English translation: A Ukrainian enters (the) revolving doors behind you/a Jew and comes out in front
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15:26 Feb 6, 2012
Russian to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Russian term or phrase:там где прошел хохол еврею делать нечего
Там где прошел хохол еврею делать нечего
в переводе можно и без еврея, но как-то подчеркнуть украинскую предприимчивость и т.д. :)
Explanation: you may use it with or without a Jew... :)
Incidentally, I've herd this said about Hungarians but never about Ukrainians. Since when have they become so sharp, eh?
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 11 days (2012-02-17 16:39:03 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
You're right: it's better to keep nice and to the pont: my proclivity for fun and innocent (in my view) digressions just cost me a one-month's ban from Discussion and Answer-Questions section, and a yellow card. So, see you after 14 March!
Michael, vielen Dank for your graphic and amusing translation, i think it conveys the spirit of this saying the best. Many thanks also to everyone else for your great suggestions!
possible glossary entry:
там где прошел хохол еврею делать нечего = Украина - убер алес! 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
a friend getting back with ecstatic comments on Mark's gift got me huffin'n'puffin about this cat-business one more time - as if the original joke was not enough - to top it we get a gem landing on our side of the pond like a Tunguska meteorite - a boulder of p-uncorrectness laced with every wrong thing in the bundesverfassung:
- real people (omg)
- singled out for their nationality, nose, name or orientation (oh, this is bad)
- sung in a way enough to send Angela Merkel tap dancing (now, it cannae get worse)
- and then you can't get it out of your head for days and even your mom thinks it's funny!
i can hear the bnd chapping on my door to tell me if i ever go court again it will be as my own interpreter LOL
@Michael: oh, no, they haven't, i don't believe it! What have you done - actually TOLD one of your full-on jokes?
bang bang, they shot me down
bang bang, I hit the ground...
people who constantly dish out and/or take offence are certainly very annoining, but it's great when they are vitrual, cos then they dissolve as soon as the screen's off :)
Have good time enjoying the sunshine! By the middle of march it will be probably still snowing in our part of the world. You lucky [censored]!
as much as i`ve been trying to hold my tongue, i must still admit you`ve given us a proper earworm with this stunning little ditty, thank you so much for sharing! :)
The first time I heard that expression was in England in 1979 (ha!). I was at the LSE at the time doing my doctoral course work.And we had a seminar with a famous publisher Andrew Deutcsh (not sure about the spelling). He had a rather unusual accent, so during the afterwards cocktail I asked where he was from. "I'm a Hungagian Jew", he replied, "the one who entegs the gevolving doggs behind you and comes out in fgont!" So, in reality, it's still Jews who do that, not Ukrainians! LOL!
it just downed on me that hilariousness is what this phrase is all about and, Michael, you answer was the ONLY one possible out of them all. Settling for scraps after a ukrainian sounds all too realistic, whilst "a ukrainian entering a door behind YOU and coming out in front" performs the same perceived as impossible and therefore impressive stunt as our khohol - or anyone! - outdoing a jewrej. I don't even think it is a urkainian joke any more.
well i guess we'll have to hold it down at this at this place and time... still the proposed variants are greatly valuable for their hilarity. Thank you.
I'm the most politically incorrect person you can meet. My students used to constantly run to the Dean to complain; and when I became the Dean – to the President. You should hear my jokes! Just itching to tell one... But in writing, that's a different matter. Especially in Germany.
Michael, thank you for being concerned about my well-being, i do appreciate. My actual client who commissioned the subtitles was the one who suggested a "tweaking" of the original expression, admittedly, after having a laugh at it himself. Interestingly, the lady in the interview utters it in an altogether positive way, something along the lines of "how my mixed ancestry helps me in my work (she's a lawyer)". The phrase lives off a sense of respect with a tinge of envy, don't you think? It is wrong, but it is funny (unless you are devoid of any self-irony). How more un-pc can you get?! You can start throwing the tomatoes now.
