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хобот/хоботиться

English translation: hassle/to hassle/to be hassled by/to have a hassle of

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:хобот/хоботиться
English translation:hassle/to hassle/to be hassled by/to have a hassle of
Entered by: Oleksiy Markunin

17:49 Feb 22, 2010
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Slang
Russian term or phrase: хобот/хоботиться
- Хоботиться — 1) морочиться. 2) что-либо искать.
Хоботиться - напрягаться, париться... по какому-то поводу.

e.g. Я весь день хоботился с компом.

- Хобот - "В нашей жизни постоянно возникают какие то проблемы, требующие решений. Решения не всегда приходят быстро, и не всегда проблемы решаются эффективно. Иногда они накладываются одна на другую, как невидимые нити, связуясь в единое целое. Атомы сладываются в молекулы, дальше в клетки, которые сплетаются в ткани, эти ткани образуют мощное мышечное волокно одного из самых напряжных органов, который со временем обрастёт толстой серой кожей, которую сложно пробить обычным позитивным подходом. Он как невидимая змея подгоняет тебя, тянет за полу юбки, держит твои ноги и руки, которые ищут, как бы отвлечься, будит тебя рано утром, когда можно ещё немножечко поспать, и не даёт уснуть ночью. Невидемой тенью он стоит за твоей спиной, даже когда ты нашёл для себя время отдохнуть от всех забот и посвятить себе или друзьям пару часов.
Он вездесущ.
Он проникнет даже в самые отдалённые места, тянучись за тобой.
Он Тот, Кто Лишает Покоя.
И я знаю его имя.
Имя ему Хобот!"

e.g. Что у тебя уже за хобот? - Да надо вот к экзамену готовиться.

А вдруг есть аналоги в англ. языке? Спасибо заранее!
Oleksiy Markunin
Canada
Local time: 18:08
hussle/to hassle/to be hassled by/to have a hassle of
Explanation:
as in "I've been hassling with this soup the whole day", "what's your hassle?" etc.

"monkey on the back"/onus/chore, etc. are not slangy enough: like that you might've as weel substitute it with Chernyshevskian ""довлеющие обязанности

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Note added at 23 hrs (2010-02-23 17:01:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

monkey on one's back is,in fact, mediaeval (sic!) clichè – rather than slang – in many European languages, not to speak about Arabic. In English, Henry James, Aldos Huxley and, if I remember correctly, even Fielding used that. What's slang and what's not is a big question of course, but even if you wish to regard monkey on the back as slang, it's certainly not contemporary one (like khobot). BESIDES (and it's a damn big besides!) the expression "monkey on the back" is very often used to indicate drug or alcohol addiction (for example, Keepling used it to speak about opium addiction); and it's so much a clichè in that usage that "on the back" is often cut off. I.e., "I got rid of the monkey... don't smoke crack anymore". I don't place this into discussion because there are some pretty, well, say, "touchy" people among your anwerers and I don't want any hassle....

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Note added at 23 hrs (2010-02-23 17:10:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed my spelling of Kipling. What a find though! Like, "both babies were foundlings; one became a keepling and the other – a chuckling!" Love it! Sorry!
Selected response from:

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 00:08
Grading comment
Michael, thanks once again.
I did my own research and found that, indeed, "monkey on your back" is a bit out of this league.
http://goo.gl/I9NZ
http://goo.gl/ueMN

However, "hassle" seems to be appropriate.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hassle?o=100074
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +5a monkey on your (someone's) back
Judith Hehir
4freaking out
MKonrad (X)
4hussle/to hassle/to be hassled by/to have a hassle of
Michael Korovkin
3drag / bother / tsuris
Rachel Douglas
3pickle
Aleksey Chervinskiy
1onus/to be stuck with the onus
Alexandra Taggart


  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
freaking out


Explanation:
There are lots of ways to say this in English...it's a universal human problem :)

- freaking out - this is for active worrying, close to париться
- worrying your head - this is milder, more affectionate, closer to морочиться (твою голову)

You can use 'over' or 'about' with each of these words, depends on your preference.




Example sentence(s):
  • "What are you freaking out over? Oh, I have to get ready for this exam tomorrow."
  • "What are you worrying your head about? Oh, I have to get ready for this exam tomorrow."
MKonrad (X)
Local time: 15:08
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: I have my doubts as for "freak out" - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/freak+out

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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
onus/to be stuck with the onus


Explanation:
I'm correct here, but my answer is not a slang.

