07:53 Jul 4, 2001 |
German to English translations [PRO] Idioms / Maxims / Sayings | |||||||
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| Selected response from: beermatt Local time: 22:44 | ||||||
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You can only offend somebody by stepping on his tie if he is wearing one. Explanation: This is what I can come up with: You can only offend somebody by stepping on his tie if he is wearing one. Native German |
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Nobody can step on your tie unless you drag it on the floor Explanation: It's quite a tough one. You are pretty close in your reading, except it is perhaps more like "....if you parade them in smart shoes." Since the metaphor does not exist in English, you basically have two choices. Either you edit the picture of the tie out and replace it with a clip of some smart, shiny shoes, or someone showing them off, or you go for a more or less literal translation like: "Nobody can step on your tie unless you drag it on the floor" or "Nobody can pull your tie unless you let it hang out" or something of the sort. I hope that helps. 1000 spoilt ties |
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Only a person who wears a tie gets tongue-tied! Explanation: This is not an esy one... My translation may not convey the exact German meaning, but at least you got the message "tied together". Good luck! professional experience |
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One can only get hot under the collar if there's a tie wrapped around it Explanation: - or something along those lines. I didn't know the expression myself, but my Slang Thesaurus lists "to get hot under the collar" as a slang expression for being angry or annoyed. Maybe it's a bit constructed, but so is the German phrase, and at least you've got annoyance and ties tied together in a vaguely colloquial way. Have fun with the rest of your text! Penguin Slang Thesaurus |
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4 hrs
7 hrs
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