# English words that are difficult to translate. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957 "2010-10-31T05:43:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/61 "2010-11-01T14:01:29Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Do Americans ever use it in the way Brits do: a cowboy job is one that is done very poorly by someone that clearly had no idea what he is doing? A cowboy being someone that would perform such a cowboy job. No, I’ve never heard it used that way. I expect the British don’t think much of our cowboys. 🙂 ETA - we might use it, though, with the connotation of a “hotdogger”, like a pilot who breaks rules and shows off, though. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/62 "2010-11-01T14:10:54Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Do Americans ever use it in the way Brits do: a cowboy job is one that is done very poorly by someone that clearly had no idea what he is doing? A cowboy being someone that would perform such a cowboy job. Mmm, not exactly, but there is a gloss of “shoot-first-ask-questions-later” aggressive, foolish impulsiveness that “cowboy” can imply. (_The local sherriff’s office is a a bunch of trigger-happy cowboys_) However, “cowboy” in this use remains a noun – it isn’t used as a derogatory adjective as in your phrase “cowboy job.” As a verb, it can refer to rough handling, especially of animals (_I don’t like the way that vet cowboys my dog around. I know he’s large, but he’s very gentle_). On the other hand, “cowboy up” means getting an unpleasant but necessary job done without whining. (_looks like I’m going to have to cowboy up and clean up that cat vomit_). Many shades of meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/63 "2010-11-01T14:38:30Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > Thus apparently the fashion was in Latin to use one of those words to indicate agreement, and it caught on differently in different areas. This. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/64 "2010-11-01T14:58:17Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > What about _taxi_. I’ve heard that most languages have no native word for _taxi_, and so they just use the English word. As **Hypnagogic Jerk** pointed out, “taxi” isn’t really an English word. It’s short for “taximeter cab” which comes from the French “taximètre”. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/65 "2010-11-01T15:18:02Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > As **Hypnagogic Jerk** pointed out, “taxi” isn’t really an English word. It’s short for “taximeter cab” which comes from the French “taximètre”. And according to wiki, the French is derived from the German _taxameter_. > [@Wikipedia](#): > > Harry Nathaniel Allen of The New York Taxicab Co., who imported the first 600 gas-powered New York taxicabs from France, coined the word “taxicab” as a contraction of “taximeter cabriolet”. “Taximeter” is an adaptation of the French word taximètre, which is a derivation of the German word taxameter, coined from Medieval Latin taxa, which means tax/charge, together with meter from the Greek metron (μέτρον) meaning measure. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/66 "2010-11-01T16:54:35Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > The whole thread about women being “the fairer sex” is just full of linguistic minefields. Fairer meaning paler? More attractive? Versus foul? Winds? What? More just? Ghetto page is our local term for calling and hanging up. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/67 "2010-11-01T19:29:06Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#): > > Everybody I know calls this “two rings”. > [@AK84](#): > > Its called a “missed call” where I am from. I know this as a “Scotch Call.” A little old-fashioned ethnic stereotyping hangover from the days of payphones, I guess. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > What about _taxi_. I’ve heard that most languages have no native word for _taxi_, and so they just use the English word. Afrikaans has a native word - “huurmotor”, meaning hired car. The same term could also be used for self-drive rentals like Avis or Hertz, but by itself without context, I’d translate it as “taxi” or “cab” rather than “rental car”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/68 "2010-11-01T20:57:08Z")
Hebrew also has a word - “Monit”, from “Moneh”, meaning meter. However, like much modern Hebrew, it’s a neologism that only caught on a few decades ago; older people still often use “Taxi”. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/69 "2010-11-02T00:31:26Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > It’s fairly standard that there is no specific word for “yes” in Latin, and is the reason why Romance languages have such varied words for it. “Oui” comes from “ille” (that), I’m assuming through a process similar to how “grenouille” came to be pronounced. To me at least, those words rhyme or are very close. Spanish “Si” comes from “sic” (thus). Occitan is named after its word for yes, “oc” which is derived from “hoc” (this). This explains the French region of Languedoc, too - named for where people say oc. I have a recollection that there are two other regions nearby named on a similar principle, but I can’t recall them. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/70 "2010-11-02T00:43:30Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > No, I’ve never heard it used that way. I expect the British don’t think much of our cowboys. 🙂 > > ETA - we might use it, though, with the connotation of a “hotdogger”, like a pilot who breaks rules and shows off, though. I do wonder how it came about. I can’t imagine it is anti-American as it just seems so bizarre. There must be another explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/71 "2010-11-02T01:58:42Z")
