we got down to hard pan

Spanish translation: a la hora de la verdad

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:we got down to hard pan
Spanish translation:a la hora de la verdad
Entered by: Ma.Elena Carrión de Medina

17:17 Aug 23, 2019
English to Spanish translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - History / Government/politics
English term or phrase: we got down to hard pan
Hello.
I´d appreciate your help.
This is a history book from the time of President Roosevelt (USA).

Roosevelt understood from the start that leadership had to be earned; it was not something to be granted by rank or title. The frontiersmen who made up the majority of the regiment were individualists, possessed of a disparaging attitude toward entitlement and hierarchy. As he had learned on the cattle drives in the Dakotas, being the one who issues orders and pays wages was not sufficient to becoming a bona fide boss; he had to lead by sharing his life with the men, by his own willingness to do anything he asked them to do, by never asking them to suffer anything he wouldn’t suffer first. “When we got down to hard pan, we all, officers and men, fared exactly alike as regards both shelter and food,” Roosevelt later wrote.
Grumbling ceased “when all alike slept out in the open.” The crash training course which provided a formidable learning experience for Roosevelt and his men was not without mistakes on his part.

Thank you very much.
Ma.Elena Carrión de Medina
Ecuador
Local time: 11:32
a la hora de la verdad
Explanation:
Selected response from:

Eugenia Martin
Spain
Local time: 17:32
Grading comment
Thank you!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3a la hora de la verdad
Eugenia Martin
4 +2cuando nos encontramos en duras condiciones
Enrique Soria
3 +3cuando nos enfrentamos a la cruda realidad
JohnMcDove
3 +2(Cuando) nos centrábamos en lo básico/las cosas esenciales
Toni Castano
4Cuando afrontamos situaciones extremas
InesV
3cuando nos topamos con las peores dificultades
Juan Arturo Blackmore Zerón
3a la hora de la acción
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Summary of reference entries provided
En los momentos decisivos
Chema Nieto Castañón

  

Answers


17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
cuando nos encontramos en duras condiciones


Explanation:
figurative language for difficult conditions

Enrique Soria
Mexico
Local time: 10:32
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Paulo Gasques
9 mins
  -> Gracias.

agree  Claudia Botero
47 mins
  -> Gracias.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

23 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
cuando nos topamos con las peores dificultades


Explanation:
Cuando nos topamos con las peores dificultades.

Cuando llegamos a lo más bajo/duro

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardpan

Juan Arturo Blackmore Zerón
Mexico
Local time: 11:32
Works in field
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
a la hora de la verdad


Explanation:


Eugenia Martin
Spain
Local time: 17:32
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Chema Nieto Castañón: También
43 mins
  -> Gracias, Chema

agree  Mónica Algazi
1 day 6 hrs
  -> Gracias.

agree  Ingrid Schulz
1 day 14 hrs
  -> Gracias.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
a la hora de la acción


Explanation:
Estoy de acuerdo con las interpretaciones de todos los compañeros, pero en este contexto concreto de tipo militar creo que "acción" encaja muy bien.

Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Spain
Local time: 17:32
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 232
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
cuando nos enfrentamos a la cruda realidad


Explanation:
... pisando de pies en tierra...

https://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/hardpan

the fundamental or basic aspect of anything; solid foundation; underlying reality:

En especial "the underlying reality", pero la "cruda realidad", "la realidad desnuda" en la que capitanes y soldados rasos tienen que dormir al raso, sin distinción de rango...

Mi padre no luchó en la Guerra Civil Española como parte de "la quinta del biberón", sino como parte de "la quinta del chupete"... A sus 16 añitos luchó por la República en el 39, y luego tuvo que hacer 3 años de mili con el caudillo victorioso...

Tuvo que enfrentar la realidad de seguir marchando sin comer durante días, y esas épocas duras que le dejan a uno con un amargo recuerdo, y la alegría de haberlas sobrevivido...

No hay nada como haber tenido un padre equivalente a un "Abuelo Cebolleta"... ;-)

Saludos cordiales.

JohnMcDove
United States
Local time: 09:32
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 24

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Chema Nieto Castañón: Me gusta. Igual que tus historias del "abuelo" cebolleta ;)
1 day 14 hrs
  -> Gracias, Chema. Buen domingo. (Mi padre se marchó antes de acabar su novela de "La quinta del chupete"... y la verdad es que no hemos tenido mucho tiempo de revisar todos sus papeles y ordenadores. Habrá historias ahí que no creo que lleguen a publicarse

agree  Victoria Frazier: Como decimos en México, "o todos coludos, o todos rabones". Saluditos, John!
6 days

agree  Iris María Gabás Blanco
11 days
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

56 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
(Cuando) nos centrábamos en lo básico/las cosas esenciales


Explanation:
I think this is pure US-American slang. My interpretation of the query term is different to those already posted. I think F.D. Roosevelt was using the phrasal verb “get down” together with “hard-pan” in a figurative sense expression to mean “when it came to the basic/essential/fundamental things,” “we all, officers and men, fared (…)”.

Please see here:
https://greensdictofslang.com/entry/gpk573y
hard-pan n.
[SE hardpan, hard compacted soil or subsoil]
the most basic part of something; thus get down to hard-pan, to get down to basics, to come down to fundamentals.



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 hrs (2019-08-24 08:09:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I have to correct something important: The quote from your book is not from F.D. Roosevelt, but from Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (1858-1919). He was describing his experiences in Cuba with the so-called Rough Riders, the nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, a regiment raised in 1898 to intervene in the Spanish–American War in Cuba.
My interpretation of the expression remains exactly the same though, but I apologize for this confusion.

Toni Castano
Spain
Local time: 17:32
Works in field
Native speaker of: Spanish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Chema Nieto Castañón: Sí, creo que esa es la idea; al encarar lo fundamental. Menos literalmente, "en los momentos decisivos ...
1 hr
  -> Gracias, Chema.

agree  Mónica Algazi
1 day 6 hrs
  -> Gracias, Mónica.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Cuando afrontamos situaciones extremas


Explanation:
(...de alimento y cobijo...) infiero yo, por sus propias palabras en su "Autobiografía" cuyo enlace adjunto.
Un saludo.


    Reference: http://https://books.google.es/books?id=o_VRDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19...
InesV
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 4
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)




Reference comments


2 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: En los momentos decisivos

Reference information:
The Hard Pan of the Matter Junior Clerk to a Big Office—The Book keeper. A Balance Sheet of Advantages and Disadvantages.
Here you are, 16 years old, just from school, and ready to start out for yourself. Have you ever got down to hard pan? What are you going to do next? Going into business—going to work? What comes first? The hard pan of the matter is just here—what can you do?
Read, write, and do short sums. Reading! No money in that unless you mean to be a public reader, and that means a beautiful voice and years of training and study. Writing and arithmetic! Why, everybody can do that There isnt a cent in such things. Then what was the use of learning these things? Because they are the hard pan of every art, trade, business and profession, and while they will not bring wages, you cannot get good wages without them.
https://newspapers.library.in.gov/cgi-bin/indiana?a=d&d=SEM1...
[Página 2]

Hard pan, fig., el quid, lo fundamental, el meollo; ¿alguna vez te has enfrentado al / has abordado el meollo de la cuestión?

When we got down to hard pan; en los momentos decisivos; a la hora de la verdad. Más literalmente, al encarar lo fundamental.


Chema Nieto Castañón
Spain
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Mónica Algazi
1 day 16 hrs
  -> Muchas gracias, Mónica ;)
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search