Swedish to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
Swedish term or phrase:gruvkusar
From a novel.
Slang/ literary invention to describe a bunch of somewhat rough mineworker types, in contrast to the middle-class/ bourgeois students... Turn of the century...
In English?
JÄVLA GRUVKUSAR! ropade mina "klasskamrater".
...
"Gruvkusarna" var malmvaskare och gick nattskift.
Explanation: I'm fairly sure there's no equivalent to this in English. The word itself means very little taken out of context, but here it is clearly meant to be a derogatory term for people who work in the mines. They're being considered as worth less than other workers by the class mates who say this. 'Kuse' in the north of Sweden means 'louse' or a similarly harmful small insect (in the south it's colloquial for 'horse'... Hope this helps.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 days (2009-01-04 11:52:24 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
As most mines are in the north of Sweden I would say 'kusar' doesn't refer to horses. 'Minerats' does have a nice ring to it and it also brings out the image of scurrying around in the drifts.
Thank you Anders. Someone else had suggested "minerats", which I kind of like the sound of... unless the original is a reference to horses or them being 'beasts of burden', which I am still uncertain of... 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
Agree with Anders there is no equivalent as such, but you got to translate it anyway, right?! suggest invent an insult based either on animal or physical appearance, if poss using something referred to elsewhere in text eg "blackamoors" (meaning dark skinned people!)
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Answers
28 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
derogatory term for 'miners'
Explanation: I'm fairly sure there's no equivalent to this in English. The word itself means very little taken out of context, but here it is clearly meant to be a derogatory term for people who work in the mines. They're being considered as worth less than other workers by the class mates who say this. 'Kuse' in the north of Sweden means 'louse' or a similarly harmful small insect (in the south it's colloquial for 'horse'... Hope this helps.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 days (2009-01-04 11:52:24 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
As most mines are in the north of Sweden I would say 'kusar' doesn't refer to horses. 'Minerats' does have a nice ring to it and it also brings out the image of scurrying around in the drifts.
Anders Dalstrom Ireland Local time: 03:29 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Swedish PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you Anders. Someone else had suggested "minerats", which I kind of like the sound of... unless the original is a reference to horses or them being 'beasts of burden', which I am still uncertain of...
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peer agreement (net): +3