It’s because Indians (from India) have a reputation for being shoddy workmen; this is wrong and racist stereotype. A poorly installed fusebox was described as “It looks like it was put in by Indians” as[the D of E put it](http://www.hypersyl.com/forums/topic/906-prince-philip-the-duke-of-edinburgh-racist-bastard-or-comic-genius/). And the British sense of humour being what it is, Indians quickly becomes cowboys. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/72 "2010-11-02T02:29:40Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > It’s because Indians (from India) have a reputation for being shoddy workmen; this is wrong and racist stereotype. A poorly installed fusebox was described as “It looks like it was put in by Indians” as[the D of E put it](http://www.hypersyl.com/forums/topic/906-prince-philip-the-duke-of-edinburgh-racist-bastard-or-comic-genius/). And the British sense of humour being what it is, Indians quickly becomes cowboys. Not so sure about this. Another hypothesis is that the cowboy legend may imply someone reckless, and willing to take big risks. It’s only a small jump from that to someone who cuts corners on work (and note that “cowboy” in this slang sense is almost always wrt construction work and the like, not say, from poor service). The various histories I can find are consistent with this view, though I can’t find one that explicitly supports it. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/73 "2010-11-02T02:30:03Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > And the British sense of humour being what it is, Indians quickly becomes cowboys. Cite? ---
**Author:** ![nani](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58956e/32.png) [@nani](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nani)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/74 "2010-11-02T03:01:54Z")
One thing you learn when you talk with Chinese is the secret word for yes: 恩。 (ēn) The proper meaning of this character is like “graciousness” but it is just a vocalization, so it should be written properly with a 口 (kou, meaning mouth) on the left side, but my mac can’t do it. 不 (bu) which is the common negative signal, can be used by itself in conversation at times to indicate just no. Something that has been bugging me about informally writing Chinese is how to pass across the concept of exaggerated elongation of pronunciation. Users of an alphabet system, I’m sure, can instantly imagine how “ooohhhhhh” sounds, without having to add “he drawled” or something like that. But how am supposed to that with the Chinese word for oh (哦)? I don’t know if that counts as untranslatable. This reminds me of my favorite Chinese slang word: 囧 （jiong) which is a somewhat archaic word that meant brightness that now means a kind of Munchian despair. I mean, just look at it. But I guess slang is always tough to translate into a way that captures the mood. I recently had to translate the word “fluffer” for a foreign friend of mine. That took a few sentences. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/75 "2010-11-02T05:04:50Z")
I only know three languages, and only two of those well enough to comment on nuances. My Spanish is pretty rusty, and not very colloquial. **privacy** Japanese equivalents have connotations of isolation, withdrawal, personal possession, secret, but no single word I can think of translates the concept well. That’s probably why the katakana-English word プライバシー was borrowed. One of the big cultural differences Westerners notice here is that a lot of what would be considered private topics back home are public issues here. Some questions you just have to get over being surprised or offended at, because you’ll hear them over and over (and over) again. “Are you constipated? Do you have diarrhea?” “How old are you?” “Is that woman/man I saw you walking with your girlfriend/boyfriend?” “Are you having sex with him/her?” “Why can’t you come to my party?” A lot of Japanese don’t understand the reticence of foreigners to engage in conversation on topics like bodily functions, relationships, illness or health, age, because these are not private topics in their culture. The concept isn’t necessarily unknown, it’s just applied very differently, and not considered to be a very important consideration. Polite fictions are more elaborate. You can’t just say that you’re “busy,” you have to make up some obligation, because simply not wanting to go, or wanting to have some time to yourself are not acceptable reasons. **slut** The closest thing I can think of is だらしない, which I’d translate as “unkempt.” There’s no word that fits the nuance of a woman who projects sexual availability or aggressiveness in behavior or dress. The needle either swings to “socially unacceptable behavior” (i.e.: “boisterous”) or “whore” with no marker in between. There’s also a host of cultural baggage that makes absolutely no sense without the Judeo-Christian upbringing. **miss** As in, “I missed you,” or “I’m going to miss \_\_\_\_\_.” You’ve got to talk around the point. “I’ll be sad when you’re not here.” “I was unhappy because \_\_\_\_\_ was gone.” **fuck** You can get the same general meaning of intercourse, yeah, but all the nuances, connotations, and profanity? Nope. The closest equivalent in Japanese is 〜をやる which is literally, “doing” someone. Besides which, fuck can be used in a wide variety of situations that only partially fit the root meaning. In dialog, it’s loosely translated at best; sometimes they just transliterate it and leave it at that. I’ve also had trouble explaining: silly, sarcasm, black (as in morbid) humor, indefinite counting terms like “few” or “several,” cheesy, and casual. Some concepts are rooted in culture and require explanations, some just have no equivalents. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/76 "2010-11-02T07:42:40Z")
> [@hammos1](#): > > French has no word for ‘nut’. There are words for each type of nut, but no generic term to describe them all. Which is why French commercials for Mounds take 20+ minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/77 "2010-11-02T09:19:14Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > But I recently had to look up what an “earmark” is to follow a political discussion and, well, I confess I’d have trouble translating any text containing that word - because AFAIK, the US Congress is the only political system in the world that involves earmarks, or any financial attributions handed out from Parliament for that matter. In most other countries, budgeting is wholly in the hands of the executive, not the legislative. So there’s no word or concept to describe a financial provision coming from the legislative. Spain has a mixed system, where budgets are proposed by the executive but modified (sometimes very heavily) by the legislative. Still, even if funds are allotted to a specific concept, they can always be used for something else as needed (my