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Joint Fixing T-bolt and Knob

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

curate's egg

Spanish translation:

una de cal y otra de arena

Added to glossary by margaret caulfield
Jun 4, 2010 22:12
13 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term

curate's egg

English to Spanish Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings Proofreading
PERSONAL QUERY. I'm looking for a similarly euphemistic way to put this in a report for a Spanish client.
"The expression "a curate's egg" originally meant something that is partly good and partly bad, but as a result is entirely spoiled. Modern usage has tended to change this to mean something having a mix of good and bad qualities."
Proposed translations (Spanish)
4 +3 una de cal y otra de arena
4 +1 tiene su lado bueno y su lado malo
4 tiene alguna que otra cosa buena
3 cajón de sastre
3 no hay mal que por bien no venga
Change log

Jun 4, 2010 22:19: James A. Walsh changed "Language pair" from "Spanish to English" to "English to Spanish"

Jun 4, 2010 22:19: David Hollywood changed "Language pair" from "English to Spanish" to "Spanish to English"

Jun 4, 2010 22:25: David Hollywood changed "Language pair" from "Spanish to English" to "English to Spanish"

Jun 7, 2010 10:47: margaret caulfield Created KOG entry

Discussion

neilmac (asker) Jun 7, 2010:
The translator did not use the term. I'm just looking for a more polite/euphemistic way to put what I would usually simply describe scathingly as "rubbish"...
Hermeneutica Jun 5, 2010:
Could you tell us how you're planning to use the phrase? In what part of your report? [intro, conclusions ...]? Things like that to help us get into your head in Spanish ;-)
margaret caulfield Jun 5, 2010:
Neilmac, Which version has the translator given?
neilmac (asker) Jun 5, 2010:
Context: I'm looking for a similarly euphemistic way to put this in a report (ON A TRANSLATION I'M PROOFING) for a Spanish client. The translation is pretty rubbish by my own standards, considering the person who did it is supposed to be both native and an expert in the field. However, I don't wish to destroy this person's possible future employment chances on the basis of one job, so want to be as gentle as possible in my criticism, which does not come naturally to me as I'm quite aggressively opinionated as a rule and believe in calling a spade a spade.
margaret caulfield Jun 5, 2010:
Also, it was put into the glossary not long ago, so the meaning probably hasn't had time to change much, as suggested by Diego.
margaret caulfield Jun 5, 2010:
Si, Nahuelhuapi. Está en el glosario, tal y como digo en mi respuesta.
nahuelhuapi Jun 5, 2010:
Hace poco estuvo la misma pregunta en el foro, por lo que debe estar en el glosario.
Diego Carpio (X) Jun 4, 2010:
Some context? As you said, the idiom has acquired different meanings over time. Give us some context and the equivalent should arise. Hope it helps.

Proposed translations

+3
16 mins
Selected

una de cal y otra de arena

This is in the Glossary.

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Note added at 20 hrs (2010-06-05 18:42:20 GMT)
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Try searching in the "Term Search" (upper left hand corner of this page". It comes up immediately. Don't forget to put inverted commas around "curate's egg".
Note from asker:
Usually if query terms are in the glossary, they come up on the submission screen when you try to enter them. It didn't come up this time so I assumed it wasn't.
Peer comment(s):
agree María Isabel Estévez (maisa) : o "una de bleque (alquitrán) y otra de arena"
14 mins
Gracias, María Isabel.
agree Christine Walsh
3 hrs
Thanks, Christine.
agree Rosa Pugliese
4 hrs
Thanks, Rosan.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This will do nicely. Thanks again to everyone for the help :)"
12 mins

cajón de sastre

not exactly the same thing ... means a mixed bag but that would include good and bad and is pretty euphemistic so might work ...
Something went wrong...
1 hr
English term (edited): curate\'s egg

tiene alguna que otra cosa buena

saludos
Something went wrong...
+1
9 hrs

tiene su lado bueno y su lado malo

Otra opción. Saludos



curate - definition of curate by the Free Online Dictionary ... - [ Traducir esta página ]Definition of curate in the Online Dictionary. Meaning of curate. ... curate's egg it's like the curate's egg (Brit) → tiene su lado bueno y su lado malo ...
www.thefreedictionary.com/curate - En caché - Similares


Tener su lado bueno y su lado malo | WikIdiomsSpanish. Tener su lado bueno y su lado malo · Uno de cal y otro de arena. contributed by Tebh. English. Curate's egg. contributed by WikIdioms. Japanese ...
www.wikidioms.com/.../Tener-su-lado-bueno-y-su-lado-malo - En caché


Translation curate - English-Spanish Collins dictionary - Reverso - [ Traducir esta página ]IDIOMS to be like the curate's egg it's like the curate's egg (Brit) tiene su lado bueno y su lado malo. Add your entry in the Collaborative Dictionary. ...
dictionary.reverso.net/english-spanish/curate - Estados Unidos
Imaginarium: Planta-Cisne
Peer comment(s):
agree bcsantos
3 hrs
Gracias bcsantos
Something went wrong...
11 hrs

no hay mal que por bien no venga

If you want / are able to emphasise the positive side of the bad news ... although officially this is "every cloud has a silver lining" in English, perhaps it may serve.
Something went wrong...
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