21:26 Dec 22, 2003 |
Russian to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary | |||||||
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| Selected response from: Alexander Demyanov Local time: 10:45 | ||||||
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Summary of answers provided | ||||
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4 +4 | these convicts who have barely escaped execution by hanging |
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4 +3 | These cut-throat convicts/ These hardened criminals |
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5 | these unhinged convicts; these hog-wild convicts; these convicts who flew off the handle |
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4 | those gallows-birds |
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these unhinged convicts; these hog-wild convicts; these convicts who flew off the handle Explanation: "sorvavshiyesya s petli/petel/kryuka/tsepi" is a gerund of the verb "sorvat'sya s petli/petel/kryuka/tsepi". It is an idiom which means : to become unhinged, to blow one's top, to fly off the handle, to go out one's mind, get mad, get one's shirt out, lose one's temper, lose one's equilibrium, etc References: Лингвариум: идиомы на пяти языках Russian: Выйти из себя English: To fly off the handle. French: Sortir de ses gonds. Spanish: Perder los estribos. German: Aus der Haut fahren http://there.by.ru/idioma_v.html NOTES & REFERENCES ... I have further to draw attention that ‘sortir de ses gonds’ (literally, ‘to part from its hinges’) means, in familiar language, ‘to become unhinged' or 'to go out one's mind'. http://www.holbeinartworks.org/cfivenotesandreferences.htm Sortir de ses gonds Выйти из себя (Сорваться с петель) http://subscribe.ru/archive/job.lang.francparle/200008/20082... Sortir de ses gonds to blow one's top, to get pissed off http://www.geocities.com/philipsfo/hostie/glossaire/jk.html -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2003-12-22 23:51:44 (GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Multitran dictionary (http://www.multitran.ru): his mind is unhinged == он помешался REMARK: Sometimes \"sorvavshiyesya s petli\" means \"those who were too heavy to be hanged\", \"those who could not be hanged because the rope broke\", but this meaning is not offensive at all - contrarily, there exists a popular belief that such kind of people are bllessed by God. So, I do not think that this meaning is used here Or maybe a kind of pun between two meanings is used there.by.ru/idioma_v.html Reference: http://www.holbeinartworks.org/cfivenotesandreferences.htm |
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these convicts who have barely escaped execution by hanging Explanation: That's the general sense. Sorry, cannot do a good research now. For cyrillic, you need to add the "Russian" locale and the "Russian" keyboard layout using the Control Panels (provided you are Running Windows). Step by step instructions will differ depending on you OS version. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 2 hrs 25 mins (2003-12-22 23:52:32 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- On a second thought, it may be better to say \"...having barely cheated the gallows\" as in: \" That little limb of the devil has cheated the gallows. --Sir W. Scott.\" -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 hrs 46 mins (2003-12-23 01:13:16 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- \"mistake ... for\" of course |
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