alte Möhre

English translation: obsolete {old, decrepit} piece of equipment

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:alte Möhre
English translation:obsolete {old, decrepit} piece of equipment
Entered by: Jonathan Whiteley

22:32 Jan 22, 2007
German to English translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Customer feedback
German term or phrase: alte Möhre
This is from a consumer customer response to the manufacturer about the manufacturer's product, which is an extractor hood for home stoves.

jahrelang haben wir nach einem gescheiten Ersatz für unsere "alte Möhre" geucht.
Jonathan Whiteley
United States
Local time: 14:46
obsolete {old, decrepit} piece of equipment
Explanation:
Everywhere I have seen this used, this is what they are talking about. I wanted to say "old piece of junk" but this German seems to be used for working equipment, so junk does not get done.

Jalopy might work for a car, but as you are not talking about a car. Maybe this will give people a push in other directions
Selected response from:

jccantrell
United States
Local time: 13:46
Grading comment
Hello,

Thanks for the help. I used decrepit.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +6old banger
Francis Lee (X)
3 +2obsolete {old, decrepit} piece of equipment
jccantrell
3 +2(old) worn-out (exhaust) pipe* / the (our) good old pipe
Bernhard Sulzer
3old clunker
Annette Urbschat
2hunk a junk
Jonathan MacKerron


  

Answers


16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
obsolete {old, decrepit} piece of equipment


Explanation:
Everywhere I have seen this used, this is what they are talking about. I wanted to say "old piece of junk" but this German seems to be used for working equipment, so junk does not get done.

Jalopy might work for a car, but as you are not talking about a car. Maybe this will give people a push in other directions

jccantrell
United States
Local time: 13:46
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 24
Grading comment
Hello,

Thanks for the help. I used decrepit.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  vic voskuil: old piece :)
21 mins

agree  Ingeborg Gowans (X)
1 hr

neutral  Cilian O'Tuama: that's the idea alright, just not slang enough/sth. with "contraption"? - piece of cr*p/sh*t will hardly do
1 hr

neutral  Killian Kavanagh: Along the lines of what Cilian is suggesting - old dud / clinker
2 hrs
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +6
old banger


Explanation:
Yes, "old banger" usely applies to a car, but for me it works here too because the extractor hood is likewise a clapped out device that is almost part of the family. This is probably not what they'd say in N. America (also re. "clapped out"), but still ... Any more info on context?

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Note added at 8 hrs (2007-01-23 06:47:33 GMT)
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about typewriters:

As I was restoring this machine and tweaking it up for the website, I compared this old banger to my own personal Streamliner, and it's truly almost as nice as that one.
http://mrtypewriter.tripod.com/remingtonstreamliner.htm

Francis Lee (X)
Local time: 21:46
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 80

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Steven Sidore: 'old beater' would be the US equivalent
15 mins
  -> A-haaa

agree  Karin Seelhof: sounds good
1 hr

agree  Ken Cox: and with Steven
2 hrs

agree  Nicole Schnell: With Steffen. "old junker" would work, too.//How embarrassing... Sorry, Steven!!
3 hrs
  -> Wow, the omnipresent Steffen W. works in mysterious ways ...

agree  mill2
5 hrs

agree  Julia Lipeles: with Steven
9 hrs
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9 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
hunk a junk


Explanation:
perhaps too casual?

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Note added at 9 hrs (2007-01-23 08:14:25 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

rust bucket

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 76
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
(old) worn-out (exhaust) pipe* / the (our) good old pipe


Explanation:
a few more (some of them angrier) variations showing "it was really time for that piece of ... to go."

* if its the hood and the pipe - and Möhre (=carrot) seems to be referring to the exhaust pipe. Without a hood, it would just be "pipe" or "stove pipe."

the (our) good old pipe (as in: we did like it/did not hate it but it had to go anyway)

or:
good-for-nothing (piece of an) exhaust pipe (exhaust hood)
sorry excuse for an exhaust pipe
worn-out piece of a pipe
old, decrepit pipe
worn-out stove hood (exhaust hood)
sorry piece of equipment/pipe
no-good-piece of junk/ pipe


http://www.searoom.com/veleda/logsec01/stove.htm
worn out twenty-three year old Kenyon stove

http://language.bin.org/ref/dict/?t=sorry
good-for-nothing goldbrick"; "the car was a no-good piece of junk" [syn: good-for-nothing, good-for-naught, meritless, no-account, no-count, no-good] ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extractor_hood
exhaust hood, stove hood, ...

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Note added at 1 day10 hrs (2007-01-24 08:47:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

if it's ... (corr.)

Bernhard Sulzer
United States
Local time: 16:46
Works in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 52

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  casper (X): Admirable thesaurusic options, I say!
3 hrs
  -> thank you, Chetan!

agree  Paul Cohen: ...with (our old) "sorry excuse for a..." That's the kind of colloquial expression that would convey the idea to readers in the US. KudoZ, Bernhard!
13 hrs
  -> thanks a lot, Paul!
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1 day 14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
old clunker


Explanation:
Here in Vermont we call those items 'old clunker'....

Annette Urbschat
Local time: 16:46
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 3
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