Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Stock market terminology

I have heard some weird expressions in connection with chart analysis 
but what I heard on BBC World today is really ugly.
Referring you yesterday's 3.6% rise in the Dow Jones index after days of 
decline the reporter explained that this is called a "dead-cat bounce, 
like the body of a dead cat bounces after it has fallen from a 
considerable height, only to fall again".
Ugh!
Imagine yourself an interpreter, having to translate this on the fly. Il 
rimbalzo di un gatto morto. ...di un cadavere felino.
Which now makes we wonder: when it rains cats and dogs, are those 
creatures dead or alive? The English language seems to be full of 
euphemism involving dead animals (e.g. flogging a dead horse)
-- 
Xakero

euphemism involving dead animals (e.g. flogging a dead horse)
I didn't know that one.
Sebastiano
-- 
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside a dog, it's too dark to read.

 I didn't know that one.
(from Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms)
QUOTE
flog a dead horse. British, American & Australian, American beat a dead 
horse
to waste time trying to do something that will not succeed
You're flogging a dead horse trying to persuade Simon to come to Spain 
with us - he hates going abroad. [usually in continuous tenses]
Do you think it's worth sending my manuscript to other publishers or I 
am just beating a dead horse?
UNQUOTE
Apparently no equivalent colourful Italian idiom for this. Hazon 
Garzanti: sprecare energia. How dull! :-)
-- 
Xakero

 Garzanti: sprecare energia. How dull! :-)
Picchi suggests "pestare l'acqua nel mortaio", which I'd never heard
before.
Something like "scontrarsi con un muro di gomma" would perhaps be more
idiomatic nowadays.
-- 
Mary

 first contact with the ground ^_^.
No, not cats !... :-)))
And those men that's raining in a song
of Geri Hallywell ?...
Are they dead ?...
I don't think so... (she screams "halleluja"... :-)))
--
Er Roscio.

 rimbalzo di un gatto morto. ...di un cadavere felino.
    Though I appreciate your typically Anglo-Saxon humour, I daresay I do
not share your point of view. I being an interpreter, I think I can say this
particular metaphor should not give the interpreter in the booth a hard
time. What really makes your life harder is "conventional" metaphors, not
artistic ones like the one you mentioned. I mean, if you say that a person
is "an oyster", you cannot translate it into Italian *literally*; then, if
some other oysters pop up again, for example, by wittily associating the
menu to that person's personality, the interpreter will probably have to
"make the mortal jumps" :-) to convey the meaning of the original speech in
a fraction of a second.
    Regards,
                 Nicola
--
Multa non quia difficilia sunt non audemus, sed quia non audemus sunt
difficilia (Seneca).
[it, en, ru, es, (fr, pt, la, zh, ar)]

 a fraction of a second.
Thank you for giving me an insight from an interpreter's point of view.
I am always amazed how well simultaneous translation works but I guess 
it is a job like any other: study, training, hard work and lots of 
experience. To a professional, translating even the oddest idiom 
probably comes natural like translating a normal phrase, but I cannot 
help but admire the extensive knowledge and specialised professional 
skill of the interpreter.
-- 
Xakero

 before.
    Indeed, it is not a common expression. A slightly different one (but
occasionally interchangable) is "portar nottole ad Atene": the "nottola" (or
owl, "civetta" is the common Italian term) was Athena's sacred animal,
Athenians were not allowed to kill them: hence, that part of Greece was
literally teeming with owls, there was no point in taking another one there.
    My favourite, though, is the equivalent Chinese idiomatic expression:
sentire prurito alla gamba e grattare lo stivale.


 probably comes natural like translating a normal phrase
    Well, not really. Idioms are nastier than most things, and whenever you
can, it is recommendable to leave them out in the simultaneous translation.
But it's good you have the impression interpreters can work equally well
regardless of the text: the audience must have this impression, they are not
supposed to realise how much the poor translator in the booth is suffering
;-)


 sentire prurito alla gamba e grattare lo stivale.
Cute. 
-- 
Mary

considerable height, only to fall again".
Si usa dire anche nella borsa italiana, perň immagino sia questa
espressione sia stata brutalmente tradotta...
Indica un rialzo piů o meno forte dopo giorni di forti cali,
altrimenti detto rimbalzo tecnico.
Ciao

before.
I think I've heard that. "Fare un buco nell'acqua" is the same _sort_
of thing, isn't it? Though maybe that's more "fail spectacularly" than
"waste time and effort".
Also, ISTR seeing "fare/costruire cattedrali nel deserto" somewhere.
-- 
Adam Atkinson (
gh...@mistral.co.uk
)
I have a spelling chequer. It came with my pea sea. It plane lee
marques for my revue miss steaks eye can knot sea.

 can, it is recommendable to leave them out in the simultaneous translation.
I am reminded of Nikita Khrushchev, in 1960, banging a shoe on the table 
at a UN conference, which, I understand, contrary to what was variously 
reported at the time he did not do to emphasise a point he was making or 
because he was angered by something the Indonesian representative had 
said, but because he felt that his remarks were not translated 
correctly. Perhaps he had used a Russian idiom that defied instantaneous 
translation.
Or perhaps the story was that Khrushchev felt that the translation was 
too slow. I am not quite sure.
-- 
Xakero