прорухи у старухи

English translation: if not moth in our 70 year old cloth...

07:39 Sep 12, 2006

Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Photography/Imaging (& Graphic Arts)

Russian term or phrase: прорухи у старухи

На наше счастье, советская власть так увлеклась построением отдельно взятого рая на земле, что всю пропаганду, сиречь ТАСС с АПН и примкнувшими к корыту гуманитариями, подгребла под себя, а всякую ненужную для светлого будущего мелочёвку – художественную любительскую фотографию, авторскую песню и прочие пустяки – скинула простым людишкам. И, слава Богу! Кабы не эти ***прорухи у нашей 70-летней старухи*** – была бы у нас вместо фотографии сплошная ШТАЗИГРАФИЯ, тупая, как засвеченная плёнка.

Такой вот тонкий интеллигентский юморок=).

Коллеги, можно ли здесь передать сымысл, сохранив образность? Заранее признателен за любые варианты.

Dmitry Venyavkin KudoZ activity Questions: 86 (none open) (2 closed without grading) Answers: 288
Local time: 20:31

English translation:if not moth in our 70 year old cloth...

Explanation:
Хороший вопрос!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 mins (2006-09-12 07:51:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Думаю, тут можно даже соединить для логики:

But - thank you, God, for a moth in our 70-year-old cloth! - ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 mins (2006-09-12 07:54:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Или: Luckily, there was a moth in our old cloth, и тэпэ.

Selected response from:

Kirill Semenov
Ukraine
Local time: 20:31

Grading comment

Останавливаюсь на этом варианте по ряду причин (в рифму + образность + оперативность). Всех благодарю за помощь!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +5

if not moth in our 70 year old cloth...

Kirill Semenov

3 +2

fly in the ointment

Jack Doughty

homer nods

Vladimir Lioukaikine (X)

A try

Alexander Demyanov

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

if not moth in our 70 year old cloth...

Kirill Semenov
Ukraine
Local time: 20:31
Native speaker of:

Russian
PRO pts in category: 8

Grading comment

Останавливаюсь на этом варианте по ряду причин (в рифму + образность + оперативность). Всех благодарю за помощь!

Notes to answerer

Asker: Да я и сам был приятно удивлен:) Спасибо, Кирилл!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

tanyazst: but for the moth in our 70 bla-bla cloth

15 mins

agree

Levan Namoradze

1 hr

neutral

Jack Doughty: "Moth in the cloth" sounds as if it ought to be a metaphor in English, but I have never heard of it and can find no trace of it on Google.

1 hr

-> here, we have a set phrase "и на старуху бывает проруха", meaning even a very experienced person may make mistakes. Next, the author coins it a bit producing a new form. Adding 70-летняя the author implies the USSR system which lasted during 70 years.

agree

Karen Sughyan

2 hrs

agree

Denis Kazakov: I like this one better. "Проруха" is a failure, and implies a loophole for independent photography, and a fly does not.

2 hrs

neutral

Blithe: unfortunately it does not sound idiomatic for a native speaker// возможно :)

7 hrs

-> это правда, тут не спорю. Хотя опирался на словарный вариант, но Джек пояснил, что так не говорят. Возможно, сойдёт за новояз?

agree

Alexandra Tussing

1 day 16 hrs

58 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

fly in the ointment

Explanation:
If it were not for that fly in our 70-year-old ointment...
Found Phrase -- "Fly in the ointment"
THe phrase "a fly in the ointment" comes from Ecclesiastes 10.1: "Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a foul odor" ...
www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/18/messages/714.html - 5k - Cached - Similar pages

fly in the ointment. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy ...
fly in the ointment. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.
www.bartleby.com/59/4/flyintheoint.html - 19k - Cached - Similar pages

fly in the ointment - definition of fly in the ointment by the ...
Definition of fly in the ointment in the Online Dictionary. Meaning of fly in the ointment. What does fly in the ointment mean? fly in the ointment synonyms ...
www.thefreedictionary.com/fly in the ointment

By the way, what does "тупая, как засвеченная плёнка" mean?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2006-09-12 08:43:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Maybe "as dim as a Toc-H lamp" would do for that, although that's a rather old-fashioned expression nowadays (originated in First World War)
Toc H FAQ
Where Does "As Dim as a Toc H Lamp" come from? Lamp.jpg (3352 bytes), The Lamp is the lamp of maintenance adopted by Toc H and has on it the cross of Ypres which Toc H ...
www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dave/TOC_H/faq.htm

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:31
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: ШТАЗИГРАФИЯ should be an author’s neologism derived from the Stasi, the Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit) of the former GDR (like STASI + photoGRAPHY).

Asker: As for 'fly in the ointment' no doubt it is widely known. However, my vision is English-speakers may see 'ointment' as something positive, which does not seem to be the case here.

2 hrs confidence:

homer nods

Explanation:
Shouldn't our homer nodded for 70 years in a row we would have had Stasi-graphy instead of photography.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2006-09-12 10:32:57 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Homer, with the capital "H" of course. Must be contagious...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2006-09-12 10:42:48 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The original expression is "Even Homer nods" or "Homer sometimes nods" or a mixture of both "Even Homer sometimes nods".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 hrs (2006-09-12 10:46:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The phrase ``Homer sometimes nods'' or ``even Homer nods'' means that even someone who is the best at what they do can turn in a subpar performance.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0804/dictionary_men081204.a...

Vladimir Lioukaikine (X)
Local time: 21:31
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Russian

5 hrs confidence:

A try

Explanation:
...if not for these/such holes in our 70-old [iron] wall...

The idea is to keep it rhyming and at the same time to have "iron" allude to the infamous "iron curtain" and "wall" - to the Berlin wall (which would work nicely with the Stasi wordplay).

I am not sure though whether these references would be readily obvious to an English speaking reader.

Alexander Demyanov
Local time: 13:31
Native speaker of:

Russian

Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

Return to KudoZ list

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

See also:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

прорухи у старухи

English translation: if not moth in our 70 year old cloth...

Answers

KudoZ™ translation help

Your current localization setting

Select a language

прорухи у старухи

English translation: if not moth in our 70 year old cloth...

Answers

KudoZ™ translation help

You have native languages that can be verified

Your current localization setting

Select a language