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выкупить у во-о-он того шкафа его долю
жить на запятках.
Aug 30, 2012 00:35
11 yrs ago
Russian term

торчать, как пешка на проходе

Russian to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature An expression?
Konstantin is standing in the doorway arguing with the family inside. The master of the house says:

– Ты, Костик, проходи, – велел отец,– не торчи, как пешка на проходе.

Anyone have an equivalent for this in English? "Don't just stand there like a ____, come in."

I need something at least vaguely phallic (a post? a stick in the mud?) because this line comes soon thereafter:

Огрызнувшись, что "хорошо, хоть не в проходе", [Костя] послушно вошёл в холл
Proposed translations (English)
3 +1 sphinx / sphincter
4 +4 like a spare prick at a wedding
3 eyesore vs. ass sore

Proposed translations

+1
3 hrs
Selected

sphinx / sphincter

"Don't just stand there looking like a sphinx"

"Better sphinx than sphincter"

It's not ideal, but I'm trying.
Peer comment(s):
agree Mikhail Kropotov : Simply great!
1 day 19 hrs
Thanks, Misha!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you! A nice fit (No double-entendre intended)"
+4
7 hrs

like a spare prick at a wedding

Don't just stand there like a spare prick at a wedding.
Note from asker:
Excellent suggestion! Just a little out of character and didn't leave me anywhere to go with the wordplay further on.
Peer comment(s):
agree Alexandra Schneeuhr : Oh my, that's hilarious! ))
2 hrs
Тhank you. It's an expression I picked up in the RAF many years ago.
agree RitaZ : Nice one, Jack!
8 hrs
Thank you.
agree Laura Friend : That's apt. Incidentally, this phrase can be heard in the U.S., too. "Polite" would be stretching it!
12 hrs
Thank you. It's always useful to know phrases for use in polite conversation in another country.
agree cyhul
1 day 2 hrs
Thank you.
Something went wrong...
17 mins

eyesore vs. ass sore

Пешка на проходе is a chess term. It refers to the situation when a pawn has advanced from the 2nd to the 4th rank and can be immediately taken en passante by an opponent's pawn. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant

Figuratively, I would take it to mean 'vulnerable.' But here I assume the master of the house uses it to mean 'eyesore.'

В проходе, on the other hand, means in the rectum. It's a play on words.

Therefore, I suggest a play on words with the word 'sore.' Something like eyesore - ass sore. I'm going to think some more about it so it comes out like a real pun.

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Note added at 1 дн14 час (2012-08-31 15:18:10 GMT) Post-grading
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You know, I'm amazed at how persistently you ignore my explanations and answers to your questions. Am I not being helpful at all?

It's clear you didn't have a clear idea of what the Russian expression meant. Granted, I didn't come up with a workable solution for your translation, but I tried to help.

If you don't need this kind of help, please let me know so I don't waste my time.

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Note added at 1 дн22 час (2012-08-31 22:54:44 GMT) Post-grading
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Thanks for your note.
Note from asker:
Mikhail-- <br><br> I always have an impossible time deciding how to assign Kudoz points, and would rather sprinkle them across several answers than have to choose just one. Particularly when every answer beyond the first is informed/inspired by those that came before it, and when every good, original answer makes a valuable contribution towards improving our understanding of a term. In my opinion, <u>no one who offers a good, original answer could ever be said to be 'wasting their time'</u>. In a perfect Proz, I would be able to acknowledge all the contributions that are as good as yours, Mark's, and Jack's were. <br> I submit that the Kudoz system really is far too crude to do any justice to the collective problem-solving process. <br> <br> I liked all three of the answers that were proposed. All three helped me towards developing a solution to this translation 'problem', and I'm sorry that I didn't take the time to personally acknowledge your contribution. That was simply an oversight on my part. And I certainly regret that I've left you with the impression that I have been slighting you on an ongoing basis. <br> <br> If I were to have interpreted the Kudoz wording literally--"choose which answer you found most helpful"--I would have had something like a three-way tie. The only way I could see to breaking this tie was to engage the other criteria that I use to evaluate a proposed translation. <br> <br> I certainly appreciated the research you put into your answer, and, if anything, I feel like you were moving in the same direction as I was before I posted the question to Proz. I, too, had picked up the chess reference, and, like you, I wasn't sure what to do with it (I still don't know). <br> <br> What I appreciated about Mark's solution, and what put his answer over the top, is that he took the translation in an unexpected direction, which opened up the realm of possibilities for me. His suggestion also happened to match the respective personalities of my characters-- the master of the house is an elderly, patrician pseudoscholarly dillettante, while the пешка in question is an obtuse, vulgar, and callously intellectual wannabe writer ex-Soviet Afghanistan War vet. And, last but not least, Mark's suggestion also pleased me linguistically. So my sending the points his way was a means of acknowledging that ultimately I preferred his proposal to the other two. <br> <br> It's hard to know what do with Mark. He's a resourceful, creative writer, so his answers often have such an interesting ring that I am automatically drawn to them. Then I see his Kudoz point total and think, man, he doesn't need any more points... but to not select his answer when it's the one I found most satisfying felt like I was verging on dishonesty.
If you don't mind, I'm going to post my response to you to the term discussion. This seems important.
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