| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4] > | Off topic: The word you hate the most Thread poster: Viktoria Gimbe
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CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 22:51
French to English
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| all those word like... | Jan 19, 2008 |
issue, methodology (what's wrong with good old "methods"?) and all the other "ologies" that keep on emerging unrelentingly.
Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliqué, as the French say - which reminds me "problématique" is another pet hate
[Edited at 2008-01-19 15:53]
| | | | Juliana Brown 
Israel
Local time: 16:51
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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| Natural in Spanish | Jan 19, 2008 |
because in the past decade, every time we go to Argentina, every new product is called 'natural' (and 'artesanal') even when it is obviously not. Or how about 'cuero ecológico', which just means 'fake leather'...:P.
In Hebrew, I am SICK AND TIRED of people using English words when there are eperfectly good Hebrew ones, like 'stress' instead of 'lachatz'.
| | | | | Imprecision. | Jan 19, 2008 |
"Imprecision" is, in fact, a word that I love and use frequently when I'm teaching translation. Most of the words or phrases that I hate, as well as many of those my colleagues have mentioned above, are imprecise. Some are virtually meaningless! ("Natural" is a very good example of this.)
Spanish: "gestionar." It's a verb meaning "do something for the purpose of accomplishing some purpose." It can be "fill out a form," "negoti... See more "Imprecision" is, in fact, a word that I love and use frequently when I'm teaching translation. Most of the words or phrases that I hate, as well as many of those my colleagues have mentioned above, are imprecise. Some are virtually meaningless! ("Natural" is a very good example of this.)
Spanish: "gestionar." It's a verb meaning "do something for the purpose of accomplishing some purpose." It can be "fill out a form," "negotiate," "file a lawsuit," "make a bunch of phone calls," "push papers around on your desk to fool the boss or client into thinking that you're doing something"... you get the idea. It's very imprecise.
English: "empower." What does this actually mean, if anything? We want to empower women, empower minorities, empower any "underdog." That's fine, but what, specifically, do we mean? How do I know when I've been "empowered"?
I could give many more examples, but what they have in common is imprecision. That fits both Viktoria's definition of her thread and the secondary one that she is allowing: I hate these words in their own right, because they are imprecise; and because they are imprecise, I hate having to translate them. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Viktoria Gimbe
Canada
Local time: 16:51
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER | This post takes the cake | Jan 19, 2008 |
Stéphanie Soudais wrote:
I hate these kind of new French words - often derived from English - finishing with "-bilité" such as jouabilité (playability) implémentabilité, employabilité, adaptabilité, consommabilité and so on. I hate the sound of them and usually their meanings as well
[Edited at 2008-01-19 12:16]
Thanks, Stéphanie, for pointing this out. Just reading your post made me shiver all over! Oh, the disgust! Blech!
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Viktoria Gimbe
Canada
Local time: 16:51
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER | Have I got a new word to hate for you! | Jan 19, 2008 |
Juliana Starkman wrote:
ery time we go to Argentina, every new product is called 'natural' (and 'artesanal') even when it is obviously not. Or how about 'cuero ecológico', which just means 'fake leather'...:P.
[/quote]
I have a new word for you that you will love to hate: greenwashing.
The meaning is simple: to use environmental arguments to sell you something that will eventually poison you and your environment, but that, as a consumer, you will feel really good wasting all your money on. The -washing part comes from the word brainwashing.
I actually love that word - only goes to show how stupid consumers are. Erm... that would of course include me, like it or not...
| | | | | Have you been empowered? | Jan 19, 2008 |
JaneTranslates wrote:
English: "empower." What does this actually mean, if anything? We want to empower women, empower minorities, empower any "underdog." That's fine, but what, specifically, do we mean? How do I know when I've been "empowered"?
When you "manage" your life in a "community-based environment" so you can help "sustaining the efforts of stakeholders" to enforce the "best practices".
Since I translate a lot for government's agencies and the sort, that's the kind of sexy stuff I get two or three times a week.
| | | | | Greenwashing | Jan 19, 2008 |
You get the gold medal here Viktoria
| | | | Juliana Brown
Israel
Local time: 16:51
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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| No, this is ok | Jan 19, 2008 |
Viktoria Gimbe wrote:
I have a new word for you that you will love to hate: greenwashing.
Because at least it disputes all the 'natural' arguments. I'd also add 'organic' to my list (although I admit to buying a lot of organically farmed items), I refuse to accept that there is a need for organic chocolate, for example...
