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in einem Engpass draufhalten

English translation: to put the pedal to the metal / plough on

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:draufhalten
English translation:to put the pedal to the metal / plough on
Entered by: PoveyTrans (X)

22:16 Mar 26, 2008
German to English translations [PRO]
Slang / Online questionnaire about attitudes to different cars
German term or phrase: in einem Engpass draufhalten
An extract from an online questionnaire about attitudes to drivers of different vehicles. This one is pretty ungrammatical...so obviously not correcting errors.

Otto aus Osnabrück: alle audi fahrer die ich kenn sind eigentlich eher zurück haltend und sind nicht so eingebildet wie bmw oder mercedes,
denn heutzutage brauchen die sich nicht mehr zu verstecken.
mercedes,ach ja ,das sind die,für die ein reissverschluss verfahren ein fremdwort ist,das sind die, die in einem **engpass draufhalten**

Thanks for any ideas.

Simon
PoveyTrans (X)
Local time: 12:45
put the pedal to the metal when things get tight
Explanation:
In other words, Mercedes drivers tend to accelerate rather than slow down when traffic merges.




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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-03-27 00:30:17 GMT)
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On second thought, the German doesn't say that they accelerate (although, as I wrote above, there is a tendency to hit the accelerator in situations like this). What they do is "plow ahead" when traffic merges, when things get tight, etc.

"The ride was wild because the driver ***plowed ahead*** at 50km/hr despite the winding, narrow roads on the ledge of the mountain."
http://www.brettdavenport.com/blogs/2006/august/06.8.2006.ht...

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-03-27 00:48:12 GMT)
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Or, if you want to underscore their aggressive driving style, "they muscle their way in"

"He came out ahead of Trulli but the Toyota driver muscled his way past at the hairpins to take seventh."
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/06/17/united-states-grand-pr...
Selected response from:

Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 10:45
Grading comment
Thanks Paul.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +5put the pedal to the metal when things get tight
Paul Cohen
3keep pushing on ...
Allesklar
3keep their foot down in a bottleneck
Andrea Winzer


Discussion entries: 8





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
keep pushing on ...


Explanation:
...who keep pushing on when they see a bottleneck...

can mean the foot on the accelerator as suggested above or just general pushiness

Allesklar
Australia
Local time: 21:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: German
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +5
put the pedal to the metal when things get tight


Explanation:
In other words, Mercedes drivers tend to accelerate rather than slow down when traffic merges.




--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2008-03-27 00:30:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

On second thought, the German doesn't say that they accelerate (although, as I wrote above, there is a tendency to hit the accelerator in situations like this). What they do is "plow ahead" when traffic merges, when things get tight, etc.

"The ride was wild because the driver ***plowed ahead*** at 50km/hr despite the winding, narrow roads on the ledge of the mountain."
http://www.brettdavenport.com/blogs/2006/august/06.8.2006.ht...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2008-03-27 00:48:12 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or, if you want to underscore their aggressive driving style, "they muscle their way in"

"He came out ahead of Trulli but the Toyota driver muscled his way past at the hairpins to take seventh."
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2007/06/17/united-states-grand-pr...


    Reference: http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/put+the+pedal+t...
Paul Cohen
Greenland
Local time: 10:45
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks Paul.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Great, thanks Paul. The imagery is excellent. This along with the 'reissverschluss verfahren' which I understand is a 'zip move' make it clear now what Otto is referring to. Both muscle and plow work really well, especially with this style of text.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ingeborg Gowans (X): excellent; haven't seen you in a long time, how's Greenland? Canada decided to skip spring this year :)
1 hr
  -> Doing fine. It's been the coldest winter in years. In fact, it's snowing right now.
agree  Jim Tucker (X): nice Pablo - if you want to avoid the idea of acceleration as you mention above, you can just do "keep the pedal to the metal..."
5 hrs
  -> Good idea, Jim (how fast does a new Mercedes go with the pedal to the metal?)
agree  David Moore (X): Yes, Paul, but not your first option; "plough on" would be okay for me
9 hrs
  -> Yes, plough (of course)
agree  Kim Bakkers: I like plough ahead!
9 hrs
agree  Rebecca Garber
14 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
keep their foot down in a bottleneck


Explanation:
mein Vorschlag ....

Andrea Winzer
United States
Local time: 07:45
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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