Mas que diabo, esta tralha não tem pés nem cabeça

04:53 Mar 26, 2000
Portuguese to English translations [PRO]
Portuguese term or phrase: Mas que diabo, esta tralha não tem pés nem cabeça
It was in a business letter which I recieved and that I couldn't understand what it meant.
NNI


Summary of answers provided
5What the...this thing is neither fish nor fowl!
Marcelo Gonçalves
naWhat the hell, all this stuff makes no sense!
Paulo Wengorski
naWhat the hell, this rubbish doesn't make sense
Rodolfo Beneyto
na"Darn! This rubbish makes no sense!"
Maria Carolina Paraventi


  

Answers


42 mins
What the hell, all this stuff makes no sense!


Explanation:
Que diabo = what the hell (verbatim: what a devil)
tralha = stuff, unspecified, perhaps worthless material
não tem pé nem cabeça = makes no sense (verbatim: it has neither head nor feet)
This sounds very strange in a formal letter.

Paulo Wengorski
Local time: 21:42
PRO pts in pair: 48
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1 hr
What the hell, this rubbish doesn't make sense


Explanation:
This is a colloquial Portuguese expression, used in an informal way. It may be considered as slang, but it is used quite often in conversation (very rarely in a business letter).

It can also be translated by: "What the hell, I can't make head or tail of this mess".



Rodolfo Beneyto
Portugal
Local time: 00:42
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
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6 hrs
"Darn! This rubbish makes no sense!"


Explanation:
Mas que diabo = literally, "but what a devil", which may have more than one translation, the most apropriate of which I find, "darn!".

esta tralha não tem pés nem cabeça = literally, "this rubbish has no feet nor head", again, the expression may have different good translations, such as "you/I can't make sense of this trash", "you/I can't make head or tail of this rubbish".

I find it unusual that such an expression would be in a business letter.

Maria Carolina Paraventi
Local time: 20:42
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in pair: 12
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2798 days   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
What the...this thing is neither fish nor fowl!


Explanation:
if something is neither fish nor fowl, it is difficult to describe or understand because it is like one thing in some ways but like another thing in other ways. The hovercraft has always suffered from the fact that it is neither fish nor fowl.

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/neither fish nor fowl no...

Marcelo Gonçalves
Brazil
Local time: 21:42
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in pair: 247
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