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Asociación de Vivienda Comunitaria
Apr 25 18:40
12 days ago
61 viewers *
Spanish term

Qué tontería

Spanish to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters Colloquial language
30 years speaking Spanish, and I never realized I don't have a good translation for this, if there is one
Context:
Girl A makes a bad joke (silly)
Girl B, smiling, says "Qué tontería"
It's not nonsense. It's not a complaint. It's not nonsensical. What is it?
Proposed translations (English)
4 +8 How silly
3 +4 So lame/pathetic
3 +2 You're such a goof; That's so goofy; I can't believe you just said that!
4 Tee hee
4 That's dumb
3 That's ridiculous
4 -1 Oh, you silly goose...
2 my foot; all my eye
Change log

Apr 26, 2024 05:46: philgoddard changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Apr 26, 2024 20:09: David Ronder changed "Level" from "Non-PRO" to "PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (4): Toni Castano, Beatriz Ramírez de Haro, Darius Saczuk, David Ronder

Non-PRO (3): AllegroTrans, Carol Gullidge, philgoddard

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Helena Chavarria Apr 27:
I've just come across this terrible joke 'Some bad news, Liz - the lettuce is launching a book too, and apparently it's a gem'.

What would we say after hearing the joke? Something like, 'How stupid can you get?'
AllegroTrans Apr 26:
Disagree... It's comprehension of vernacular English that's needed here, but in fairness, I spent 5 years in Luxembourg as a British expat and I must admit that I started to forget, even in that short time, elements of my own language. Even other British/Irish/US expats had started to develop a "Eurenglish" or "Eurobabble" full of peculiarities.
Justin Peterson (asker) Apr 26:
Hmm...it depends what PRO entails Like I said, at this point in my career I can decipher complex texts in a range of fields, and put them in clear English, but there are some apparently simple things that still have me scratching my head. For example, here, none of the suggestions are entirely convincing. It would seem to be simple. It's not. Interesting note: I am retranslating a movie script because the original translator missed a long list of nuances, often based on just tone, or an apparently insignificant preposition, and botched the translations. (The meaning of "Eres la polla" for example, has nothing to do with "Y una polla") The script is full of vulgar slang, and it would seem to be relatively easy, but it requires a complete mastery of the nuances of the Spanish, or the results are disastrous. Here, academic preparation is virtually useless. Total comprehension of Spanish (in this case, Peninsular, contemporary, among young people) is vital. What does PRO entail? You could have a PhD in Spanish Lit and completely botch this translation (which the first translator did)
AllegroTrans Apr 26:
Translation... can sometimes be a matter requiring a little lateral thinking. Nothing "PRO" here other than the university of life...
Justin Peterson (asker) Apr 26:
You're right, Neil My mistake. I'll keep that in mind next time. Don't know if I can change it now.
After 30 years of speaking Spanish, and 20 translating, I realize these are the hardest questions, and the most interesting. Often there is just no satisfying way to translate it, which is frustrating, but also fascinating
neilmac Apr 26:
PRO vs. Non-PRO I perceive this kind of colloquial query as PRO level. It takes a lot of knowledge and experience to be able to choose the Goldilocks option for the target audience.

Proposed translations

+2
6 mins

You're such a goof; That's so goofy; I can't believe you just said that!

Declined
My take on it
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard : There's a million ways to translate this - you just put yourself in Girl B's situation, and ask yourself what you'd say.
3 mins
There are multiple ways to skin this cat. Thank you, Phil.
agree neilmac : OK for USA IMHO... (Brits don't tend to use goofy/goof/goofball/goofing off the same way.).
12 hrs
Good to know. -) Thank you, Neil.
neutral AllegroTrans : too wordy
1 day 22 hrs
Something went wrong...
+8
6 mins
Spanish term (edited): tontería

How silly

Declined
A really silly joke. Lacking meaning and humor.
Peer comment(s):
agree Toni Castano : It just refers to the joke, not to Girl A.
19 mins
agree Yolette Buitrago
22 mins
agree Marcelo González
41 mins
neutral philgoddard : I think we need something more colloquial than this. I wouldn't say 'how silly' if someone told me a bad joke.
46 mins
agree AllegroTrans : How daft/stupid/dumb/idiotic.....
46 mins
agree liz askew
2 hrs
agree Lisa Russell
5 hrs
agree neilmac : This may be as good as it gets. Often a simple eye roll will suffice.
12 hrs
agree MollyRose
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

my foot; all my eye

Declined
There are already some ideas in the ProZ glossary.

Example sentence:

BrE: All my Eye (and) Betty Martin: All nonsense.

Reference:

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish-to-english/other/16991-lo-despidieron-por-una-tontería.html

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/spanish/poetry-literature/1211500-qué-ni-qué.html

Note from asker:
What the ? / My foot expresses disbelief, and I don't know what "all my eye" expresses; never heard it
Peer comment(s):
neutral neilmac : A bit too Jeeves and Wooster for the 21st century IMHO. No cigar :-)
7 hrs
neutral AllegroTrans : By jove my dear chappie, what whizzing suggestions
19 hrs
Something went wrong...
15 hrs

That's ridiculous

Declined
This is something I might say to a bad/ silly joke, with a smile on my face :-)
Something went wrong...
+4
1 hr

So lame/pathetic

Declined
The other answers seem a little formal/old-fashioned

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2024-04-25 19:54:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Perhaps 'That's so lame'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2024-04-26 12:49:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Maybe just 'That's so bad/pathetic' to avoid any possible ableist connotations with 'lame'.
Peer comment(s):
agree Beta Cummins : I'll give it to you, "lame" sounds fantastic. How silly of me not to think of it. ;)
8 mins
Many thanks Beta! ;-)
neutral MollyRose : She wouldn´t call it lame or pathetic and be smiling. Also, the other answers are still used and are not formal.
9 mins
Yes, this would work perfectly if given with a smile.
neutral neilmac : At the very least, it could be seen as ablist and offensive nowadays. Never been a fan of "lame" myself. Having said that, "pathetic" is often used in this kind of situation. But I dislike "lame"…
11 hrs
Many thanks Neil! ;-)
agree Muriel Vasconcellos
12 hrs
Many thanks Muriel! ;-)
agree David Ronder
17 hrs
Many thanks! ;-)
agree ormiston : 'That's pathetic!' sounds right to me...
1 day 2 hrs
Many thanks! ;-)
Something went wrong...
18 hrs

Tee hee

Declined
Another possibility that occurs to me. Often said in British English when something that's supposed to be funny (typically in a childish way) just isn't.
Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : HO HO
5 hrs
Cheers Santa
Something went wrong...
22 hrs

That's dumb

Declined
A missing suggestion
Something went wrong...
-1
1 day 1 hr

Oh, you silly goose...

Declined
...is what came to my mind. It's what I would say...

GOOSE or GEESE - "A foolish or ignorant person is called a goose because of the alleged stupidity of this bird." Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable revised by Adrian Room (HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1999, Sixteenth Edition).

https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/16/messages/233.ht...

https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/978019...
Peer comment(s):
neutral ormiston : The comment does is not aimed at the girl herself
15 hrs
disagree AllegroTrans : No, the comment is about the joke not the girl
21 hrs
Something went wrong...
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