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English to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / word
English term or phrase:Laybyes Accepted
"It is long past closing time. The post office is closed, the shops are closed,the street is deserted. Meyerowitz Jeweller. Babes in the Wood--Laybyes Accepted. Cosmos Cafe. Foschini Modes."
Explanation: I can only presume it to mean the sort of installment payment as described below :
A lay-by is a convenient and inexpensive way of buying goods offered by many stores. In a lay-by you select the items you wish to buy and enter an agreement with the store. You pay an initial deposit and the remainder of the item's cost in regular instalments. In exchange the store will hold the item for you until you have completely paid for it. There are no credit charges involved but there may be a fee charged if you decide to cancel the lay-by.
An agreement between a retail seller and a consumer that provides that the seller will retain designated consumer goods for sale to the consumer at a specified price on a future date, if the consumer deposits with the seller an agreed upon sum of money.
what I have been trying to explain to kolya. Nobody is disputing the fact that there are (at least) two meanings of the word Laybye. As a NS of BE, I originally only knew the "parking place" meaning - but it does not fit the context "laybyes accepted". So if it had been my translation I would have consulted a good dictionary and come up with the meaning "securing an article by paying a deposit". Thus, as soon as Yasutomo provided the other meaning I learnt something new, and gave him (her?) an Agree.
Thanks for your support, Tony M !
...all professional translators know that dictionaries don't always tell the whole story! The fact that a word does appear in one or more dictionaries is comforting confirmation of its existence; but the fact that a word does not appear cannot be taken as rigid proof of its non-existence — certainly not until you have looked in every dictionary that exists!
What you have pulled up is simply the commonest meaning that everyone knows (and which no-one is disputing) — but apparently there are other meanings that maybe you weren't aware of, but it just so happens some of the rest of us are. These are often culture-specific aspects that are not well covered by most ordinary dictionaries. But even your own reference lists it as definition #4. And just look at this entry from the NS OED:
lay-by
2 a Something laid by or saved; savings. L19
b A system of paying a deposit to secure an article for later purchase. Chiefly Austral. & NZ. M20
It seems to me that by your own discussion entry posting, you have just undermined the very argument on which you were basing your 'disagrees' to the answers from CC-S and YK.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/layby
**lay-by
n
1. Brit a place for drivers to stop at the side of a main road
2. (Transport / Nautical Terms) Nautical an anchorage in a narrow waterway, away from the channel
3. (Transport / Railways) a small railway siding where rolling stock may be stored or parked
4. (Business / Commerce) Austral and NZ a system of payment whereby a buyer pays a deposit on an article, which is reserved for him until he has paid the full price
vb lay by (adverb)
1. (tr) to set aside or save for future needs
2. (Transport / Nautical Terms) Also lay to to cause (a sailing vessel) to stop in open water or (of a sailing vessel) to stop** http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=layby&sourceid=Mozilla-...
kolya, I'm afraid I don't speak either of your native languages, otherwise I would ask you to translate the source in such a way as to support your interpretation of "laybye" as "parking space" in the context of "laybyes accepted". I can't see it, myself.
This is why I wondered if you had perhaps mixed up "accepted" and "excepted" - and now "expected"?
Hi Diana, this is not a layaway; though in Australia is meant as: Layaway, also referred to as lay-by in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Great Britain, is a way to purchase an item without paying the entire cost at once. However, rather than taking the item home and then repaying the debt on a regular schedule, as in most installment plans or hire purchases, the layaway customer does not receive the item until it is completely paid for. There is sometimes a fee associated with a layaway purchase, since the seller must "lay" the item "away" in storage until the payments are completed. In the event the customer did not pay the amount due, the item would be returned to stock and any subsequent payments that were processed or are pending would be returned to the customer.
A layby is a place of rest, if I could call your attention to the sentence context. ...everything is closed ** the shops are closed,the street is deserted....Laybyes Accepted. Cosmos Cafe....
In spite of what kolya says (with CL 5 !) and although I say that the BE meaning is a parking spot, there can be no doubt that here Yasutomo's suggestion is the right one, especially with "laybyes accepted".
Happy New Year Everyone. I was so smart today that ended up with two term translation :) sorry about that. A layby is a resting spot, or shoulder on a road where you can stop for a short time to stretch or rest a for a minute. A layaway that mostly translated it as is not correct, if you see the term is layby and not a layaway. I have added all the languages I deal with and the translations of the layby thereby and you will see all are translated as a Resting spot, a resting road shoulder spot, and here clearly Cosmos Cafe offering that spot since everything else in the city seems closed.
This is interesting, because in BE a layby is a "space next to a road where vehicles can stop".
Brits have different words for the thing you are referring to, such as "hire purchase" or buying sth "on the never-never" - however these expressions may be a bit dated as I left the country long ago...
The term seems to be more common in Australian English. Perhaps an Antipodean colleague could confirm ?
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Answers
7 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +5
laybyes accepted
payment by installments
Explanation: I can only presume it to mean the sort of installment payment as described below :
A lay-by is a convenient and inexpensive way of buying goods offered by many stores. In a lay-by you select the items you wish to buy and enter an agreement with the store. You pay an initial deposit and the remainder of the item's cost in regular instalments. In exchange the store will hold the item for you until you have completely paid for it. There are no credit charges involved but there may be a fee charged if you decide to cancel the lay-by.
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +5