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It would be the direct translation. I don't share your vision of sheepish or belämmert. Both are temporary conditions caused by a usually sudden event where one is not only at a loss for words, but at a loss for brains, as well. It could be comic or sarcastic, sometimes mean, but I don't see it as blunt or crude, but apt for this given situation. Dumbstruck would be another for the list. Be well!
Seems a bit mild next to belämmert which is blunt and crude. To me, belämmert is more typical of sarcastic comments whereas sheepish often pertains to the self-conscious feelings of the person at the receiving end..
Ein hübsches Mädchen kommt in den Laden. "Wie viel kostet eine Tafel Schokolade?" "Einen Kuss", sagt der Verkäufer grinsend. "Gut, ich nehme sieben", sagt das Mädchen, dreht sich um und ruft "Grosi, kommst du mal zahlen?"
"really means "being a day late and a dollar short/having not all buttons on/having a screw loose/vapid-eyed" suggestive of being slow on the uptake. Not quite the same as being dazed/dumbfounded/addle-brained etc."
Sorry, wrong. I also don't think that the native speakers have to write up a novel to prove it.
Sehe ich nicht so. Auch jemand, der nicht schwer von Begriff ist, kann gelegentlich belämmert gucken. Und wer eine Schraube locker hat, muss nicht unbedingt belämmert aus der Wäsche gucken.
gangels (X)
Belämmert aus der Wäsche gucken
18:49 Jul 10, 2013
really means "being a day late and a dollar short/having not all buttons on/having a screw loose/vapid-eyed" suggestive of being slow on the uptake. Not quite the same as being dazed/dumbfounded/addle-brained etc
My apologies, I seem to be overreacting to everything today - my family has fled to the lake! Maybe it's the heat? Maybe I'm entitled, who knows? If I do take something personally, it lasts about five minutes, so we're cool. Okay? Yes, idioms are the cross we all have to bear, and most internet renderings are not native-oriented. There are some very good slang dictionaries, all monolingual. Thank goodness for kudoz!
@Kathy Okay, I understand now. Why not use the word that describes us best - STUMPED!
Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. I was referring to the fact that the 2 alternative renderings I had found (1. woebegone and 2. amazed) seemed to be rather rare and that I couldn't find anything else to back them up.
Your suggestions of course required no extra back-up.
I added what I had found in view of the lack of context and the asker's comment : "My first instinct was dragged through a hedge backwards I must say".
There is no context in the sense that this is a survey and people have been asked to give their spontaneous response to an advertisement. The woman on the picture could fit any of the suggestions so far! I can't include the picture because it's confidential.
Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
Hi Kathy Freeman
12:27 Jul 10, 2013
Excuse me for insisting, but how can the sentence stand alone? Could you at least tell us in which context you are working on?
As a native speaker of English, well versed in German idioms (I taught English to German teens for 20 years), the expression asked for is known to me (ad nauseum!).
So now that I have made myself thoroughly obnoxious, back to work!
Muret-Sanders entry: da hat er vielleicht dumm aus der Wäsche geguckt (od. geschaut) fig. colloq. you should have seen his face, his jaw (simply) dropped