танцы с бубном

English translation: rain dance

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Russian term or phrase:танцы с бубном
English translation:rain dance
Entered by: boostrer

14:58 Jan 20, 2017
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / set phrase
Russian term or phrase: танцы с бубном
This is a set phrase. Most likely, it refers to shamanic practices.

In the colloquial Russian, it means a tedious activity that leads to success in some explainable or mystical way.

It can be applied to software, hardware or social relationships:
Whenever I have to use Trados Studio, I have to dance танцы с бубном.
The screenwriter has done a good job, but it took half a year to convince the producers. I am sick of these танцы с бубном.

The Multitran translation is "workaround". This translation is correct, but too "aseptic".

Thank you!
boostrer
United States
Local time: 02:56
rain dance
Explanation:
rain dance
1)a dance forming part of a ritual for invoking rain (as the ancient hula of Hawaii and the surviving corn dances of American Indians)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain dance
2)Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem, with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished. This especially applies to reseating printed circuit boards, reconnecting cables, etc. "I can't boot up the machine. We'll have to wait for Greg to do his rain dance."
http://slovar-vocab.com/english/jargon-vocab/rain-dance-6046...
Selected response from:

El oso
Russian Federation
Grading comment
Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4rain dance
El oso
4trial and error
Maria Kaverina
3 +1fiddle
Jack Doughty
3voodoo, juju, mojo
rns
3a song and dance
Sofia Gutkin
Summary of reference entries provided
tap dance
Turdimurod Rakhmanov

Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
trial and error


Explanation:
I am not native English as per your request, but I'm pretty sure that's what it is:)

Maria Kaverina
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:56
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Russian
Notes to answerer
Asker: Нет, не то. Во-первых слишком пресно, во-вторых пробы и ошибки отличаются от танцев с бубном: в случае проб и ошибок результат можно объяснить задним числом. А танцы с бубном - это мистический ритуал.

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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
rain dance


Explanation:
rain dance
1)a dance forming part of a ritual for invoking rain (as the ancient hula of Hawaii and the surviving corn dances of American Indians)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rain dance
2)Any ceremonial action taken to correct a hardware problem, with the expectation that nothing will be accomplished. This especially applies to reseating printed circuit boards, reconnecting cables, etc. "I can't boot up the machine. We'll have to wait for Greg to do his rain dance."
http://slovar-vocab.com/english/jargon-vocab/rain-dance-6046...

El oso
Russian Federation
Does not meet criteria
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thank you!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Очень похоже. Спасибо!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Maria Kaverina
12 mins
  -> Спасибо!

neutral  Igor Andreev: Красиво, спасибо, тоже буду знать. К сожалению, не могу в силу своей русскоязычности дать обоснованную оценку...
29 mins
  -> не страшно :)

agree  Tatiana Lammers
3 hrs
  ->  Спасибо!

agree  Anton Konashenok
8 hrs
  ->  Спасибо!

agree  rns: yep, just catching up -- got to read that slovar-vocab voodoo finally :) just kidding
15 hrs
  -> Jumping on the bandwagon, are you? ;-) Just kidding :) Thank you.
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46 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
fiddle


Explanation:
If you use some roundabout way to achieve a desired result, you can say it's a "fiddle".
Has the advantage of sounding vaguely musical.
In the Royal Air Force, an airframe or engine fitter doing something like this would call it the "fit it or f*** it" method, but I am not offering this as an answer.


Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:56
Meets criteria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 80

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  VASKON: ))) yes. And this is especially close to hard work to make a stupid thing functioning rather than doing uncomprehended things or just simulate competence.
2 hrs
  -> Thank you.
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23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
voodoo, juju, mojo


Explanation:
the underlying crypto voodoo
-- https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/201x/2014/04/18/Practical...

This means that if we want better search (and we do), we’d better not count on AI voodoo or linguistic juju or semantic mojo.
-- https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/07/30/OnSearchT...

mumbo jumbo -- if somу sort of spells ae implied

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Note added at 25 mins (2017-01-20 15:24:33 GMT)
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meaning `spells of some sort are implied`

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Note added at 41 mins (2017-01-20 15:40:41 GMT)
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перечитал контекст -- вспомнил о monkey business -- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monkey_business

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Note added at 57 mins (2017-01-20 15:56:22 GMT)
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Whenever I use Trados Studio, I have to do lots of monkey business. -- https://goo.gl/QBcqxC

The screenwriter has done a good job, but it took half a year to convince the producers. I am sick and tired of that monkey business -- https://goo.gl/WrPzkt

rns
Does not meet criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 36
Notes to answerer
Asker: Спасибо. Тепло, но не горячо.

Asker: Не, monkey job/business - это работа вроде наклеивания марок на сотню конвертов или хронической уборки дома.

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15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
a song and dance


Explanation:
This phrase doesn't quite equate to the Russian original, but one of the meanings is a long or elaborate explanation. I perceive this phrase to mean something lengthy and annoying, so it may be suitable in this case.


    Reference: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/song+and+dance
    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/song%20and%20dance
Sofia Gutkin
Australia
Local time: 17:56
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in RussianRussian
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Reference comments


32 mins
Reference: tap dance

Reference information:
tap dance
если перен. no beating around the bush here

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Note added at 52 mins (2017-01-20 15:50:55 GMT)
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beating/banging (shaman's) drum

Turdimurod Rakhmanov
Kyrgyzstan
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in UzbekUzbek, Native in KirghizKirghiz
PRO pts in category: 4
Note to reference poster
Asker: Я не уверен, что чечетка может использоваться в англ. речи в значении "танец с бубном". Что до второго варианта, то смысл его, насколько я понимаю, "говорить намеками", т.е. тоже не особенно подходит.


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Elena Doroshenko: Яркий пример метафоры tap dance - "Чечётка" адвоката Билли Флинна в мюзикле "Чикаго".
2 days 42 mins
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