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Power - the thing you can't be short of.

English translation: power - you can't do without it

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11:16 Jul 15, 2004

English to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Marketing / Market Research / slogan

English term or phrase: Power - the thing you can't be short of.

This is a slogan of a power station. I promised my client to provide native speakers' opinion. I will be greatful for your feedback.

Katarzyna Chmiel KudoZ activity Questions: 215 (1 open) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 405 Poland
Local time: 11:32

English translation:power - you can't do without it

Explanation:
I don't think 'thing' works here (although it is perfectly correct English). I've given one suggestion, but I am not an advertising copywriter, and there are many others.

Selected response from:

David Sirett
Local time: 11:32

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +7

power - you can't do without it

David Sirett

5 +2

Power - you gotta have it

Eng2Span

4 +3

feedback

Mikhail Kropotov

4 +2

Power - you won't go without it

Armorel Young

Power - the thing you can't let run out

Paul Dixon

3 +2

power - you don't want to be in short supply

kalimeh

power--one thing you can't afford to be short of

Heidi Stone-Schaller

Just adding my wee bit ... :-)

SanjaySAgrawal

power - you can't afford to be short of it

Olga Judina

Power--you don't want to run short

jccantrell

Power : You will never want to be short of it.

Ramesh Madhavan

Answers

51 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

power - the thing you can't be short of.

power - you can't do without it

Explanation:
I don't think 'thing' works here (although it is perfectly correct English). I've given one suggestion, but I am not an advertising copywriter, and there are many others.

David Sirett
Local time: 11:32
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Graded automatically based on peer agreement.

1 hr confidence:

power - the thing you can't be short of. power--one thing you can't afford to be short of

Explanation:
I do think "thing" works.

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Note added at 1 hr 7 mins (2004-07-15 12:24:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

oops--didn\'t realize this was a \"natives only\" question.

Heidi Stone-Schaller
Local time: 11:32
Native speaker of:

English,

German

1 hr confidence:

power - the thing you can't be short of. Power : You will never want to be short of it.

Explanation:
Another take! I think they want to pun on the word Power.

Ramesh Madhavan
Local time: 16:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

Tamil
PRO pts in category: 4

1 hr confidence:

power - the thing you can't be short of. power - you can't afford to be short of it

Explanation:
power - something you can't afford to be short of

Olga Judina
Latvia
Local time: 12:32
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Russian

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

power - the thing you can't be short of. power - you don't want to be in short supply

Explanation:

another suggestion

or

power - imagine life without it !

or
power - where would you be without it ?

kalimeh
Local time: 10:32
Native speaker of:

English

2 hrs confidence:

power - the thing you can't be short of. Power - the thing you can't let run out

Explanation:
Sounds OK, I like the use of the phrasal verb "run out".

Paul Dixon
Local time: 08:32
Native speaker of:

English,

Portuguese

3 hrs confidence:

power - the thing you can't be short of. Power--you don't want to run short

Explanation:
Hey, it's another choice.

How about:

Power--where you can't afford to end up in the black.

i need a cup of coffee.

jccantrell
Local time: 02:32
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

4 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

power - the thing you can't be short of. Power - you gotta have it

Explanation:
another option, if you can use "gotta" it works well. There's a very popular fastfood restaurant chain in my area that uses:
"You gotta eat!"

Also, unless you want to leave the ambiguity found in the word "power" to have fun with the slogan (which I think is great), you could just say "electricity" if you wanted to be clearer.

Electricity - you gotta have it!

Eng2Span
United States
Local time: 05:32
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish

9 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Power - you won't go without it

Explanation:
For a bit of a double entendre.

Whatever you choose, make it short and snappy - not too wordy, and not clogged up with words that don't have much punch.

Armorel Young
Local time: 10:32
Native speaker of:

English

18 hrs confidence:

power - the thing you can't be short of. Just adding my wee bit ... :-)

Explanation:
Just adding my wee bit to the host of suggestions that you have received already -

Power - One of mankind's invention you cannot do without !
OR
Power - One of mankind's invention that you cannot do without !

Grammar, sentence construction be damned - we are talking of advertisement and eye-grabbing punchlines in a small printspace here. :-)

Hth.

SanjaySAgrawal
Local time: 16:02
Native speaker of:

Hindi

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

power - the thing you can't be short of. feedback

Explanation:
I once asked a question very similar to yours - I came up with a slogan for my company, thinking it was really smooth. But of course it turned out it sounded more like an army order than an enticing offer to check us out!

The weak point of your slogan (as is) is that it ends with the preposition "of". It's definitely better than something like "power - the thing short of which you can't be" - probably a word-for-word translation of the original.

But there are ways to fix that dangling preposition. "You can't do without it" is certainly a very good option, maybe the best one.
I'm also thinking of "Power - you won't last long without it", "Power - you can't NOT have it", etc. But the idea is the same - don't put the preposition last.

The word "thing" seems fine to me. One possible doubt is that "power" in this context is not a thing. But the way you are using it, you are not violating any grammar rules, so why not?

If you use the word "it" to refer to "power", you keep the meaning and make it sound a bit more natural. But if you want to keep "thing", I think it's okay, too. E.g. "Power - the thing you can't do without" or "Power - the thing you won't last long without".

Hope this helps! And sorry for not being native! :]

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Note added at 2 hrs 33 mins (2004-07-15 13:50:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just providing feedback :]

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Note added at 22 hrs 52 mins (2004-07-16 10:09:05 GMT)
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A thought on \"thing\":
It\'s clearly very colloquial to use \"thing\", so depending on how you want to sound, it might be all right. If it\'s the main slogan of the company, that is, one that should always sound perfect no matter who\'s listening or reading, then you should avoid it.

Out of my own suggestions the one I like best is \"Power - you can\'t NOT have it\". Of course, it also uses somewhat questionable grammar, so you may do best by dropping it.

Then I am left with \"Power - you won\'t last long without it!\". Not too shabby, I think.

Hope this helps :]

Mikhail Kropotov
Russian Federation
Local time: 14:32
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Russian
PRO pts in category: 20

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English translation: power - you can't do without it

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