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  3. Computers: Software

an unmotiviertem Brimborium

English translation: unnecessary bells and whistles

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:unmotiviertes Brimborium
English translation:unnecessary bells and whistles
Entered by: Steffen Walter

20:53 Sep 3, 2008
German to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Computers: Software / Excel
German term or phrase: an unmotiviertem Brimborium
"Ich fürchte, in den nächsten Jahren einer Flut von misslungenen und ,,aufgemotzten" Gestaltungen zu begegnen, sei es unter Word, PowerPoint oder Excel, deren Begründung nicht im darzustellenden Inhalt oder bei den Bedürfnissen der Zielgruppen zu suchen ist, sondern die nur deswegen existieren, weil sie möglich sind und weil sie mehr oder weniger zufällig zustande kommen. Was da bislang an unmotiviertem Brimborium eher auf zahllose PowerPoint-Präsentation beschränkt war, wird nun wohl leider auch in Excel und Word mehr Raum greifen."

Can someone please help me understand what the author means here with unmotiviertem Brimborium - does he perhaps mean the unwarranted fuss/hoo-ha that was restricted to countless PP presentations?
macrettoc
Local time: 14:22
pointless bells and whistles
Explanation:
sprawling, clunky software full of pointless bells-and-whistles
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B00005KC97?filterBy=add...

If Microsoft could start listening to customers more and concentrate on producing well-written apps rather than overloading them with pointless bells and whistles, that might be a step in the right direction.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/187212/the-week-in-your-words-vi...

Selected response from:

NGK
United States
Local time: 08:22
Grading comment
All the suggestions here were fantastic, I really didn't know which one to pick. In the end, I chose "unnecessary bells and whistles" as it conveys the message quite well, especially given as this text is written in an extremely informal, colloquial style. I wish I could give you all points! Thank you all for your help and I wish you a schoenes Wochenende.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2pointless bells and whistles
NGK
3 +2in the way of uninspired drivel
Paul Kachur
4 +1superfluous doodlings
Yasdnil1
3 +2(unnecessary) fancy frills
Cilian O'Tuama
3unmotivated fuss
Thomas Rühl
2unsolicited fuss
Ingeborg Gowans (X)


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


28 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
unmotivated fuss


Explanation:
"Fuss" is correct, but I'm not sure about the translation of "unmotiviert" though. It means that these presentations exist just because someone knows how to use PP and doesn't really care about the content. So it's not a common term, hence you might find an adjective saying basically the same thing as "unmotivated" but which has a taste of "dull" maybe.

Thomas Rühl
Germany
Local time: 15:22
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
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37 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
unsolicited fuss


Explanation:
maybe a bit off the beaten track. But taking into account erhnhard's comment, I think "unmotiviert" really is misplaced here. The idea that just about anything will be posted even thought nobody needs it or requires it seems to be the overriding idea here i m h o

Ingeborg Gowans (X)
Canada
Local time: 10:22
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 12
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58 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
in the way of uninspired drivel


Explanation:
uninstpred seems to get the meaning and sounds a bit better

Paul Kachur
Germany
Local time: 15:22
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Thomas Rühl: "Uninspired" sounds good to me.
28 mins
agree  Helen Shiner: How about 'uninspired doodlings' - a combination of your answer and Yasdnil1's.
1 hr
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
superfluous doodlings


Explanation:
This seems to be referring to some form of improved graphics in Word and Excel, so that people can now embed meaningless pie charts and graphics, as they already could do in Powerpoint. I started with "drivel" but I tend to associate that with words, not images, so have switched to doodlings, but think you can improve on that.

Yasdnil1
Dominican Republic
Local time: 09:22
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Helen Shiner: I like 'doodlings' here - so appropriate!
1 hr
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
unmotiviertes Brimborium
(unnecessary) fancy frills


Explanation:
I reckon they're not talking about the actual text/content (as that can already be transferred to Word/Excel) but about the fancy animations/backgrounds/graphics/colours/charts etc.

Brimborium as in Schnickschnack/Verzierungen, unnecessary frills

Do they fear that Excel and Word files will be soon be equally polluted?

Maybe the preceding paragraph provides a clue?

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 15:22
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 56

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Johanna Timm, PhD: that's exactly what I wanted to post, but had to fix some dinner for the kids and got distracted.... Googled for "Frills+programming">> e.g. http://www.amazon.com/review/R35BMN4ZM75IL2
1 hr
agree  TonyTK: Yes, this sounds idiomatic (unlike "fuss"). // Johanna, don't they have fast food in Canada?
13 hrs
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
unmotiviertes Brimborium
pointless bells and whistles


Explanation:
sprawling, clunky software full of pointless bells-and-whistles
http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B00005KC97?filterBy=add...

If Microsoft could start listening to customers more and concentrate on producing well-written apps rather than overloading them with pointless bells and whistles, that might be a step in the right direction.
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/187212/the-week-in-your-words-vi...



NGK
United States
Local time: 08:22
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 19
Grading comment
All the suggestions here were fantastic, I really didn't know which one to pick. In the end, I chose "unnecessary bells and whistles" as it conveys the message quite well, especially given as this text is written in an extremely informal, colloquial style. I wish I could give you all points! Thank you all for your help and I wish you a schoenes Wochenende.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Steffen Walter: or "superfluous"/"unnecessary" instead of "pointless"
3 hrs
agree  hazmatgerman (X): Prima.
3 hrs
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