Apr 6, 2001 08:18
23 yrs ago
Russian term
седина в голову, бес в яйцо
Russian to English
Art/Literary
Looking for an English idiomatic analogy for this russian saying.
Thanks
Thanks
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+1
44 mins
Selected
There's no fool like an old fool
An equivalent is sedina v borodu, bes v rebro
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Graded automatically based on peer agreement."
1 hr
Midlife crisis
This is a harsher version of the proverb mentioned in the previous answer. Basically it describes older men (45-65) deciding that they missed something in life and starting to chase women (usually younger then themselves) as if there is no tomorrow (well, to be fair, there is not much of a tomorrow left for them).
I do not know of the equivalent proverb in Russian.
I do not know of the equivalent proverb in Russian.
5 hrs
dirty old man, lecher
Marder gives a rather stronger translation for the phrase 'sedina v golovu, a bes v rebro'; an older source, Segal, gives: 'the later love comes, the more it burns'. It will depend on the overall context
Reference:
Marder, A Supplementary Russian - English Dictionary (Slavica, 1994)
Segal, New Complete Russian - English Dictionary (Lund Humphries, 1943)
11 hrs
An old rooster with a last-chance booster
The original saying "grayness in [his] beard, devil in [his] balls" is a modern frivolous rephrasing of the Russian popular but rather obsolete "grayness in [his] beard, devil in [his] ribs". Since I am not aware of any English idiom close enough to this obviously made-up proverb, I made up my own equivalent reflecting desperate sexual urges of an aging male. Comment to [email protected]
Walter B.
Walter B.
2 days 17 hrs
A fool at forty is a fool indeed/A man is as old as he feels...
I think no special explanation is needed. Just choose what suits your situation best.
Reference:
A DIctionary of English Proverbs in Modern Use.M.B. Bukovitskaya, etc.Russky Yazyk. Moscow. 1985.
3 days 17 hrs
There is no fool (or No fool) to the old fool (or like an old fool). He that loves glass without G..
Other possible versions: 1. He that loves glass without G, take away L and that's he. 2. A curst cur (or dog) must be tied short. 3. What a sugar-daddy! 4. A grey beard, but a lusty heart. 5.The older and greyer the beard, the sprightlier old Adam appeared.
The dictionary from which I have taken these proverbs and sayings also gives extensive examples of parallel texts from Russian classical literature with their translations.
It should be taken into account that you have a modification of the phrase into an "indecent" one ("ball" instead of "rib"). So, I think the strongest equivalent should be chosen, and even that might be appropriately modified, too.
The dictionary from which I have taken these proverbs and sayings also gives extensive examples of parallel texts from Russian classical literature with their translations.
It should be taken into account that you have a modification of the phrase into an "indecent" one ("ball" instead of "rib"). So, I think the strongest equivalent should be chosen, and even that might be appropriately modified, too.
Reference:
S.S.Kuzmin, N.L.Shadrin, RUSSIAN-ENGLISH DICTIONARY OF PROVERBS AND SAYINGS. MOSCOW, 1989.
79 days
A man is as old as he feels and a woman as old as she looks
it is from a dict of eng proverbs in modern use
no fool, like an old fool
is also given
these two are for седина в бороду, а бес в ребро
no fool, like an old fool
is also given
these two are for седина в бороду, а бес в ребро
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