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  3. Idioms / Maxims / Sayings

pôr o dedo na ferida

English translation: pour salt on (rub salt into) the wound

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Portuguese term or phrase:pôr o dedo na ferida
English translation:pour salt on (rub salt into) the wound
Entered by: Rafael Mantovani

23:53 Nov 14, 2008
Portuguese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Portuguese term or phrase: pôr o dedo na ferida
"... assim, a artista põe o dedo na ferida de uma questão crucial do mundo moderno"

significando tocar numa questão delicada, incômoda

gostaria de saber uma expressão equivalente ou semelhante em inglês

obrigado a quem puder ajudar
Rafael Mantovani
Germany
Local time: 03:38
Pour salt on the wound
Explanation:
It's the English maxim.

Urban Dictionary: pour salt on the wound pour salt on the wound - 1 definition - Verb. To unnecesarily cause someone more sadness or trouble when he or she is already in a difficult situa...
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pour salt on the wo... - 19k
Selected response from:

Marlene Curtis
United States
Local time: 21:38
Grading comment
obrigado a Marlene e todos que ajudaram!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +9Pour salt on the wound
Marlene Curtis
5 +2hit a sore point
Carlos Quandt
4 +1touch a sensitive point
rhandler
4 +1address a sore subject, touch a sore spot, put one's finger on the problem
Salvador Scofano and Gry Midttun
4touch a tender spot
Liliana Galiano
4'Open old wounds'
Gilmar Fernandes
4strikes a very raw nerve of the modern world
Robert Forstag


  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
touch a tender spot


Explanation:
One possibility.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2008-11-14 23:57:39 GMT)
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http://archive.lancashireeveningtelegraph.co.uk/1998/5/26/80...


Liliana Galiano
Argentina
Local time: 22:38
Native speaker of: Spanish
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
touch a sensitive point


Explanation:
Assim o diria, como nestes exemplos:

mindblob: Is viral marketing dead already?
You touch a sensitive point there... marketing is supposed to be as rational as possible, but when it comes into the hands of the consumers, I am convinced ...
mindblob.typepad.com/mindblob/2007/07/is-viral-market.html


NHL | Member profile
When you talk about Sidney Crosby, you touch a sensitive point. And if you dont say what EVERY people want to hear (he’s the best) you’ll remember it for a ...
http://fans.nhl.com/OnyxHawke

Nerves And Common Sense: Chapter XXVI
... mass of exciting and painful emotions which can be aroused to a boiling point at any moment by anything or any one who may touch a sensitive point. ...
www.soilandhealth.org/03sov/0304spiritpsych/030407call.nerv...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 27 mins (2008-11-15 00:21:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The link to the first example is:

http://mindblob.typepad.com/mindblob/2007/07/is-viral-market...

rhandler
Local time: 22:38
Native speaker of: Portuguese
PRO pts in category: 26

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Maria José Tavares (X)
12 hrs
  -> Obrigado, Maria José, tenha um bom domingo!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

28 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
'Open old wounds'


Explanation:
Outra sugestão:

Idiom Definitions for 'Open old wounds'

If you open old wounds, you revive a quarrel or problem that caused a lot of trouble in the past.

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/open old wounds...


Gilmar Fernandes
United States
Local time: 21:38
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +9
Pour salt on the wound


Explanation:
It's the English maxim.

Urban Dictionary: pour salt on the wound pour salt on the wound - 1 definition - Verb. To unnecesarily cause someone more sadness or trouble when he or she is already in a difficult situa...
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pour salt on the wo... - 19k

Marlene Curtis
United States
Local time: 21:38
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 70
Grading comment
obrigado a Marlene e todos que ajudaram!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Amy Duncan (X)
3 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  airmailrpl: -
5 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  Katja van Hellemond
6 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  Phillippa May Bennett
7 hrs
  -> Thanks Phillippa!
agree  Abigail Elvins: or "rub salt into the wound" is the phrase I am familiar with
14 hrs
  -> Thanks!
agree  Paul Dixon: Yes, I'm more familiar with "rub salt into the wound".
17 hrs
  -> Also.Thanks Paul!
agree  Cristina Santos
1 day 22 hrs
  -> Grata!
agree  Luciana Roppa
2 days 20 hrs
agree  Paula Vaz-Carreiro
10 days
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
hit a sore point


Explanation:
14 Nov 2008 ... Clearly we’ve hit a sore point. Indeed, some chefs hold onto their private little kitchen grudges for decades. “It took me awhile to learn ...
blogs.dallasobserver.com/cityofate/2008/11/burning_question_which_ingredi.php

... reaction against Yilmaz from within both the military and the political establishment indicates that the leader of ANAP had indeed hit a sore point. ...
www.ciaonet.org/wps/jud03/

The profs seem to have hit a sore point. How could a couple of obscure business professors get the mighty Investment Company Institute into such a lather? ...
www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0301/046.htm

Carlos Quandt
Brazil
Local time: 23:38
Native speaker of: Portuguese

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Amy Duncan (X)
30 mins
agree  Susana Alves: Other versions touch a sore spot; touch a nerve; and hit a sore spot.
17 hrs
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
address a sore subject, touch a sore spot, put one's finger on the problem


Explanation:
Entendo que "colocar o dedo na ferida" é tratar de um tema sensível, difícil.



Salvador Scofano and Gry Midttun
Norway
Local time: 03:38
Native speaker of: Native in NorwegianNorwegian, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Paulo Horsky
4 hrs
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
pôr o dedo na ferida de uma questão crucial do mundo moderno
strikes a very raw nerve of the modern world


Explanation:
None of the answers offered thus far really work in the present context. The most plausible of these, Marlene's "pour salt into the wound" suggests a deliberateness and aggression that seems inappropriate for the description of a work of art--no matter how provocative it may be.

In my view, there is also no need to translate the phrase "de uma questão crucial" here, for it contributes little to the meaning of the phrase and instead encumbers the language with unnecessary verbiage.

Boa sorte.

Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 21:38
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 24
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