slogan in "bäuerlichen Dialekt"

English translation: explanation

09:16 Jun 25, 2005
German to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Advertising / Public Relations / Coffee house slogan
German term or phrase: slogan in "bäuerlichen Dialekt"
I'm translating a guide to cafes in Prague. The description of each cafe is headed by a "tag line" summarising its characteristics or atmospherere. This particular cafe has the tag line "Alles, worin ein Mann schöner ist wie ein Affe, ist ein Luxus" - which is fine, except that the client has written against this that he wants it translated "in einem bäuerlichen Dialekt". My version of "Everything which makes a man more beautiful than an ape is a luxury" has nothing whatsoever of bäuerlichen Dialekt about it (my grammar school and university education did nothing to help me here). Are there any yokels who can help?
Armorel Young
Local time: 16:46
English translation:explanation
Explanation:
"Was ein Mann schöner is wie ein Aff, is ein Luxus" is the most famous saying of "Tante Jolesch" by the famous Friedrich Torberg. Quote: Nein, sie hielt nicht viel von Schönheit, bei Frauen nicht und schon gar nicht bei Männern. Uns so schließe ich denn dieses Kapitel mit einem Ausspruch, der die Tante Jolesch nicht nur in sprachlicher Hinsicht auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Formulierungskraft zeigt: "Was ein Mann..."
Tante Jolesch did not speak a "bäuerlicher Dialekt", she spoke, and I quote again: "Sie sprach das allerdings nicht hochdeutsch aus. Sie sagte "E Gast is e Tier." Sie bediente sich jenes lässigen, anheimelnden, regional gefärbten Jargons, der (vom richtigen Jiddisch weit entfernt) noch Reste des einstmals im Ghetto gesprochenen "Judendeutsch" aufbewahrte und eben darum in den nunmehr besseren Kreisen streng verpönt war oder gerade noch innerhalb der häuslichen vier Wände toleriert wurde."

So nothing bäuerlich hier, the main thing is that it is jiddish. When Tante Jolesch is quoted (and I don't think anybody else (apart from biblical figures) is quoted more often than her in everyday conversations), people ususally try to sound jiddish. So I guess that's what your client wants.

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Note added at 4 hrs 40 mins (2005-06-25 13:56:51 GMT)
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I think that by taking Tante Jolesch\' most famous phrase as a tag line reference is made to this café\'s typical pre-war character, where intellectuals spent their days. Prag was famous for its good coffeehouses (very similar to Vienna\'s coffeehouse culture). It was there that the famous Prager Deutsch was spoken which was considered the purest and most beautiful German at that time (while the German spoken in Vienna was infiltrated by Hungarian, Bohemian, Jiddish etc.)
Selected response from:

silvia glatzhofer
Local time: 17:46
Grading comment
Sorry I can't split the points, so in the circumstances they have to go to Silvia for filling me in on the background, and particularly the fact that it is a well-known quotation - I could have put my foot in it for not realising any of this!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +1Luxury is anything that makes a man more attractive than the livestock
Frosty
3 +1Honest folk don't need no finery
Lancashireman
3 +1explanation
silvia glatzhofer
3 +1With a little luxury, you can make the silk purse from a sow's ear
Lori Dendy-Molz
1 +2finding a guy who looks better than a monkey is a luxury
Jonathan MacKerron
3in our atmosphere, Beauty's beast is human
rangepost
3the stuff that sets man apart ..
vptrans


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +2
slogan in
finding a guy who looks better than a monkey is a luxury


Explanation:
I think you can forget the bäuerlichen Dialekt, I can't see how this can be done in written English??
"you've got to be lucky to find a guy more handsome than an ape"?

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Note added at 12 mins (2005-06-25 09:28:54 GMT)
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consider any man who is prettier than a monkey to be a luxury

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Note added at 24 mins (2005-06-25 09:40:17 GMT)
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in the barnyard, any farmer prettier \'n his donkey is a luxury

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Note added at 31 mins (2005-06-25 09:47:15 GMT)
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ain\'t no homeboy prettier \'n his donkey if he ain\'t tryin\' powerful hard

Jonathan MacKerron
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 57

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ulrike Kraemer: Your "homeboy" suggestion comes closest to the "bäuerliche Dialekt" (because I think it's the register that's referred to here, not animals on a farm).
57 mins

agree  silfilla: I like *in the barnyard ...* for this
13 hrs
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55 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
slogan in
Luxury is anything that makes a man more attractive than the livestock


Explanation:
Well, with livestock you have the gamut of farmyard animals - and it is an everyday term used by farmers.

