ocurrencias

English translation: flashes of wit, creative flashes of imagination, pure whimsy

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	ocurrencias
English translation:	flashes of wit, creative flashes of imagination, pure whimsy
Entered by:	Mónica Algazi

22:05 Apr 5, 2016

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Journalism / Article about an artist

Spanish term or phrase: ocurrencias

Context:

El punctum

La obra instalacionista que [artist's name] desarrolla desde la década de los años noventa parece domesticar, convertir en algo familiar y conformista el legado perturbador del surrealismo, al eliminar de él todo resabio metafísico y operar con realidades contingentes, especialmente con el poder seductor del humor recatado, de la pura * ocurrencia *, sin caer por eso en lo banal.
La irrupción de la * ocurrencia * implica un trabajo intelectual previo destinado a descubrir el punto en que se quiebra la lógica de lo real, punto que el artista pone luego en evidencia.

Había pensado en algo así como "out-of-the-blue ideas", pero la última oración me complica... : /

TIA!

Mónica Algazi KudoZ activity Questions: 741 (none open) (1 without valid answers) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 9230 Uruguay
Local time: 12:58

wit

Explanation:
My first line of thought here was a flash of inspiration, but reading the context several times I find myself drawn towards wit, though I admit that at first it seems a rather free interpretation of "ocurrencia". And yet verbal "ocurrencias" are really witticisms. I think the phrase "sin caer por eso en lo banal" is a clue that "ocurrencia" refers to something that could in certainly circumstances lapse into banality, something apparently more clever than profound. "Pura" may carry the implication of "mere". Wit is something clever and inventive, and certainly something arising from an intellectual process. It can be humorous, and I think that follows on well from "el poder seductor del humor recatado", but in its classical sense it doesn't have to be. Wit means mental sharpness, inventiveness, intelligence, and implies an element of inspiration, something clever or insightful that occurs to you. But I think it's more this, an inspired comment on reality, than a sudden idea for how to do something.

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Note added at 1 hr (2016-04-05 23:32:49 GMT)
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It goes well with "El punctum" too.

Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 17:58

Grading comment

Thanks to all of you! Where's the option 'Assign the points to more than one colleague'? : (
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +3

wit

Charles Davis

4 +1

quirks / quirkiness

neilmac

3 +1

brainwave

Cecilia Gowar

3 +1

(purely) whimsical

patinba

(individual) creative flashes of imagination

Marcelo González

4 -1

shear imagination

jude dabo

Answers

26 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

ocurrencia brainwave

Explanation:
I would not use it in plural but it could fit the context.

"Britain's most enterprising mother: Sarah was bankrupt, divorced and on benefits when she had a brainwave. Now the Mail's Mumpreneur of the Year..."
http://goo.gl/48xGRi

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Note added at 27 mins (2016-04-05 22:33:42 GMT)
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It does make sense that you have a sudden "inspiration" due to having pondered over something.

Cecilia Gowar
United Kingdom
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

Spanish
PRO pts in category: 68

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks, Cecilia!

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

wit

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 17:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 116

Grading comment

Thanks to all of you! Where's the option 'Assign the points to more than one colleague'? : (

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, Charles!

11 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

quirks / quirkiness

Explanation:
Quirks are idiosyncrasies and the term can be applied in many fields.
quirk1.
a peculiar aspect of a person's character or behaviour.
"they accepted her attitude as one of her little quirks"
synonyms: idiosyncrasy, peculiarity, oddity, eccentricity, foible, whim, whimsy, notion, conceit, vagary, caprice, fancy, kink, crotchet, mannerism, habit, characteristic, trait, feature, obsession, fad;

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Note added at 11 hrs (2016-04-06 09:58:29 GMT)
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"Unless, that is, the work was conventional or the artist's quirks were described as inauthentic..."·

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Note added at 11 hrs (2016-04-06 09:58:47 GMT)
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http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/07/what-is-...

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Note added at 11 hrs (2016-04-06 09:59:36 GMT)
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"We may have a sense of the personality behind the work, the artist's quirks and blemishes..."

neilmac
Spain
Local time: 17:58
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 28

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thank you, Neil!

