these ladies with their petitions

English translation: - see explanation below -

10:32 Dec 12, 2007

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

English term or phrase: these ladies with their petitions

Don’t they understand, these ladies with their petitions and their dead banker husbands and bulky Tod’s purses, that if I let them distract me with talk of Republicans stealing elections or Palestinian suicide bombers or whether Mrs. Katz from 2B saw Anthony the new doorman asleep behind the desk last Tuesday night, if I let them divert my attention, I will not make it past the playground to the refuge of the park beyond.

Shirley Fan KudoZ activity Questions: 678 (9 open) (3 without valid answers) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 4
Local time: 11:51

Selected answer:- see explanation below -

Explanation:
these ladies with their petitions -- this turn of phrase (ie, the "these ladies"), implies a certain amount of impatience on the part of the speaker.

"theses ladies" bothering me with their requests for one cause or another (that's the petitions)

The implication, from what the text says about these ladies, is that they are rich widows with nothing to do but go around bothering people with requests, doing good works, etc.

The speaker is saying he/she must not be allowed to be distracted by them, their petitions and their trivia (trivia is implied by the bit about Mrs. Katz from 2B) , or he/she will not accomplish what they set out to do.

HTH

Selected response from:

Paula Vaz-Carreiro

Grading comment

Thanks！
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +9

- see explanation below -

Paula Vaz-Carreiro

4 +2

these lonely rich widows with their causes

Refugio

Answers

10 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +9

- see explanation below -

Paula Vaz-Carreiro
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Portuguese,

English
PRO pts in category: 48

Grading comment

Thanks！

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

agree

P.L.F. Persio: yes; I love this text: difficult but original and witty. Well done, really good explanation!

3 mins

-> Thanks a lot Sofia! Yes this is my dream kind of translation :-)

agree

Helen Genevier

3 mins

-> Thanks Helen

agree

mistahara (X)

4 mins

-> Thanks M.

agree

Sinead --

19 mins

-> Thanks Sinead

agree

orientalhorizon

51 mins

-> Thanks O.

agree

V_Nedkov: yes: the speaker is refering to them quite sarcastically

1 hr

-> Yes, that too. Thanks V.

agree

malligajm: he/ she also implies the ladies like a good gossip and because they nove nothingbetter to do, they prentend to be interested in problems facing the world like the suicide bombers

2 hrs

-> Yes. Thanks for the agree and the input :-)

agree

jerrie

4 hrs

-> Thanks Jerrie

disagree

Refugio: Take a look at Shirley's question on obsessive self-pity for more context. http://www.proz.com/kudoz/2306288 // Not criticizing, Paula, just offering more info.

8 hrs

-> Well, I am afraid I didn't see that question (even though I am signed up for all Qs - I wonder why that is?!).I was only going on the provided context.//No offence taken Ruth :-)

agree

Patricia Townshend (X)

1 day 3 hrs

-> Thanks Patricia

agree

ARTES

1 day 11 hrs

-> Thanks

7 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

these lonely rich widows with their causes

Explanation:
The narrator is attempting to trivialize the concerns of politically active women. His perception is that because they are rich (bankers' widows with expensive purses) and Jewish (reference to Mrs. Katz), they cannot possibly have any genuine interest in political issues (stolen elections, human rights, the Palestinian struggle). Since this is, on the face of it, absurd, it is the narrator's way of conveying that in fact, he is the shallow, self-absorbed one, not the women who are, perhaps belatedly, discovering their consciences.

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Note added at 8 hrs (2007-12-12 18:58:48 GMT)
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Your question on obsessive self-pity makes it quite clear that his putdown of the ladies is just his own self-absorbed perception.

Refugio
Local time: 20:51
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 120

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