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Good-natured Insults

от sparksbet, 20 октомври 2014

Съобщения: 9

Език: English

sparksbet (Покажи профила) 20 октомври 2014, 17:49:01

I'm translating a work in which two brothers (both adult men in their early to mid twenties) take part in some good natured ribbing. One calls the other a "jerk" and the other responds with "bitch." Now, in the English scene, it's clear from the context that they aren't mad at each other and that the insults are just playing around - in fact, this occurs right after one brother apologizes to the other and they resolve a previous conflict. I'm having difficulty conveying this in Esperanto, however.

I can literally translate both insults, but I can't help but feel that the literal translations don't have quite the right connotations for this scene. For instance, "bitch" can be translated as "putino" pretty easily, but he isn't literally calling his brother a whore; he's using the very colloquial, abstract meaning of "bitch" as an insult for an overly emotional, whiny person. Similarly, the CEED suggests "stultulo" or "folulo" as the best translations for "jerk," but he isn't calling his brother a stupid person or a fool - he's affectionately calling his brother an asshole.

Does anybody know other Esperanto insults that would fit this context better and be less ambiguous to Esperanto speakers who aren't familiar with American English?

Balbutanto (Покажи профила) 21 октомври 2014, 01:39:45

Maybe you could try inventing something that would sound both mildly insulting and funny. I remember reading "fojnkapo", once, from a Danish translator. "Remaĉulo" seems expressive enough. There's also "kvarmanulo" or "kvarpiedulo". Go nuts!

sergejm (Покажи профила) 21 октомври 2014, 04:52:48

Double translation through Russian, gives ŝtipkapulo, feĉulo, idioto etc. for jerk.
Everybody knows word idioto, but for other words they should look in dictionary.

Alkanadi (Покажи профила) 21 октомври 2014, 07:26:11

How about:

Poop Monster
Kaka monstron

Lord of the poop
Reĝo de la kako

No brain
sen cerbo

Son of a fart
filo de furzo

sudanglo (Покажи профила) 22 октомври 2014, 10:31:00

Jerk (US English) - imbecilo, kreteno, sencerbulo.

Such terms in context would not be literal. I like fojnkapo, but this seems closer to feather-brained.

Bitch - virinaĉo, spitemulinaĉo, putino

Without the female connotation, agacemulo, plendemulo.

Because Esperanto is mainly used for polite intercourse, it is difficult to capture the abusive force some national language expressions. There isn't the supporting usage. On the whole Esperantists don't go around insulting each other in crude or vulgar language

jefusan (Покажи профила) 22 октомври 2014, 16:30:20

sudanglo:Jerk (US English) - imbecilo, kreteno, sencerbulo.
I would say that the US meaning of "jerk" is more like a less vulgar way of saying "a-hole." That is, someone who is some combination of rude, unfriendly, or unkind. So, I would go with something like malĝentilulo or malafablulo. Or trivialulo? Or just viraĉo?

sparksbet (Покажи профила) 22 октомври 2014, 21:53:09

jefusan:
sudanglo:Jerk (US English) - imbecilo, kreteno, sencerbulo.
I would say that the US meaning of "jerk" is more like a less vulgar way of saying "a-hole." That is, someone who is some combination of rude, unfriendly, or unkind. So, I would go with something like malĝentilulo or malafablulo. Or trivialulo? Or just viraĉo?
Yes, thank you, this was one of my biggest problems with this. Any dictionaries I found that had suggestions for "jerk" were similar to sudanglo's suggestions - they insulted the subjects intelligence, rather than their personality. However, most of your suggestions seem a little too clean and academic for the situation. Of the suggestions so far, I think I'll either use feĉulo or viraĉo, at least until I find something more suitable.

Alkanadi (Покажи профила) 23 октомври 2014, 08:05:36

Here is a website that teaches your how to talk dirty in Esperanto.

jefusan (Покажи профила) 23 октомври 2014, 15:39:34

Feĉulo is pretty great...

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