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  3. Business/Commerce (general)

fruntimmer

English translation: women

08:49 Sep 23, 2016
Swedish to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Business/Commerce (general)
Swedish term or phrase: fruntimmer
This comes from a textbook in consumer behavior, where the authors discuss how values and expressions change over time. As an example, they bring up the word "fruntimmer", which a hundred years ago was a perfectly OK term to use for a woman, but which is now seen as derogatory and not used in polite conversations.
ehnsio
Sweden
Local time: 18:56
English translation:women
Explanation:
A less polite word.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2016-09-23 11:25:07 GMT)
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Ie, fruntimmer is a slightly impolite word for kvinnor, (women).
Selected response from:

George Hopkins
Local time: 18:56
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +3women
George Hopkins
4 +1madam
Pernille Chapman
3females
Tariq Khader (X)
4 -3broad
Paul Lambert
3 -4(BrE) hussy > (pl hussies)
Adrian MM. (X)


Discussion entries: 8





  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -3
broad


Explanation:
One way to put it. I know some dames these days take offense to that word. Not a swear word, but not always good in mixed company.

Paul Lambert
Sweden
Local time: 18:56
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 35

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Agneta Pallinder: Wrong pedigree - fruntimmer has virtually zilch sexual connotation. I was thinking of that song in South Pacific about a broad being broad...
2 hrs
  -> I didn't think "broad" did either. I usual think of phrases like "dumb broad" when a woman driver makes a silly mistake on the road. However, I will take your word for it.
disagree  Anna Herbst: The way you use "dames" above comes closer to "fruntimmer". It is certainly not a swearword, nor does it have sexual connotations as Agneta has already pointed out.
20 hrs
disagree  Michael Ellis: Too US and not broad enough!
23 hrs
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
women


Explanation:
A less polite word.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2016-09-23 11:25:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Ie, fruntimmer is a slightly impolite word for kvinnor, (women).

George Hopkins
Local time: 18:56
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 108
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Christopher Schröder: Women isn't a derogatory term. Yes it can be used as such (as can men or indeed any other noun) but it's hardly equivalent to fruntimmer.
54 mins
  -> Thank you Chris. Fruntimmer, nowadays, is slightly derogative and corresponds to using the word 'women' scornfully.
agree  Agneta Pallinder: "women" said with a sigh and a shrug of the shoulders corresponds very well to fruntimmer.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you Agneta.
disagree  Paul Lambert: I think there is something lost when simply using the all-purpose term of "women" as opposed to some kind of nickname that conveys a certain emotion or disposition.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you Paul -- although I disagree with your disagree.
agree  Deane Goltermann: I'll agree here considering the asker's context. See my discussion.
3 hrs
  -> Thank you Deane.
agree  Anna Herbst: I agree with Agneta above. It all depends on the way it is said.
19 hrs
  -> Thank you Anna.
agree  Michael Ellis: Not easy. I also agree with Agneta's comment.
23 hrs
  -> Thank you Michael.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -4
(BrE) hussy > (pl hussies)


Explanation:
We may need to 'localis/ze'.

US & Can-only = broad (see web ref.)
US + BrE = chick
BrE = (usually an old) biddy: hussy vs. strumpet
IrE/Dublin = moth (pronounced 'mott')
OzE = 'a Sheila'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2016-09-23 11:29:36 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

PS I haven't included 'bird' because, to my knowledge, it is a Swinging Sixties term in the UK.

Example sentence(s):
  • Hussy 1 : a lewd or brazen woman 2 : *a saucy or mischievous girl* (eg. 'brazen hussy')

    Reference: http://en.bab.la/dictionary/swedish-english/fruntimmer
    Reference: http://https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/strumpet
Adrian MM. (X)
Local time: 18:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 23

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Agneta Pallinder: definitely not a hussy
22 mins
  -> I suspect you cannot have been in GB back in the 1950s and 60s when this, even on UK radio & TV, was an 'acceptable' nickname for a woman.
disagree  Paul Lambert: Too strong and the wrong connotation.
25 mins
  -> You cannot be from GB if you do not know how the connotation has changed over time.
neutral  Christopher Schröder: Did any of these have a "neutral" past?
26 mins
  -> A Sheila used to in Oz...
disagree  Anna Herbst: Oxford Dict. An impudent or immoral girl or woman. Origin: Late Middle English: contraction of housewife (the original sense); the current sense dates from the mid 17th century.
17 hrs
  -> Not as used in 1950s and 1960s Britain. Pity you, 'Down Under', don't want to run with the Sheila ball: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110829145905A...
disagree  Michael Ellis: Wrong register (and I was in UK in 50s and 60s!)
20 hrs
  -> Then you obviously missed the British radio & TV interviews with novelists Kingsley Amis, Anthony Burgess & Scottish psychiatrist-cum-poet Dr. R.D. Laing where they referred to female co-panellists as 'hussies'.
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
females


Explanation:
I was thinking back in the days of patriarchy, maybe women were occasionally referred to as females in some contexts in a heavily patronising and degrading way?

Tariq Khader (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:56
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Michael Ellis: Like 'women' this can also be non-derogatory.
10 hrs
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3 days 23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
madam


Explanation:
At least in UK English, I think this would work in a similar way. Although it does of course have other connotations as well. My EN-DA dictionary suggests "shrew" for "fruentimmer", but surely that's too old-fashioned?

Pernille Chapman
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:56
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in DanishDanish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Kim Kardasho (X): depends on how it is pronounced in Peckham - on the first or second syllable.
9 days
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