maricón

English translation: poof

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Spanish term or phrase:	maricón
English translation:	poof
Entered by:	Charles Davis

07:59 Dec 23, 2011

Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Cinema, Film, TV, Drama

Spanish term or phrase: maricón

This is from a film script written by a Spanish director. These lines are from twp middle-aged male concentration camp commanders talking about the prisoners being sent to their respective camps during WWII. I need a contemporaneous BE term.

Officer A: ¡Por eso nos están mandando a todos esos *maricones* del cine y el teatro!

Officer B: ¡Sin embargo a mí, solo me envían judíos sucios y vulgares, gitanos, putas y *maricones*…!

TIA

Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales KudoZ activity Questions: 276 (9 open) (1 without valid answers) (29 closed without grading) Answers: 259
Local time: 05:24

poof

Explanation:
I am completely sure that "faggot" was not current slang in British English in the 1940s. Of course it was a word British people understood, mostly because of films, and people who wanted to sound American might have used it but it would not have been the natural thing to say. When I was growing up, some 20 years later, "faggot" was still most definitely an Americanism. Dictionaries still list it to this day as North American usage, and "faggot" of "fag" were (and to a limited extent still are) the subject of jokes in Britain about meat faggots, bundles of sticks and cigarettes.

I am quite sure that the first choice in that period for referring to an arty-farty (implicitly effeminate) queer in the world of film and TV (from the point of view of conventional British males) would have been "poof". That was the playground term in the 60s. "Fairy" was used quite a lot too. "Poof" was very much a British rather than an American term, and I think Americans probably became away of it through Monty Python, where it was used quite a lot (late 60s, reflecting usage back then).

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-12-23 10:00:38 GMT)
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"When masculinity and femininity were understood as diametrical opposites, the obvious quean's or middle-class man's transgression of working-class masculinities was easily reduced under the stigmatic category of "effeminacy". "Poof"—or the rhyming slang equivalent "iron" (from "iron hoof")—"Nancy boy", "sissy", "Mary-Ann", or "twank" positioned the queer as a lesser—womanlike— man."
Matt Houlbrook, Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957, p. 179
http://books.google.es/books?id=wyV9ejoQRS4C&pg=PA179&lpg=PA...

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Note added at 4 hrs (2011-12-23 12:47:27 GMT)
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Yes, I think it would make sense to use a different word, and "queers" would fit well in Officer B's speech. The distinction between artistic "poofs/poofters" and dirty "queers" would sound convincing to me.

Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 05:24

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

faggot

Lisa McCarthy

4 +4

poof

Charles Davis

queen, fruit, fag

marcelo bajo

3 +1

queer

Neil Ashby

bastards

Thayenga

fairy/pansy/queer/nancy boy

Marian Vieyra

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

21 mins confidence:

queen, fruit, fag

Explanation:
Im sure they will use a slang term so......... In One of the Boys: Homosexuality in the Military During World War II author Paul Jackson writes "a number of words that originally referred to prostitutes came to be applied to effeminate or queer men - "queen, punk, gay, faggot, fairy, and fruit."

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_(slang)

marcelo bajo
United States
Local time: 20:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Spanish

6 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

faggot

Explanation:
-

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Note added at 7 mins (2011-12-23 08:07:47 GMT)
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or "queers/fags"

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Note added at 9 mins (2011-12-23 08:09:41 GMT)
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#
The Raving Queen: Girls, A Gathering Of New York Faggots Mourn ...
theravingqueen.blogspot.com/.../girls-gathering-of-new-york-faggots...Cached
5 Jul 2011 – Now, darlings, I know, I should have (and, indeed could have) substituted "Theater Queens" for "Faggots," but there is a method to my madness, ...

Urban Dictionary: and [faggier]
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=and [faggier]
... homo with the fauxhawk and skinny jeans wouldnt let me sneak into the back of the AMC theatres" ... Beware; the more you call them fags, the faggier they get. ...

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Note added at 12 mins (2011-12-23 08:12:41 GMT)
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There's also a previous Proz entry for 'maricón'

http://www.proz.com/kudoz/4637060#10341046

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Note added at 1 hr (2011-12-23 09:21:35 GMT)
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Another option might be 'poofter' or 'poof' - I think those terms have been around for quite a while.

Lisa McCarthy
Spain
Local time: 05:24
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 52

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

agree

Laurel Clausen

6 mins

-> Thanks, Laurel :)

agree

Jack Doughty: Faggot is US English, queer is UK English (generally speaking, though there's some overlap)

16 mins

-> Thanks, Jack - athough I think 'faggot' is very common in the UK too.

agree

Noni Gilbert Riley: Spot on

23 mins

-> Thanks, Noni :)

agree

Evans (X): I think it has the ring of the right era in UK English.

1 hr

-> Thanks, Gilla :)

neutral

DLyons: I agree with Charles here. It would another 20 years before it would be really used..

1 hr

neutral

David Ronder: Yes, not common in UK back then

2 hrs

neutral

Marian Vieyra: Not for UK.

1 day 6 hrs

-> No need to jump on the bandwagon. It is a commonly-used term in the UK, but maybe not that far back, which is why I posted the alternative 'poof/poofter' in my later note.

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

queer

Explanation:
for theatrical types, the term queer is often used....

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-12-23 11:04:05 GMT)
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A queen, is used for men who cross-dress (not necessarily gay, nor transvestite but like to dress up in drag)

Neil Ashby
Spain
Local time: 05:24
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

poof

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 05:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 99

Grading comment

Selected automatically based on peer agreement.

Notes to answerer

Asker: You've addressed my concern, and I am convinced:-) Thank you.

Asker: Another question, then. Does is make sense to use "poof" (or "poofter") in the first quote I give, and "queer" in the second? The two speakers are comparing the "quality" of their prisoners, and it seems they consider the artistic homosexuals to be of a higher category than the ordinary ones arriving with the dirty Jews, whores, etc. Would that connotation come through with the use of the two different terms?

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

agree

DLyons: Or "poofter" - cf the Londoner J.E. Brookes's poem "Thermopylae 1941".

15 mins

-> Yes, "poofter" too. I always associated the form "poofter" with Australians, probably because of the Monty Python sketch where they were all called Bruce and rule 1 was "no poofters". Thanks, DLyons, and Happy Christmas :)

agree

David Ronder: or poofter or queer; faggot as you say was an Americanism (and I'm not sure it would have been used in films, either)/Happy Christmas to you :)

16 mins

-> No, probably not used much in 30s-40s films, as you say! Thanks, David, and Happy Christmas :)

agree

Christine Walsh: Probably what my father would have said - just the right generation.

8 hrs

-> Thanks, Christine. Happy Christmas! :)

agree

Robert Forstag: "Poof" or "poofter" (given the request for a specifically UK term)

8 hrs

-> Thanks, Robert, and Happy Christmas :)

1 day 16 mins confidence:

bastards

Explanation:
Based on the tone of the script, neither of the officers is using a "polite" term, thus "bastards" fits into the context.

Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 05:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 12

1 day 6 hrs confidence:

fairy/pansy/queer/nancy boy

Explanation:
Given the era, I think one of the above would be more likely.

Marian Vieyra
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:24
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English

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