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Dutch to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / conversation | | Dutch term or phrase: door het oog van de naald | I've tried translating this literally, but it doesn't seem to add anything to the sentence:
'X stelt dat het maar goed is dat Y is opgepakt: Y is door het oog van de naald gekropen'. |
| Lucy SimpsonKudoZ activityQuestions: 661 (none open) ( 6 without valid answers) Answers: 107
| | Local time: 05:30
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| | A narrow escape or "a close shave" | Explanation:
Hi lucy I'm not quite sure whether Svein's answer fits into you context, and I'm not sure whether you blindly can translate it - it's an idiom.
But meaning of it s that "Y" had a very narrow escape, or "a very close shave".
Perhaps other expressions are possible.
Regards,
Pieter_H
Ref.
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| Selected response from:
 Pieter_H
Local time: 06:30
| Grading comment Well, I hate to disagree with so many of you, but when I looked under 'oog' in the Van Dale (rather than under 'naald'), it gave me 'narrow escape' or '...by the skin of one's teeth'. Basically, what they're saying is that if he hadn't been caught when he was he have ended up committing a worse crime.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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| Discussion entries: 0 |
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Automatic update in 00:
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3 hrs confidence: 
4 hrs confidence:  peer agreement (net): -2 A narrow escape or "a close shave"
Explanation:
Hi lucy I'm not quite sure whether Svein's answer fits into you context, and I'm not sure whether you blindly can translate it - it's an idiom.
But meaning of it s that "Y" had a very narrow escape, or "a very close shave".
Perhaps other expressions are possible.
Regards,
Pieter_H
Ref.
| Pieter_H
Local time: 06:30
Native speaker of:  Dutch, Norwegian
PRO pts in category: 3
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| | Grading comment | Well, I hate to disagree with so many of you, but when I looked under 'oog' in the Van Dale (rather than under 'naald'), it gave me 'narrow escape' or '...by the skin of one's teeth'. Basically, what they're saying is that if he hadn't been caught when he was he have ended up committing a worse crime. |
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