Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Cosa significano ... (5 parole)

Cosa significano :
common done
top draw
behave!
done deal
ooters
Grazie,
Andrea R.


Dear Andrea,
Are you not able to provide any context for these words?
Some seem obvious enough, others less so and some, possibly include typing
errors.
    > common done
Context required
    > top draw
Tom Cruise is a top draw at the box-office
    > behave!
comportati bene
    > done deal
affare fatto (American slang)
    > ooters
Are you certain of the spelling?
--
I remain, as always, ecc., ecc.,
Bambi
dtb

 ooters
Forse "hooters?"
Il gergo (slang) per i seni.
Ciao,
Ron

 Il gergo (slang) per i seni.
I cannot immagine why? ;)
Weird boobs women have there...

 Weird boobs women have there...
Ortografia: "imagine"
Credo che sia un'onomatopea:  il suono di sfregarsi le materie plastiche.
Ciao,
Ron

Aggiungo qualche ragguaglio in piů :
(   hey Bambi ...  what the heck is "ragguaglio" ?   ;-)    )
 
common done
forse si trattava di commonly done
e la traduzione di Ron mi sembra giusta
top draw
riguardo ad una azione compiuta
behave!
verbo rivolto spessissimo da Mr. Power alla sua assistentente 
Vanessa ( Liz Hurley ) nel film "Austin Power : la spia che ..."
done deal
dalle News della CNN, purtroppo non ricordo di piů
ooters
da un sito XXX, a proposito di "boobs"
Grazie comunque per le risposte:
effetivamente un paio non erano difficili ... sorry.
Andrea R.

 (   hey Bambi ...  what the heck is "ragguaglio" ?   ;-)    )
Dear Andrea.
A 'ragguaglio' in this context it would seem to me would be simply
'information' though the word I believe also means run-down or briefing. The
latter don't quite fit in the context, however.
If I am mistaken, I hope I will be put right.
    > common done
    > forse si trattava di commonly done
    > e la traduzione di Ron mi sembra giusta
To me also, this would appear a logical solution.
    > top draw
    > riguardo ad una azione compiuta
This on the other hand, makes little sense referring to a completed action,
and the answers provided thus far by myself and others still hold. Perhaps
you remember wrongly?
    > behave!
    > verbo rivolto spessissimo da Mr. Power alla sua assistentente
    > Vanessa ( Liz Hurley ) nel film "Austin Power : la spia che ..."
Comportati bene etc. as also answered already, holds.
    > done deal
    > dalle News della CNN, purtroppo non ricordo di più
Also answered and I believe translated accurately
    >ooters
    > da un sito XXX, a proposito di "boobs"
As Ron suggestd, Hooters with an 'H' and slang for breasts
We are glad to have been of service.


forse si trattava di commonly done
e se fosse "come undone"?
-- 
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
http://web.tiscalinet.it/alfabeto_auschwitz/

Yes Bambi, generally speaking "ragguaglio" is an explanation 
given by an information (or more informations, but smaller)
brief and not always completed so it should be better
if the dialog between the two people ends with the advice
"... hey, this is a ragguaglio only !" to warn the interlocutor
that it is a partial information.
-------
What IabellaZ guesses about "common done", that is it 
could be "come undone", I can't exclude it indeed:
in this case is should mean "not finished" ?
Anyway it is curiosity only ...
-------
For Bambi:
in the 6th message of "Tradurre alcune parole... 2a parte", 
Cristina^_^ wrote to you "Just got there before everyone else did":
please, can you translate in Italian "got there" ?
Maybe it means "went" ?
When I am not able to translate run-time those simply phrases
I totally crestfallen.
(I also would strike the verb "to get" off the Earth)
Andrea R.

 please, can you translate in Italian "got there" ?
I am really the wrong person to be asking as a native speaker would be able
to give you far better advice, however, in this case  I believe 'sono
arrivata' would be closer to the mark. Others, I am sure will elaborate if
needed
    > (I also would strike the verb "to get" off the Earth)
If I might just point out that the complete English expression is 'off the
face of the earth', and in this case, I believe you are not alone.Many
foreigners learning English would as well.


> curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought him back
LOL.
I knew only the first part of the proverb because it is the name of a
Pop music band and I find the second part very very cool.
In Italy we have a proverb that  only match the first part of that
and it is "Tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci lascia lo zampino"
and it is a pity that we haven't somewhat that can describe the
strenght with a lot of humour of the expression in the second part.
Andrea R.

AndreaR ha scritto

Dear Andrea,
sorry to dissent, but the subject has already been
discussed in this ng in December.
I still hold that the two sayings have only the "cat" in common, but
thay do not convey the same meaning.
You can look for "curiosity killed the cat" in 
deja.com
, but do allow
me to quote myself from a message in which I also
mention, as you do, that great Australian group which, alas, lived for
a very brief season)
------------------
From the thread "Opinioni, richiesta", December 7th, 1999
Ringrazio Gianfranco per avermi risparmiato la fatica di formulare
cio' che pensavo anch'io (ed averlo espresso cosi' chiaramente). Ho
passato anni a credere che i due modi di dire coincidessero, fino a
ricredermi quando compresi meglio il detto inglese. Come dice
Gianfranco, questo ha a che fare specificamente con la *curiosita'*, e
solo in questo senso dobbiamo intenderlo. Lo chiariscono bene gli
esempi riportati dal volume "American idioms" della Zanichelli: 1)
"Don't ask so many questions, Billy. Curiosity killed the cat". 2)
"Mind your own business. Curiosity killed the cat". La versione
italiana ha piu' un sapore cattolico, se mi passate l'espressione:
vuol dire che la provvidenza prima o poi fa si' che chi compie cattive
azioni o non e' prudente nel proprio agire ne subisca le conseguenze.
Anche la curiosita' puo' essere una "azione cattiva", ma qui rischiamo
di confondere lo specifico con il generale.
P.S.: cominciai a riflettere in modo piu' approfondito sulle analogie
e le differenze dei due modi di dire quando il gruppo australiano
"Curiosity killed the cat" arrivo' al successo. Parlo della meta'
degli anni '80. Qualcuno se ne ricorda?
-------------------------
Ciao
Frank

