a ojo

English translation: rough estimates

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	a ojo
English translation:	rough estimates
Entered by:	patinba

08:13 Sep 26, 2012

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Roads

Spanish term or phrase: a ojo

SPAIN (Galicia). From a verbatim interview. One of those occasions where you know exactly what it means, but I'm not sure about the best way to express it in English.

"Cuando empezó la construcción los que hacían las vigas, los hierros para las columnas etc, pero había muy pocos ingenieros y entonces lo hacían 50% a ojo y como dudaban pues más hierro y aquí esta ocurriendo lo mismo"

neilmac KudoZ activity Questions: 1872 (2 open) (106 closed without grading) Answers: 6251 Spain
Local time: 16:59

rough estimates

Explanation:
the builders made rough estimates, and then put in more iron to be on the safe side.

Selected response from:

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 11:59

Grading comment

All the answers were good, and I'm using more than one. Thanks to everyone for the input (and apologies if the query seemed unworthy).
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +5

(they measured) by eye

Jenny Westwell

3 +3

by guesswork / by guesstimate

Charles Davis

4 +1

[as a] guesstimate, guesstimating

psicutrinius

4 +1

roughly

Antonio Tomás Lessa do Amaral

ballpark

MPGS

3 +1

a visual estimate

Evans (X)

work it out as you go along

Gordon Byron

rough estimates

patinba

Calculations on the back of an envelope

Antonio Tomás Lessa do Amaral

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

3 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

(they measured) by eye

Explanation:
Could this be what you're looking for? :)

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Note added at 9 mins (2012-09-26 08:22:23 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or "50% of the measurments were done by eye".

There seem to be plenty of examples on the web of measuring "by eye":

"The telescope had not yet been invented, and all measurements were done by eye"
http://www-spof.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Skeplaws.htm

"During the late 1960s, in the process of trying to measure and understand the optical clarity of the atmosphere, Charlson realized that existing instrumentation for measuring aerosols was inadequate. The old measurements were done by eye and were only approximate."
http://www.washington.edu/research/pathbreakers/1969e.html

Jenny Westwell
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:59
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: Sounds a bit odd though. I'd thought about "by sight" but it doesn't sounds right either. Maybe I'm just being picky...

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

liz askew: or "by sight" http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=eye...

23 mins

-> Thank you Liz :) I think "by eye" is okay, though I also like Gilla's 'visual estimate" and Charles's "by guesswork".

agree

Neil Ashby: this immediately sprang to mind when I saw the question.....

49 mins

-> Yes, me too! Thanks, Neil :)

agree

fionn: definitely 'by eye' in this context: 'they did it/judged it half by eye'. the other suggestions don't suit the speaker

1 hr

-> Yes, I think that's true :)

agree

Yvonne Gallagher: my first thought too

3 hrs

-> Thanks gallagy :)

agree

philgoddard: Definitely - if there's an exact English equivalent, there's no point looking for synonyms.

4 hrs

-> My thought exactly, thanks Phil :)

10 mins confidence:

ballpark

Explanation:
ballpark adj figurative, informal (estimate: approximate) aproximado adj estimado adj
http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?tranword=bal...
:)

MPGS
Local time: 16:59
Native speaker of:

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 8

Notes to answerer

Asker: Some other nice options there, thanks ;)

28 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

[as a] guesstimate, guesstimating

Explanation:
also, "as a rule of thumb", eyeballing...

psicutrinius
Spain
Local time: 16:59
Native speaker of:

Spanish

Notes to answerer

Asker: By rule of thumb... I also like this one ;)

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

roughly

Explanation:
That's how I'd say it.
Hth

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Note added at 29 mins (2012-09-26 08:42:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

guesstimate ??

Antonio Tomás Lessa do Amaral
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Portuguese
PRO pts in category: 20

Notes to answerer

Asker: Right. Am using "rough/ly" already, but I wondered if I could also keep something about "eye/sight" in the translation, as it comes up quite a few times. Cheers.

32 mins confidence:

Calculations on the back of an envelope

Explanation:
Hth

Antonio Tomás Lessa do Amaral
Works in field
Native speaker of:

Portuguese
PRO pts in category: 20

33 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

a visual estimate

Explanation:
I think the builders currently working on my extension took this approach. I just asked them what they would call it, and this was their reply.

Evans (X)
Local time: 15:59
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 20

25 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

by guesswork / by guesstimate

Explanation:
There's a certain amount of guesswork in answering this, since "a ojo" could imply looking carefully and working out the quantity mentally on the basis of a visual measurement, but it can also mean "Sin peso, sin medida, a bulto" or "A juicio, arbitrio o discreción de alguien", which is how the DRAE defines it (like the variant "a ojo de buen cubero", which I really like).

So it could well be saying that it was 50% guesswork.

"Guesstimate" is a somewhat more accurate-sounding alternative, but you may not like the word (I don't much).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 34 mins (2012-09-26 08:48:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Actually I think "guesswork" is the sense of it (as it often is with "a ojo"); the "50%" bit implies to me that it was 50% calculation and 50% guesswork.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 38 mins (2012-09-26 08:51:53 GMT)
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In other words, what I strongly suspect here is that "a ojo" is being used to emphasise the inaccuracy; what follows shows that they tended to get it wrong.

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Note added at 57 mins (2012-09-26 09:10:55 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Don't want to overemphasise this, but I really get the feeling that the subtext here is "they got it wrong and messed it up, and it's happening again".

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Note added at 2 hrs (2012-09-26 10:36:49 GMT)
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"a ojo de buen cubero or a ojo or (Col, CS) al ojo at a guess; le eché el azúcar y la nata a ojo I just put the sugar and cream in without measuring it"
(Oxford Superlex)

"calculé a ojo (de buen cubero) cuántas personas había I roughly calculated o made a rough guess at how many people were there
no hace falta medir la harina, échala a ojo there's no need to weigh out the flour, just add roughly the right amount"
(Collins)
http://diccionario.reverso.net/espanol-ingles/ojo

"así, a ojo, creo que tiene unos 50 metros de alto, at a guess I'd say it's about 50 metres tall"
http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=ojo

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 16:59
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 287

Notes to answerer

Asker: Yes, the meaning is clearly "they got it wrong and messed it up". All the suggestions so far are really helpful and I'll no doubt end up using more than one. This 20K job is full of garbled farmers' ramblings and it's taking me much longer than usual...

2 hrs confidence:

work it out as you go along

Explanation:
work it out as you go along

Gordon Byron
Spain
Local time: 16:59
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: I like this, it's the kind of thing I'd say myself...

4 hrs confidence:

rough estimates

Explanation:
the builders made rough estimates, and then put in more iron to be on the safe side.

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 11:59
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 170

Grading comment

All the answers were good, and I'm using more than one. Thanks to everyone for the input (and apologies if the query seemed unworthy).

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