Jul 24, 2013 11:31
11 yrs ago
русский term
Великобритания
Translator since 1953
Native in: английский
Works in: русский => английский, немецкий => английский, английский
инфузории-туфельки
русский => английский
Искусство/Литература
Литература и поэзия
Общение с дочерью успокоило Юру. Конечно, в погоне за удовольствиями его девочки ведут себя как ***инфузории-туфельки***, но за столько лет он уже к ним привык. Что делать, если он любит этих инфузорий в этих туфельках. Такова его судьба.
Yura's wife and daughter are getting into trouble during a trip to Paris. It must mean that they are behaving recklessly, scattily, thoughtlessly, something like that. But the only meaning for инфузория-туфелька I can find is a microorganism called Paramecium caudata (if it has a name in English I can't find it), so can anyone throw some light on the subject?
Yura's wife and daughter are getting into trouble during a trip to Paris. It must mean that they are behaving recklessly, scattily, thoughtlessly, something like that. But the only meaning for инфузория-туфелька I can find is a microorganism called Paramecium caudata (if it has a name in English I can't find it), so can anyone throw some light on the subject?
Proposed translations
(английский)
| 4 | Like crazy |
LilianNekipelov
|
| 5 +1 | silly |
Maria Mizguireva
|
| 4 | slipper animalcule |
Alex Khanin
|
| 4 | brainless - see explanation |
Alla_K
|
Proposed translations
33 мин
LilianNekipelov
США
США
Native in английский
Specializes in field
США
Legal and literary translator. Linguist.
Native in: английский (Variants: British, US) 
, польский (Variant: Standard-Poland)
Works in: русский => английский, польский => английский, шведский => английский
Related KudoZ points
:
16
Selected
Like crazy
The men are trying to gain the favors of that woman "like crazy',. The term in question refers to the lowest alive organisms and is a symbol of low intelligence in Russian.
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Note added at 56 mins (2013-07-24 12:28:49 GMT)
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The meaning of the phrase is -- "without thinking, like crazy", but perhaps you can use "like plankton" here, although I am not sure if it will be correctly understood.
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Note added at 56 mins (2013-07-24 12:28:49 GMT)
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The meaning of the phrase is -- "without thinking, like crazy", but perhaps you can use "like plankton" here, although I am not sure if it will be correctly understood.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you. You gave the best explanation."
5 мин
Alex Khanin
Германия
Германия
Native in русский
Specializes in field
Германия
Pushing the envelope of meaning
Native in: русский 
Works in: немецкий => русский, английский => русский, иврит => русский, and 18 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
24
slipper animalcule
they are on the school curriculum
+1
2 час
Maria Mizguireva
США
США
Native in русский
США
Eng-Russian. Accounting, Finance
Native in: русский (Variant: Standard-Russia)
Works in: английский => русский
Related KudoZ points
:
4
4 час
brainless - see explanation
The girls (wife and daughter?) behave guided by their simplest (basic) instincts as if having no brains at all. In the translation they can be compared with any suitable invertebrate animal or microb to create a methaphor.
Discussion
[...] in their thirst for pleasure his girls behaved as if they were slipper animalcules [...]
But so it goes, for he loves these animalcules in these slippers. [...]
Used metaphorically, "инфузория-туфелька" denotes a flippant and a bit simple-minded person.
Something like that... Just an idea...