Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Italian term or phrase:
a zampe in avanti
English translation:
over his own dead body
Added to glossary by
Bea Szirti
Dec 9, 2007 12:23
16 yrs ago
Italian term
Native in: Hungarian 
Works in: English to Hungarian, Italian to Hungarian, Hungarian to Italian, and 1 more.
a zampe in avanti
Italian to English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Ciao!
Potreste aiutarmi a capire questo: "... si era giurato che sarebbe entrato in un ambulatorio solo a zampe in avanti.
É dal romanzo "Come Dio comanda" di Ammaniti.
tutto il Prologo contenente questa frase si trova a:
http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:AZyMet9GxCEJ:www.niccol...
Grazie!
Potreste aiutarmi a capire questo: "... si era giurato che sarebbe entrato in un ambulatorio solo a zampe in avanti.
É dal romanzo "Come Dio comanda" di Ammaniti.
tutto il Prologo contenente questa frase si trova a:
http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:AZyMet9GxCEJ:www.niccol...
Grazie!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +6 | over his own dead body |
Paul O'Brien
|
| 4 +1 | feet first |
David Russi
|
| 4 | paws foremost |
Irina Mestergazi
|
| 3 | once he'd popped his clogs / after biting the dust / going belly up |
irenef
|
Proposed translations
+6
12 mins
Paul O'Brien
Argentina
Argentina
Native in English
Argentina
Legal and environment specialist, PhD
Native in: English 
Works in: Italian to English, Spanish to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
86
Selected
over his own dead body
abbiamo un detto in inglese secondo il quale qualcuno sarà in grado di fare qualcosa solo previo la tua morte ("over my dead body!"). il mio suggerimento per la traduzione dell'espressione non è fedelissimo all'originale, ma a) dice una cosa che si direbbe in inglese a b) mantiene l'ironnia della frase data.
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Note added at 1 hr (2007-12-09 13:42:12 GMT)
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english language joke which also plays on the death motif:
"it's a good job your father isn't alive, cos if he knew what you were up to it would kill him".
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Note added at 1 hr (2007-12-09 13:42:12 GMT)
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english language joke which also plays on the death motif:
"it's a good job your father isn't alive, cos if he knew what you were up to it would kill him".
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jim Tucker (X)
: This is good because "feet first" with "entrare" is problematic: you can "go (or 'jump') into something feet first" - but then it has the meaning "without forethought" rather than "dead"; here at least you still have some play.
6 mins
|
| agree |
forli
: in some orthodox christian tradition, the dead are carried into church feet first. Although David has given a literal translation this renders the meaning better, imho.
11 mins
|
| agree |
la_m (X)
: love it!
57 mins
|
| agree |
Sarah Jane Webb
: nice one Paul :D
1 hr
|
| agree |
Rachel Fell
: rather like "she'd be late for her own funeral" ;-)
4 hrs
|
| agree |
Desiree Bonfiglio
23 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you!!!"
5 mins
Irina Mestergazi
Italy
Italy
Native in Italian
Works in field
Italy
Over 15 Y expertise + reasonable prices
Native in: Russian , Italian
Works in: English to Italian, Italian to English, English to Russian, and 6 more.
paws foremost
o 'paws-first'... This actually means "dead" and is mostly used with 'feet', not 'paws' but I think the author's idea about paws should be preserved
+1
6 mins
David Russi
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
30+ years, stopped counting...
Native in: English , Spanish
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish to English
Related KudoZ points
:
36
feet first
dead...
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jim Tucker (X)
: this would normally be fine, and may still work well here - but see also my comment on Pauley's suggestion
14 mins
|
43 mins
once he'd popped his clogs / after biting the dust / going belly up
"popping one's clogs" recalls the image of feet...
to go "belly up" evokes the image of dead fish floating in water, though it is commonly used when talking about businesses going bust. Still, you might want to use it to give your sentence a similar flavour to the original.
to go "belly up" evokes the image of dead fish floating in water, though it is commonly used when talking about businesses going bust. Still, you might want to use it to give your sentence a similar flavour to the original.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
WendellR
: none of these work with enter and "popped his clogs" is so regional that it creates problems in comprehension that aren't present in the original.
27 mins
|
Discussion