English translation: A little spider holds in his paw a lollipop looking like a little rooster
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20:31 Jan 4, 2012
Russian to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / children\'s story
Russian term or phrase:петушок
It's some sort of lollipop.
К нему наклонился Паучок-Грудничок (в чепчике и с пустышкой). В лапе у паучка – конфета на палочке (типа «петушка»)
The story is about a grumpy young hedgehog who is rude to various other creatures. He is feeling in a bad mood because of the misty weather.
The baby spider is very young, he is also carrying a dummy and а rattle.
Explanation: I don't know how many US children and, for that matter, adults would know what "cockerel" means.
Besides, a little baby sucking on a little cockerel (on a stick!!!)... smacks of Monty Python, doesn't it?
Lollipop is systemically on a stick, so no need to mention the latter :)
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 14 hrs (2012-01-05 11:23:18 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Hi Jack, and happy New Year.
Mine is not a categorical assertion but a supposition. That is, while not being absolutely certain, I do indeed suspect that many if not most Americans would either draw a blank or actually jump upon hearing "cockerel". Maybe not in Massachusetts but in Oklahoma and the Dakotas fer shoooer! Or maybe it's just my own wet sense of humour... However, recently, when I said "a different kettle of fish", my American doctoral (sic!) students corrected me saying that fish is cooked in pots and pans – not kettles. Perforce, one learns to expect the worst.
Recognition of language terms requires imagination,language is best defined as the transfer of imagination, and you suggest visual images that were built by yours. Паучок-Грудничок is not just a baby spider, it sounds rediculous, same as New Born Baba Yaga (already having lost her front teeth).Besides that, старичок-паучок is too well known to be despersed from the memory and its baby-image still would have a beard.In addition, старичок-паучок is a common name for an old fart still stalking young females, that is purely Russian character. I wonder, what the author really wanted with her story-to laugh as an adult by contriving some sort of surrealistic god-knows-what, or to tell children something like "winny the poo travels"?I wish, I have read this fairy tale from the beginning.
How about a "chicken lollipop'. The imagery is a bit different of course, but I don't see anything so cardinal here. A spider with a candy on a stick is just as funny, as a baby spider with a drum stick. "Chicken lollipop" is at least an existing dish.
caracter in Russian tales and cartoons. Don't say you all do not know СТАРИЧОК-ПАУЧОК! There are dozens and dozens of web pages with it! Паучок-Грудничок - is its inside-out image, a parody.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 48 Min. (2012-01-04 21:19:57 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
I mean, it is enough to say "a lollipop", because "(типа «петушка»)" has a meaning for Russians, because a cockerel lollipop (петушок) was almost the only lollipop in the USSR. For English speaking people it is not very important.
rubiko1976 Germany Local time: 05:52 Native speaker of: Ukrainian, Russian PRO pts in category: 4
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +7