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Juliana Brown
Israel
Local time: 16:51
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
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| I almost forgot... | Jan 19, 2008 |
the newest thing I've noticed in shops here, is that when paying with a credit card, the clerk says "Can you autograph this?". Have people forgotten the work 'sign'? Have they mistaken me for Britney Spears?
| | | | Amy Duncan (X)
Brazil
Local time: 17:51
Portuguese to English
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| My pet peeve words | Jan 19, 2008 |
Proactive...what the heck is that supposed to mean? What's wrong with just "active"?
Also agree about Afroamerican...what does that make me, a Scottish-Englishamerican? Huh?
Amy
| | | | Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 16:51
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
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| Politically correct (as currently used) | Jan 19, 2008 |
It originally meant making sure your words and actions were consistent with your ideals. With that meaning, it was a wonderful term.
Then it came to mean some sort of real or imagined liberal censorship of right-wing speech.
Now it basically means "anything I personally disagree with." It has become a rhetorical wave of the hand that supposedly absolves the speaker from having to say why she or he disapproves of something.
[Edited at 2008-01-20 20:02]
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I would go with the organic word, nowadays so popular in Britain. In fact denotes a brand I would go with the organic word, nowadays so popular in Britain. In fact denotes a brand of each supermarket that the product of it is supposed to be of better quality and of course higher price. But in the end all food and nourishment products are organic.
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Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 16:51
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
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| In defense of annoying words | Jan 20, 2008 |
Amy Duncan wrote:
Proactive...what the heck is that supposed to mean? What's wrong with just "active"?
The two words mean completely different things. Proactive refers to an action performed in advance to stop a potential problem from occurring.
Also agree about Afroamerican...what does that make me, a Scottish-Englishamerican? Huh?
Amy
"Afroamerican"? I don't think I've heard that word in about twenty years.
Maybe this is a generational thing. When "Afroamerican" and the more recent "African-American" came into use, terms like "Scottish-American," "Chinese-American," "Mexican-American," "Irish-American," and "Russian-American" were in very wide use in the U.S.
When I was a kid, there was a definite consciousness that we were a "nation of immigrants" and pretty much everyone I knew identified culturally, to some degree, with their relatives who had immigrated to the U.S. In fact, those relatives were often still alive, and the music and foods of their original country were a source of identity for the family. People belonged to Russian-American community centers, Polish-American civic associations, Italian-American social clubs, etc. Often these organizations had been formed in response to hostility toward those groups in mainstream clubs and organizations.
Every year in Philadelphia, one of the more popular attractions in the New Year's Day Parade is still the performance of the Polish-American String Band (which is no longer all Polish-American but retains the name out of tradition).
So the rise of "Afro-American" and "African-American" as replacements for terms like "Negro" (the polite term when I was a kid in the mid '60s) and "black" was about using the same terminology for everyone, regardless of race. Seems reasonable to me.
The thing is, as many families move further from our immigrant roots, that sort of hyphenate terminology is less common. And in this context, "African-American" stands out more than it did before.
[Edited at 2008-01-20 03:13]
| | | | Viktoria Gimbe
Canada
Local time: 16:51
English to French
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TOPIC STARTER | I hope they don't go any further with the idea... | Jan 20, 2008 |
Steven Capsuto wrote:
Maybe this is a generational thing. When "Afroamerican" and the more recent "African-American" came into use, terms like "Scottish-American," "Chinese-American," "Mexican-American," "Irish-American," and "Russian-American" were in very wide use in the U.S.
That would make me a Hungaro-Israelo-Germanic-French-Canadian... And there actually are people who are in a much more complicated situation than that... and increasingly so. Why can't they just call them Americans? Why do they have to make that difference?
I hate being simply labelled a French Canadian already... what's next? And that Afroamerican or African-American, if it is so important to tell us the colour of his skin, might as well be called a Congolese, or an Ethiopian, or a Camerounese - but I guess nobody cares what country they are from as long as they know the person is black. So, why not just call them black? Why should the pointing of fingers at races be wrapped up in cotton wool like that? What does it matter anyway? It's not like they are not all human beings anyway, and therefore the same...
| | | | Steven Capsuto
United States
Local time: 16:51
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
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Kristian Madar wrote:
I would go with the organic word, nowadays so popular in Britain. In fact denotes a brand I would go with the organic word, nowadays so popular in Britain.
Oh my. Has "biological" passed out of vogue in the UK already? It used to be such foods were "biological" in Britain and "organic" in the U.S.
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