Chance cards they had "Ken-a-hora" (sp?) cards with various good and bad things on them (many quite funny). Anyone know what a "kuchalain" (sp?) is? I learned it from that game.


Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.