Frosty
Local time: 17:46
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  silfilla: nice
12 hrs
  -> Thanking you!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
slogan in
in our atmosphere, Beauty's beast is human


Explanation:
my 2 cents

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Note added at 1 hr 41 mins (2005-06-25 10:57:32 GMT)
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:-)

rangepost
Local time: 09:46
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
slogan in
Honest folk don't need no finery


Explanation:
Honest folk disdain foppery

Presumably this establishment aims to appeal to a clientele who do not wish to dress up in the 'finery' of Lords and Ladies.

Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:46
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 171

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jonathan MacKerron: any phrase with the word "foppery" needs to be lauded!
2 mins
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
slogan in
explanation


Explanation:
"Was ein Mann schöner is wie ein Aff, is ein Luxus" is the most famous saying of "Tante Jolesch" by the famous Friedrich Torberg. Quote: Nein, sie hielt nicht viel von Schönheit, bei Frauen nicht und schon gar nicht bei Männern. Uns so schließe ich denn dieses Kapitel mit einem Ausspruch, der die Tante Jolesch nicht nur in sprachlicher Hinsicht auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Formulierungskraft zeigt: "Was ein Mann..."
Tante Jolesch did not speak a "bäuerlicher Dialekt", she spoke, and I quote again: "Sie sprach das allerdings nicht hochdeutsch aus. Sie sagte "E Gast is e Tier." Sie bediente sich jenes lässigen, anheimelnden, regional gefärbten Jargons, der (vom richtigen Jiddisch weit entfernt) noch Reste des einstmals im Ghetto gesprochenen "Judendeutsch" aufbewahrte und eben darum in den nunmehr besseren Kreisen streng verpönt war oder gerade noch innerhalb der häuslichen vier Wände toleriert wurde."

So nothing bäuerlich hier, the main thing is that it is jiddish. When Tante Jolesch is quoted (and I don't think anybody else (apart from biblical figures) is quoted more often than her in everyday conversations), people ususally try to sound jiddish. So I guess that's what your client wants.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs 40 mins (2005-06-25 13:56:51 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think that by taking Tante Jolesch\' most famous phrase as a tag line reference is made to this café\'s typical pre-war character, where intellectuals spent their days. Prag was famous for its good coffeehouses (very similar to Vienna\'s coffeehouse culture). It was there that the famous Prager Deutsch was spoken which was considered the purest and most beautiful German at that time (while the German spoken in Vienna was infiltrated by Hungarian, Bohemian, Jiddish etc.)

silvia glatzhofer
Local time: 17:46
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Sorry I can't split the points, so in the circumstances they have to go to Silvia for filling me in on the background, and particularly the fact that it is a well-known quotation - I could have put my foot in it for not realising any of this!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ulrike Kraemer: Wie gut, dass (fast) immer jemand da ist, der die nötigen Hintergrundinformationen hat! :-) So, Armorel doesn't need a phrase in peasant English at all, he needs a phrase in Jiddish English!
2 hrs
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18 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
slogan in
With a little luxury, you can make the silk purse from a sow's ear


Explanation:
At least it gets a barnyard animal in there. I hope you are getting a good rate from this customer!

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Note added at 1 hr 38 mins (2005-06-25 10:54:30 GMT)
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If it makes a man look better than a monkey, it\'s luxury

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Note added at 2 hrs 44 mins (2005-06-25 12:00:45 GMT)
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Ain\'t nothing like a little luxury to make a man look better than an ape

-- incorporates armaat\'s suggestion and makes about as much sense as the original ;-) OK, I\'ll stop now.

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Note added at 4 hrs 53 mins (2005-06-25 14:09:39 GMT)
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Ain\'t nothing like a little luxury to make a man look better than an ape

-- incorporates armaat\'s suggestion and makes about as much sense as the original ;-) OK, I\'ll stop now.

Lori Dendy-Molz
Germany
Local time: 17:46
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 36

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Jonathan MacKerron: the "sow" thing also crossed my mind, but am still not sure about the real meaning of the phrase?
3 mins

agree  vptrans: Yeahs, avery proper comment. on the customer. Cie.
4 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
slogan in
the stuff that sets man apart ..


Explanation:
Luxury is the stuff that sets man apart from the ape (or his primeval ancestors if you really want to go for Darwin)..(or with Plato as in..luxury gets us out of the cave)..or even, Get out of the cave. Get luxury.

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Note added at 5 hrs 7 mins (2005-06-25 14:23:13 GMT)
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But, this should really be the translator\'s labor of love, oder?

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Note added at 5 hrs 10 mins (2005-06-25 14:26:10 GMT)
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or, Get out of the cave for a taste of luxury!

vptrans
Local time: 17:46
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
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