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Scales are not the feathers of a chicken...

English translation: fish scales are not like chicken feathers or rabbit fur

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
Selected answer:fish scales are not like chicken feathers or rabbit fur
Entered by: NancyLynn

04:46 Jun 1, 2005
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / children's literature
English term or phrase: Scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
“Now can you scale fish?” he asked Druno.
“But why scale it? Scales are not the feathers of a chicken or the hair of a rabbit. Just let me fry it, Uncle."


Dear native English speakers!
Please advise if the idea is clear here or if I should change or add something. Perhapd it doesn't sound good enough and needs some improvements?

Druno just can't understant why he's supposed to scale the fish, for he thinks he could just fry it as it is, scales and all.

This is my translation from Russian.
Andrew Vdovin
Local time: 20:58
fish scales are not like
Explanation:
chicken feathers or rabbit fur

Yuck - I think Druno is about to find out the hard way!!
Selected response from:

NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 09:58
Grading comment
Thanks for your help Nancy! Lots of thanks everybody!!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +3fish scales are not like
NancyLynn
5 +1OK as is.
KNielsen
5 +1Scales are not like the feathers of a chicken nor the hair of a rabbit...
Aimee
4remove the scales of the fish
Balasubramaniam L.
3scales are not soft like feathers or fur
María Teresa Taylor Oliver
3personla opinion
Vladimir Dubisskiy


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
scales are not soft like feathers or fur


Explanation:
I'm just guessing here... Perhaps he thinks that, if you fry a fish with the scales on, since they are hard and not soft like feathers or fur, they would not be an inconvenience to eat the fish.

Now, with a chicken or a rabbit, frying them without removing the feathers or hairs would be a problem...

Just my 2 cents... =)

María Teresa Taylor Oliver
Panama
Local time: 08:58
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Johan Venter: You did not really answer the asker's question, but explained his own words to him.
2 hrs
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
fish scales are not like


Explanation:
chicken feathers or rabbit fur

Yuck - I think Druno is about to find out the hard way!!

NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 09:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 75
Grading comment
Thanks for your help Nancy! Lots of thanks everybody!!!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Melanie Nassar
33 mins
agree  Charlie Bavington: this is the simplest, and yes, rabbit fur not hair.
5 hrs
  -> thanks - imagine the hair of a hare
neutral  Maria Chmelarova: could be rabbit hair as fiber along with mohair and ... A rabbit fur as, jacket fur. But that is not case here.
7 hrs
agree  gtreyger (X): I'd stick with rabbit fur.
9 hrs
  -> thanks - imagine the hair of a hare
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19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
OK as is.


Explanation:
I think it's fine the way it is; the reader gets a visual image of all three (scales, feathers, fur) and thus can intuitively get the distinction--ie, that frying an animal with feathers or fur on would be out of the question, but with scales on might be OK (as Druno thinks). I think the way you've worded it is nice for a story, too--it's not a formal paper or essay, after all.

KNielsen
Japan
Local time: 22:58
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Johan Venter: The sentences are absolutely clear indeed.
1 hr
  -> Thanks, venter :-)
neutral  Melanie Nassar: but *the hair of a rabbit* is rather awkward
3 hrs
  -> I kind of liked it...but "the fur of a rabbit" would work too :-)
agree  airmailrpl: -
4 hrs
  -> Thank you!
disagree  Tsu Dho Nimh: I would say "But why scale THE FISH?" The rest is excellent, and has good rhythm.
7 hrs
  -> I think he means fish in general, and not that particular fish, hence no "the."
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44 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
Scales are not like the feathers of a chicken nor the hair of a rabbit...


Explanation:
You could leave it the way you had it, although there's better alternatives.

Also it should be
"Now can you scale THE fish?"
that is, if he does not deal with fish often..

Aimee
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Maria Chmelarova
6 hrs
  -> Thank you, pretty
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
personla opinion


Explanation:
I am not a native English speaker, but it hardly matters here anyway.
The comparison sounds awkward - yes, fish is not a chicken, definitely. But it does not imply that because of that chicken is to be stripped of feathers and fish can stay "dressed"... Something with a logic here (not translation but the original wording).

Vladimir Dubisskiy
United States
Local time: 08:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in UkrainianUkrainian
PRO pts in category: 4
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
scales are not the feathers of a chicken...
remove the scales of the fish


Explanation:
The word "scale" is not used as a verb in English in the sense of removing the scales of a fish, unlike "skin" for example.

You can "skin" a rabbit, but you can't "scale" a fish. Scale used a verb means climb over, for example you can scale a wall.

So you will have to use other verbs along with scales to convey the idea of removing the scales. One option is given below:

"Now will you remove the scales of the fish?" asked Druno.

"Why remove the scales? Scales are not like the feathers of a chicken or the hair of a rabbit. Let me just fry it scale and all, Uncle."


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr 54 mins (2005-06-01 06:40:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You will also have to decide whether \"can\" is the right word here.

If it is a request, \"will\" would be better. But if \"Uncle\" just wants to find out whether Druno has the ability or capacity to the carry out the operation of removing the scales of the fish, then \"can\" would be right usage. But again, the next sentence reveals that is not the case because Druno doesn\'t say he is incapable of \"scaling\" the fish, but that he thinks that quite unnecessary, in which case \"will\" would be more correct.

The sentence should be:

\"Now will you scale the fish?\" he asked Druno.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 4 mins (2005-06-01 06:50:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A closer scrutiny of the dictionary revealed that \"scale\" is indeed used as a verb for \"removing the scales\". So perhaps your version is correct after all. Except that the definite article THE is required before fish, as aimee has already pointed out.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 5 mins (2005-06-01 06:51:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A closer scrutiny of the dictionary revealed that \"scale\" is indeed used as a verb for \"removing the scales\". So perhaps your version is correct after all. Except that the definite article THE is required before fish, as aimee has already pointed out.

Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 19:28
Native speaker of: Native in HindiHindi
PRO pts in category: 32

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Johan Venter: The aritcle is not necessary for 2 reasons: 1 - it is a question in general, as in can you do it. 2 - Peopel often make grammar mistakes when they speak, hence the quotation marks. If everyone used perfect grammar in novels Steven King'd be very boring
1 hr
  -> Thanks.
neutral  airmailrpl: Results 1 - 30 of about 856 English pages for "scale a fish".
3 hrs
  -> Yes I found that meaning. I have added a note about it. My mistake.
neutral  NancyLynn: and still, the speaker is asking a general question: can you scale fish? he could have asked can you pluck chickens? it's just that fish here is plural. careful!
7 hrs
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