 and it is "Tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci lascia lo zampino"
[....]
Dear Andrea,
In fact, oddly enough, the first part of the English saying is far better
known than its conclusion, as it were.
As our gallant Frank has posted, there was a discussion on the group some
months back about the Italian equivalent of the saying and I seem to recall
the majority were not in agreement that "Tanto va la gatta al lardo che ci
lascia lo zampino" was necessarily the correct translation.Details, as also
detailed by Frank can be found on Deja.com.
As for the band, whilst I have heard of them, I must confess to knowing
their music not at all.


" Better late than never! " ( = " Meglio tardi che mai! ")
This surely match exactly the italian proverb.    ;-)
As I posted in my first message a week ago, I'm new of 
the Ng, but... but I can see you have worked quite
good without me!
Variety of themes, lively discussions, metaphysical 
digression... and you Frank providentially have reposted
your message because 
deja.com
 was suddendly down and probably 
because of endless request of thread ... "Opinioni, richiesta".
Thinking a little, I could admit you were right enough,
but assuming that is Providence which cuts off italian
cat's paw, what does kill american cat? What is the reason
because american cat must be killed? It doesn't commit
anything (or nothing, sorry) wrong or harmful towards none,
but somewhat decides for a punishment and a killing.
And now what is or how we can name this "somewhat"?
And if it is Providence, the two first parts of the
proverbs draw near to themselves again.
But you maybe already have discuss about this too,
and it doesn't matter 'cause it was... only curiosity.
Andrea R.

degli anni '80. Qualcuno se ne ricorda?
Er, well... were they actually an Australian band? I always thought
them British?
Oh, bittersweet memories of youth. Farewell.


Anyway it is curiosity only ...
dear Zebra,
I know this post I'm replying to is a teeny bit old, and I hope you
are still (or will shortly be) reading the group. "To come undone"
though, as a whole expression, means something quite different than
what you guess. "Undone", as an adjective, can indeed mean
"unfinished", but "to come undone" usually implies someone or
something have met a heinous end, are in ruins and beyond repair. It
is one of those old-fashioned phrases that I like to remember and
possibly use, and hope I have made myself understood.
And may I just add, that curiosity is the fuel of knowledge?
Bye, 


 their music not at all.
Lurking, lurking, and now showing my head over the fence again.
In fact, my mother tongue being neither Italian nor English, I wonder
what I am doing in this newsgroup. But since I enjoy it, and since aught
enjoyable is said to beneficial to the health, remain here I shall.
Recently, I gained knowledge of of 
wwww.napster.com
, a site offering a
freeware program to search for specific songs, or songs of specific
bands, on the web in the MPG format. For a while I did nothing, but last
week I downloaded the program and found it excellent when I looked for a
song (Landslide) mentioned in this ng.
Napster may be old hat to most on this ng but I thought I'd mention it
in case curiosity should overcome Her Majesty and she might want to get
hold of a song by the group mentioned in this thread. Before some U.S.
court decides to shut Napster down.
--
Xakero
Sapere aude!
 (Horace, Epistulae)
Sent via Deja.com 
http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

 And dance like no one's watching
Presumably, you own the intellectual property rights to your signature
line but with your kind permission I would like to to quote these three
lines to a "friend in need" (regarding line 2), with due attribution, of
course.


lines to a "friend in need" (regarding line 2), ...
They're yours for the taking, and the best of British luck to your
friend. Tell her/him that things have a way of sorting themselves
out... one way or the other.
Bye,
-- 
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
http://web.tiscalinet.it/alfabeto_auschwitz/

 out... one way or the other.
It's the *other* that I always dread !!
clemma

Here I am.
I'm new of the Group (almost since 15 days only _sorry if it is
grammatically wrong, but I don't remember the Duration Form well,
 ...honestly I don't remeber it at all    :-)    _ ) and I can't tell
you if mine will be an intensive frequentation (expecially on the
"answering" side), but I always have followed my
threads !
When I had english words' translation doubts
I used use a Communication (writing and speaking) program called
Freetel with I could contact and tease people on Internet which
(at Internet's low cost, even through different continents);
but now Freetel's server (the computer to which initially connect)
is down, so I started contact and tease people on this Newsgroup.
Don't worry, you have made yourself understood quite good.
Thanks for specifications.
You said you like "come undone", but  to me it is awful instead.
Such a terrible and ominous words happened on to me!
But to better understand, please, tell me a known chronicled news
which this phrase can be attached to.
I'd like also to say that we shouldn't use a lot of (or many ?, sorry
again) "old-fashioned" words, because we could risk to fall in
stereotype and boring phrases.
By the way, "Zebra" is a nick for another Newsgroup,
and it was wrongly left on this one.
Andrea R.