Alexandra Taggart
Russian Federation
Local time: 01:08
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 12
Notes to answerer
Asker: I think onus is like "burden" here, right? A good one, but too official, as you've mentioned

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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
drag / bother / tsuris


Explanation:
Is the origin of the slang use from the хобот which is dragged around, like the elephant's trunk or the lizard's tale? In that case "what a drag" has something in common. But, it doesn't have a verb to go with it. "Bother" can be noun or verb, but it's more old-fashioned. Tsuris (tsures) is Yiddish, but used in AE (at least regionally), and refers to what's giving you a lot of trouble and aggravation you at the moment.

Do you just want to know, in general, or is one of your examples the actual context which you're translating? If you're translating that long passage, ending in "its name is Хобот", then none of the above will work.

Meanwhile, take a look at the second set of nouns in Roget's Thesaurus under "unpleasure": aggravation, annoyance, nuisance, bother, botheration, drag, downer, pain in the neck/ass.

Rachel Douglas
United States
Local time: 18:08
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24
Notes to answerer
Asker: Firstly, Rachel, thanks for your thorough explanations and lots of variants! The origin of these expressions is unknown to me, but, perhaps, you are right in your guess. That long passage is just an example of the meaning for "хобот". Luckily, I don't have to translate it =))) I just want to know for myself whether it is possible to find smth similar in English as "хобот" in Russian. Example sentences are just to understand the way these expresseions are used. Thanks again!

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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
a monkey on your (someone's) back


Explanation:
a monkey on somebody's back (American & Australian)
a serious problem that will not go away The divorce proceedings are a monkey on her back.

for the verb: perhaps "to try to get the monkey off your back"

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Note added at 18 hrs (2010-02-23 11:58:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Elephants. Monkeys. Какая разница?
:)

Judith Hehir
United States
Local time: 18:08
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hm, monkey.. That's a good one! Thanks, Judith!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  koundelev: to my taste it's OK
6 hrs
  -> Thank you, George.
agree  Victor Zagria: perfect, imho.. resembles 'monkey business' to me.
7 hrs
  -> Thank you, Victor.
agree  Rachel Douglas: Oh! That's the one that was refusing to come to mind last night... so instead I went off and started reading Roget. Except if you make it a verb, then "monkeying around" is something different.
12 hrs
  -> Yes, monkeying around is altogether different. "(To try) to get the monkey off one's back woudln't always work, but it might in some cases. Thank you, Rachel.
agree  Aleksey Chervinskiy
15 hrs
  -> Thank you, Aleksey.
agree  Alexandra Taggart: Brilliant.
16 hrs
  -> Thanks, Alexandra!!
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
pickle


Explanation:
As an option - по крайней мере в значении существительного "хобот"

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pickle

You can say - I'm in a big pickle, etc.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 hrs (2010-02-23 14:02:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Тезка, it id used quite frequently here in the US.

Aleksey Chervinskiy
United States
Local time: 18:08
Native speaker of: Russian
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Informal. a troublesome or awkward situation; predicament: I was in a pickle after the check bounced. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pickle I think you are right here, but what's the frequence of use I wonder?

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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
hussle/to hassle/to be hassled by/to have a hassle of


Explanation:
as in "I've been hassling with this soup the whole day", "what's your hassle?" etc.

"monkey on the back"/onus/chore, etc. are not slangy enough: like that you might've as weel substitute it with Chernyshevskian ""довлеющие обязанности

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2010-02-23 17:01:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

monkey on one's back is,in fact, mediaeval (sic!) clichè – rather than slang – in many European languages, not to speak about Arabic. In English, Henry James, Aldos Huxley and, if I remember correctly, even Fielding used that. What's slang and what's not is a big question of course, but even if you wish to regard monkey on the back as slang, it's certainly not contemporary one (like khobot). BESIDES (and it's a damn big besides!) the expression "monkey on the back" is very often used to indicate drug or alcohol addiction (for example, Keepling used it to speak about opium addiction); and it's so much a clichè in that usage that "on the back" is often cut off. I.e., "I got rid of the monkey... don't smoke crack anymore". I don't place this into discussion because there are some pretty, well, say, "touchy" people among your anwerers and I don't want any hassle....

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs (2010-02-23 17:10:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed my spelling of Kipling. What a find though! Like, "both babies were foundlings; one became a keepling and the other – a chuckling!" Love it! Sorry!

Michael Korovkin
Italy
Local time: 00:08
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 28
Grading comment
Michael, thanks once again.
I did my own research and found that, indeed, "monkey on your back" is a bit out of this league.
http://goo.gl/I9NZ
http://goo.gl/ueMN

However, "hassle" seems to be appropriate.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hassle?o=100074
Notes to answerer
Asker: Taking into account your experience, I knew you'd suggest smth =) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/hassle - proves your idea Thanks! As for slangy idea I can't judge myself, monkey on the back seems quite informal and slangy to me too. Anyway, thanks again!

Asker: Thanks for the info =) Appreciated.

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