14 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

(purely) whimsical

Explanation:
whimsical
playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way.
"a whimsical sense of humour"
synonyms: fanciful, playful, mischievous, waggish, quaint, fantastic, unusual, curious, droll;

www.docsity.com › ... › Questions English Grammar
(1)The idea communicated may even be purely whimsical, in which case the artist might start out with symbols developed from a bird's tracks or a child's toy.

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Note added at 14 hrs (2016-04-06 12:20:25 GMT)
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De nada, Mónica. Se usa bastante en arte:
Favorite Whimsical Artists
www.whimsicalartists.com/
Favorite Whimsical Artists, including Tim Nyberg, Scott Plaster, Juli Cady Ryan, and Lucian Stewart. NC Whimsical artist Scott Plaster's line of Whimsical Animals ...
Whimsical Art for Sale - Fine Art America
fineartamerica.com/art/whimsical
Choose your favorite whimsical canvas prints, framed prints, greeting cards, throw pillows, duvet covers, t-shirts, and more from millions of available designs.

patinba
Argentina
Local time: 12:58
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 40

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks, Pat!

2 hrs confidence:

(individual) creative flashes of imagination

Explanation:
...with the seductive power of understated humor, the pure/unadulterated product of *individual creative flashes of imagination*

*See Dagut's work on translating metaphors (qtd in 'Metaphor and Agency" [2014]).

I'm not so sure though about the last sentence.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2016-04-06 01:17:53 GMT)
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O perhaps something like...

**creative flashes of intelligence-laden humor**

Dagut on metaphors in work cited above---a PhD thesis inTranslation Studies at (world-ranked) Monash University:

In two widely-cited articles, Dagut describes metaphor as being “by definition ‘original’” and “at the frontier of linguistic change” (1976: 22-23); “an individual creative flash of imagination fusing disparate categories of experience in a powerfully meaningful semantic anomaly” that “presents a particularly searching test of the translator’s ability” (1987: 77). In this vein, Hanne states: “Translating metaphor is one of the most fascinating challenges for translators of journalistic and literary texts, since it requires us to draw on a great range of our imaginative, cultural and linguistic resources” (208) (also see, inter alia, Dobrzyńska; Pisarsca; Schäffner 2004a; Q. Al-Zoubi et al; Prandi; Schäffner and Shuttleworth).

Espero que le sirva, Mónica, y saludos desde las islas Marianas :-)

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Note added at 3 hrs (2016-04-06 01:43:43 GMT)
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Excuse me: in my previous note, I should have said:

"What follows is an excerpt from the discussion of Dagut's work in 'Metaphor and Agency' (cited above):"

En ese fragmento, también incluí unas palabras (casi igual de citables) de Hanne (para leer más de esta tesis, vea el enlace en mi perfil).

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Note added at 15 hrs (2016-04-06 13:54:12 GMT)
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●part of the 'first' sentence●

Source text
...con el poder seductor del humor recatado, de la pura ocurrencia, sin...

...with the seductive power of understated humor, the (unadulterated) product of creative flashes of imagination, without...

●the last sentence●

Source text
La irrupción de la ocurrencia implica un trabajo intelectual previo destinado a descubrir el punto en que se quiebra la lógica de lo real, punto que el artista pone luego en evidencia

Target text
The emergence of a creative flash of (imaginative) humor implies eruditious forethought with the intention of identifying the point on which the logic of non-contingent reality breaks down, the point that the artist subsequently depicts.

lógica de lo real >>> logic of non-contingent reality

If this appears to fit within the context of the article, it may be an option. Without seeing more of the source text, it's difficult to say with any degree of certainty.

Marcelo González
United States
Local time: 05:58
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 16

Notes to answerer

Asker: Muchas gracias, Marcelo. Sumamente útiles las referencias.

12 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

shear imagination

Explanation:
madcap comedy/ improvisation

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Note added at 1 día12 horas (2016-04-07 10:55:15 GMT)
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@monica:Sorry for typo.
pura ocurrencia - SHEER IMAGINATION

jude dabo
Local time: 16:58
Native speaker of:

English

Notes to answerer

Asker: You meant 'sheer imagination', right? Sounds good! Thank you, Jude!

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English translation: flashes of wit, creative flashes of imagination, pure whimsy

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