I didn't want to sound sermon-ish, just to protect a colleague from lynching! The stuff like that in Germany is a no-no. Unless, of course, you wanna show what a jerk your client is. We had a huge scandal here in Italy about Berlusconi going with minors and, worse, with minors who are prostitutes. They were statutory RAPE charges. And when Puting elegantly and in his usually exquisit Russian, commented that Berlusconi is a "real man" every Russian guy should envy, the Italian translators translated the stuff to the letter and with great glee! After all, you are a messenger – not the message. "L'ambasciator non porta pena".
As a cultural anthropologist specializing in European Studies, I strongly advise you to keep "Jews" out of it all – particularly since this translation will be seen in Germany. For reasons as obvious as they are strong, Germans simply cannot afford any – and I repeat any! – jokes involving Jews. And so they should keep, I hope for ages to come. Germans were also convinced that they were better, much better, than Jews, and so were their Ukrainian collaborators in, say, Babij Yar.
As a man (pard'n me, a person!) I would also avoid mentioning Jews here, simply because, culturally, historically, economically etc., the statement is not only in bad taste but an outrageous nonsense. With all due respect to such giant and, I'm sure, universally revered literary figures as Mr. Taras Shevchenko and such business gurus as Mr. Blavatnik, I fail to see any "Khokhols" even remotely similar to Spinosa, Marx, Einstein and even George Soros... to mention only a very few indeed. So, this statement is not only offensive to Jews, it is also offensive to the most elementary common sense. So, if this outburst of two-bit gratuitous chauvinism is inevitable, I would at least keep "Jews" out of it.
thank you all for your input! I don't mind taking the mickey out of any creed, race or colour "out there" (as long as it does not turn ugly or personal), my editor however rightfully prefers it to be neutral. So the "topknot" had to go as well. Schade. I suppose the whole joke works on racial stereotypes which are (probably luckily) an absolute no-no in the public discourse here.
Have you folks noticed that you are actually altering the original meaning substantially. Sure, Jews could be wannabe Ukrainians, or even Martians for that matter. If that's the mandate here, you can basically do anything. If on the other hand it isn't ...
I thought of that uber ales connection, but you beat me to the punch line alright. Give Dmity a break though, he seems like an outstandischer mensch all around
German accent without any German. Many years ago, at the department of anthropology at York Univ., Toronto, where I was finishing my Master's degree, they bought a new small cyclostyle machine (oh, god, how old I am!) and asked me to study it and write brief instructions. The machine was German. So I wrote: "Nicht gefinger poken! Das erronischer werken will provokaziren der spizzen-sparken und technologische kaputen!" The machine is long gone but they still keep the warning among the Department memorabilia.
Beats the Iroquois and Mohawk Ukranians of our friend Dmitry!
the thing is, this joke is just a wee part of an interview where the protagonist humorously evokes some stereotypes. it is just that they don`t gladly take to "еврейские шутки" here in germoney.
or Michelle Bachmann? I am not dropping out of this race! How about "Where a Ukrainian set foot, no one else need apply"? Or maybe even "Rule, Ukrainnia!"
On a serious note, what would really be worth a hundred points or more is a discussion of how far we can be expected to take this political correctness scourge and where the buck should really, really stop. We might, however, need a different forum for this. Cheers, everyone.
боюсь, хохла прийдется нейтрализовать, это вообще надо бы вынести в отдельный вопрос на 100 очков.. Мне кажется, в данном контексте важно подчеркнуть именно хохляцку смекалку - мол, впереди планеты всей..
Thank you very much for your answers! To add more context - a lady is speaking about her rather mixed ancestry, and this is the saying she is using to describe her Ukrainian side. The text of the english translation will be used in Germany, so i sort of hoped to try to avoid any Jew references, as the political correctness might take it all the wrong way here...
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Answers
11 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
don't follow in a Ukrainian's wake, unless you're willing to settle for scraps
Explanation: Or "if you're not willing..."
Mark Berelekhis United States Local time: 23:53 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Russian, English PRO pts in category: 542 1 corroborated select project in this pair and field
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): +3
