Ein paar saubere Schuhe machen noch lange keine Persönlichkeit

English translation: There's more to a man than the shine on his shoes

12:44 Mar 13, 2007

German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Proverbs

German term or phrase: Ein paar saubere Schuhe machen noch lange keine Persönlichkeit

Is this actually a set proverb or saying in German? It appears as a heading for a company Corporate design manual and the text goes on to say that a complete image requires more than a logo. I'm not sure whether I should be searching for an equivalent saying in English or whether I should write round it.

The company doesn't make footwear by the way, so that's no help; their field is coatings.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

Claire Cox KudoZ activity Questions: 665 (none open) (73 closed without grading) Answers: 1031 United Kingdom
Local time: 02:02

English translation:There's more to a man than the shine on his shoes

Explanation:
Old Lancashire proverb (not)

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Note added at 24 mins (2007-03-13 13:08:51 GMT)
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http://tinyurl.com/348sgt
http://tinyurl.com/2qz2jl

Selected response from:

Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:02

Grading comment

Thanks Andrew - that fits the bill nicely
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +6

There's more to a man than the shine on his shoes

Lancashireman

3 +2

Clothes make the man but a (nice) tie alone won't suffice.

Nicole Schnell

3 +1

there is more to coating than a shiny coat (a shiny logo)

Bernhard Sulzer

Substance trumps appearance every time

gangels (X)

Answers

16 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

There's more to a man than the shine on his shoes

Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:02
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 160

Grading comment

Thanks Andrew - that fits the bill nicely

Notes to answerer

Asker: Sounds like just the thing my (Lancastrian) grandmother would have said though...

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Clothes make the man but a (nice) tie alone won't suffice.

Explanation:
"Ein Paar saubere Schuhe..." is not a set proverb. However, "Kleider machen Leute" is. See also Gottfried Keller's famous novella.

Also:
"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society."
Mark Twain

I replaced the pair of shiny shoes with "a tie" to make it shorter and snappier (so I hope...).

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Note added at 1 hr (2007-03-13 13:53:57 GMT)
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Forgot:

In my "former life" as an Art Director I developed and wrote several design manuals and what they are trying to say is that a complete corporate design requires the full set of bells and whistles and needs to be refined to the last detail. That's why those books have about 200 pages...

Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 18:02
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 64

2 hrs confidence:

Substance trumps appearance every time

Explanation:
xxx

gangels (X)
Local time: 19:02
Native speaker of:

English,

German
PRO pts in category: 14

7 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

there is more to coating than a shiny coat (a shiny logo)

Explanation:
tried to play a little with "coat" and "coating":

or also:

the shoe may fit but the coating may rip.

all that glitters (glisters) is not gold.

not all coats are created equal
not all shiny coats coat well

there is more to coating than the shiny outside.

the logo does not make the coat(ing)

it's not the coat, it's the coating (process)

it's not the logo, it's what's behind it
it's not the coat it's what it's made of
it's not the look of the coat(ing), it's what's behind it.

the idea IMO being that what counts is not the look of the coat or the logo but the quality of the coat (coating), or the design

a complete image requires more than a logo:

the coat does not make the man, it's what he's made of

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Note added at 14 hrs (2007-03-14 03:21:52 GMT)
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the following ones probably won't fit as well because the coating company would want to convey something positive about coating,therefore I updated them -

the shoe may fit but the coating may rip
-update-

the shiny shoes may seem to fit but you don't want the coating to rip

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the coat does not make the man, it's what he's made of

-update -

- it's not the shine that makes the coat(ing), it's what it's made of.

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Note added at 14 hrs (2007-03-14 03:36:24 GMT)
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it's not the shine that makes the coat, it's what the coat is made of
it's not the shine that makes the coat, it's the design
it's not the shine that makes the coat, it's the coating process (design)

Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 21:02
Works in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 36

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