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  2. Russian to English

фанерный

English translation: hardboard

15:14 Oct 31, 2002
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary
Russian term or phrase: фанерный
Plywood, or veneer, or something else? -- it's all in the context here. The phrase:

(About theatre): ... on stage, in gilded фанерных castles that smelled of dust and diesel oil.

The context here should be CHEAP AND NASTY (and fragile), and both veneer and plywood sound like quite respectable building materials. Something more like cardboard, but still wood, that's what I need. :-( Any ideas?

Thanks a lot,

Elaine
Elaine Freeland (X)
Local time: 03:18
English translation:hardboard
Explanation:
I think this is a cheap & nasty material. I believe it's made from pressed paper rather than directly from wood, but paper itself is made from wood, after all. Though I certainly wouldn't normally offer it as a translation for "фанерный".
Chipboard is another cheap substitute for proper wood board, and is made from wood chips, but is heavier and thicker than veneer, plywood or hardboard, and not really flimsy enough for your purpose.

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Note added at 2002-11-01 11:39:25 (GMT)
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I wanted to thank Teresa Pearce for her comment below, but found that someone else had already done so. How is this possible?
Selected response from:

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:18
Grading comment
Thanks to everybody and my apologies for not being able to grade earlier! I have to admit that "hardboard" (never heard about this beast before) truly fits the context: it's cheap, nasty and turns out a lot of theatre props are indeed made of it. Thank you so much for your advice and expertise and special thanks to Mr Doughty! Have a nice day!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1(cheap) veneer
Vladimir Dubisskiy
4Thin plywood
Oleg Pashuk (X)
4Thin plywood
Oleg Pashuk (X)
2 +2hardboard
Jack Doughty
4 -1Plywood
Oleg Pashuk (X)


Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Plywood


Explanation:
It is a better term

Oleg Pashuk (X)
PRO pts in pair: 619

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Vladimir Dubisskiy: plywood consists of veneer layers
12 hrs
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Thin plywood


Explanation:
It is a better term

Oleg Pashuk (X)
PRO pts in pair: 619
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Thin plywood


Explanation:
It is a better term

Oleg Pashuk (X)
PRO pts in pair: 619
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
(cheap) veneer


Explanation:
it should "work"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-11-01 06:25:22 (GMT)
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or

\'utility veneer\'

or

\'utility plywood\'


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-11-01 06:28:19 (GMT)
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even checked the building materials dict - \'utility lumber/veneer/plywood\' is to be of lowest grade

Vladimir Dubisskiy
United States
Local time: 20:18
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in UkrainianUkrainian
PRO pts in pair: 1408

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Montefiore: just veneer, and whether it's cheap, only they know:)
1 hr
  -> thanks
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +2
hardboard


Explanation:
I think this is a cheap & nasty material. I believe it's made from pressed paper rather than directly from wood, but paper itself is made from wood, after all. Though I certainly wouldn't normally offer it as a translation for "фанерный".
Chipboard is another cheap substitute for proper wood board, and is made from wood chips, but is heavier and thicker than veneer, plywood or hardboard, and not really flimsy enough for your purpose.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2002-11-01 11:39:25 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I wanted to thank Teresa Pearce for her comment below, but found that someone else had already done so. How is this possible?

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:18
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 14525
Grading comment
Thanks to everybody and my apologies for not being able to grade earlier! I have to admit that "hardboard" (never heard about this beast before) truly fits the context: it's cheap, nasty and turns out a lot of theatre props are indeed made of it. Thank you so much for your advice and expertise and special thanks to Mr Doughty! Have a nice day!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Teresa Pearce: I know nothing about wood, but "chipboard" was what came to mind when I read the question. On "Changing Rooms", of course, it would be MDF...
2 hrs
agree  Clive Wilshin: hardboard is the stuff they use to make the insides of cheap furniture - it falls through if you put more than one shirt in it! :)
4 days
  -> That's so true, you can put your shirt on it (if you don't mind it falling through).
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