father’s stories of using “the linens budget” to buy bandages comes to mind). I think that for me what’s difficult is the notion of “this money is for this, only for this, and for nothing but this”. > [@](#): > > Another troublesome word I came across recently : “greenwashing”, or the process a corporation goes through when it wants to publicly appear to be ecological or to make efforts to be more eco-friendly, but really isn’t. It’s not even a “real” word, but an English speaker will immediately decode the portmanteau of Green + Whitewashing. > In languages that aren’t so prone to coining neologisms on the fly, it’d be a bugger to translate faithfully or in few words. Those poor videogame translators… in English, you can grab “spear” plus “carrier” and make “spearcarrier”, and so long as the toon actually carries a spear it’s fine. But in Spanish, “portalanzas” sounds like shite (and it doesn’t so much bring to mind a soldier with a spear as someone carrying the spear another person will use, like a knight’s squire); “portador de lanza” is both very long and an adjectival structure (you’d need something like “soldado portador de lanza”), as well as still sounding like merde-on-a-stick, but if the English version has “spearcarrier” and “spearbearer” and “spearman” and “spearthrower”, which one do you translate to the Spanish “lancero”? I mean, the last one can be a “jabalinero”, since a javelin is a spear specifically designate for throwing, but what do you do with the other three? And what if, on top of those four, you also have a “javelin thrower” in English? In other words, sometimes the difficulty doesn’t even come from the word itself, but from the context. Any of those spear-whatever can be translated as “lancero” if found on its own - the problem is how do you differentiate them, specially if the code is restricting you to using a single word. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/78 "2010-11-02T09:27:59Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Ignorance fought – thank you! In the parts of Mexico where I lived for several years, no one ever came up with this phrase when I tried to explain to them what _looking forward to something_ meant. _Espero **por** _…very interesting. May I ask in what part of the Spanish-speaking world you have heard that this is used? I have never encountered “esperar por” meaning “to look forward to”, just “esperar”. If you want to emphasize that you’re awaiting it eagerly, instead of just waiting for it, you use appropriate adverbs: Espero las Navidades con muchas ganas: I’m really looking forward to Christmas. Espero las Navidades con ansiedad: I’m looking forward to Christmas, but I’m also nervous about them - family drama for the lose. Esperaremos a las Navidades para darle el regalo: we’re not giving him the present until Christmas. Cowboys are vaqueros in Spanish; if you need to specify, you say “vaquero del Oeste” (Far West cowboy) as opposed to, say, “vaquero asturiano” (a cowherd from Asturias). It’s not like we weren’t raising cows before y’all started looking West. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/79 "2010-11-02T09:59:59Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Cowboys are vaqueros in Spanish; if you need to specify, you say “vaquero del Oeste” (Far West cowboy) as opposed to, say, “vaquero asturiano” (a cowherd from Asturias). It’s not like we weren’t raising cows before y’all started looking West. But that’s not a translation by the sound of it. If you need to distinguish a cowherd from a cowboy then the word doesn’t mean cowboy, it means cowherd. Cowboy has a very specific meaning, encompassing someone working in remote areas, living rough, indepedent, physically strong, works mostly on horseback, undertakes branding and castration and so forth. A cowherd could be a 90 year old woman who can hardly walk who goes home to her house every single night or a 10 year old child, and that alone shows that the words aren’t equivalent. Note that the Australian “stockman” and the Argentinian “gaucho” are near perfect translations of cowboy, aside from nationality of course. So it’s not like the word can’t be translated at all. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957/80 "2010-11-02T10:28:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Those poor videogame translators… in English, you can grab “spear” plus “carrier” and make “spearcarrier”, and so long as the toon actually carries a spear it’s fine. But in Spanish, “portalanzas” sounds like shite (and it doesn’t so much bring to mind a soldier with a spear as someone carrying the spear another person will use, like a knight’s squire); “portador de lanza” is both very long and an adjectival structure (you’d need something like “soldado portador de lanza”), as well as still sounding like merde-on-a-stick, but if the English version has “spearcarrier” and “spearbearer” and “spearman” and “spearthrower”, which one do you translate to the Spanish “lancero”? I mean, the last one can be a “jabalinero”, since a javelin is a spear specifically designate for throwing, but what do you do with the other three? And what if, on top of those four, you also have a “javelin thrower” in English? > > In other words, sometimes the difficulty doesn’t even come from the word itself, but from the context. Any of those spear-whatever can be translated as “lancero” if found on its own - the problem is how do you differentiate them, specially if the code is restricting you to using a single word. Tell me about it. The problem’s the exact same in French. I did a short stint translating for _Warhammer Online_. My, my. So many Rageclaw Bears and Throatslasher Bats and the like. Yeah, it sounds the shit in English, but in French “Ours Griffe de Rage” sounds \*like \*shit :). And yup, same problem with the swordsmen, swordbearers, swordchuckers, swordmasters, swordsworders, all of course needing to be differentiated because they’re don’t count towards the same quests. On the upside, it was fun to do in a puzzle sort of way, and I learned quite a bit of ancient, medieval or quaint vocab in the process of navigating around the issue. On the downside, I doubt the majority of players know what half of the words we ended up using actually mean, or even realize they’re not made-up words 😕 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-difficult-to-translate/558957.md?page=5)