Sorprender a traicion

English translation: take unawares / catch off guard / set someone up

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	Sorprender a traicion
English translation:	take unawares / catch off guard / set someone up
Entered by:	Berni Armstrong

10:40 Jan 8, 2003

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary

Spanish term or phrase: Sorprender a traicion

From context this must be "taken unawares" - but is there a better option here. I am sure he is playing with the idea of treason/friendship here, but I'm a bit "espeso" this morning :-)

ORIGINAL:
(One day his friends) "...lo sorprendieron a traición. Cuando entró, vio el local adornado, gente que le aplaudía y diecisiete cuadros en las paredes. Eran los suyos."

Berni Armstrong KudoZ activity Questions: 421 (none open) (2 without valid answers) (5 closed without grading) Answers: 550 Spain
Local time: 18:00

Set up.

Explanation:
One day his friends set him up.

HTH
Sara

Selected response from:

Sara Noss
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:00

Grading comment

Although "setting someone up" usually implies a negative outcome (set up for a fall)- I am going to go with this and play with it a little. Thanks to everyone who offered a suggestion. Some of them had too many echoes of a negative outcome to use.

Setting someone up can also be preparing a practical joke for them - and I think that is the nearest to the original context here.

Thanks again to everyone,

Berni
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

5 +2

catch off-guard

Herman Vilella

4 +1

went behind his back and caught him by surprise

tazdog (X)

tricked him with a surprise

Refugio

catch on the hop

Nikki Graham

3 +1

Set up.

Sara Noss

Answers

7 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

catch off-guard

Explanation:
same as take unawres

Herman Vilella
Local time: 18:00
Native speaker of:

English,

Spanish
PRO pts in pair: 344

12 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

went behind his back and caught him by surprise

Explanation:
If you really want the "treason" idea, I'd say they went behind his back.

tazdog (X)
Spain
Local time: 18:00
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 5410

13 mins confidence:

catch on the hop

Explanation:
again, same sort of thing as Herman's suggestion

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-01-08 11:06:35 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Still trying to play around with the deceit bit. How about something like \"he was taken in by their surprise\"???

Don\'t know if I\'m really convinced, but it may give someone else a better idea

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-01-08 11:12:19 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I\'m a bit (a bit!) dense this morning too - another idea to perhaps play around with -
They broke his trust with their surprise
or something similar (depends on the rest of the context really).

HTH

Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:00
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 5596

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

Set up.

Explanation:
One day his friends set him up.

HTH
Sara

Sara Noss
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:00
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 112

Grading comment

2 hrs confidence:

tricked him with a surprise

Explanation:
To trick is a mild version of a traicion.

Refugio
Local time: 09:00
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in pair: 1827

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