Prolli

English translation: prol/prole

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

German term or phrase:	Prolli
English translation:	prol/prole
Entered by:	David Williams

14:50 Sep 16, 2009

German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. / Slang

German term or phrase: Prolli

Talking about someone called Oliver, portrayed in various situations, some representing positive attributes and personality traits, others more negative, i.e. holiding a baby or swigging from a bottle of beer.

"Auf jeden Fall schneidet der „Prolli Olli" so ein bisschen am schlechtesten ab."
(Coming soon on: http://tinyurl.com/mozn7h)

Presumably this is referring to the picture of him swigging from the bottle of beer, but what on earth does Prolli mean? Presumably it's an abbreviation of something like Proletarier and is obviously chosen to rhyme with Olli, so ideally it would be nice to retain the rhyme in the translation too...

David Williams KudoZ activity Questions: 1642 (4 open) (1 without valid answers) (89 closed without grading) Answers: 485 Germany
Local time: 10:20

Ol the prol

Explanation:
might work ....

prol - 4 definitions - Abbreviation for Proletariat, the Soviet worker class, used to refer to someone crude, common, or of lower standing. Also us...
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=prol - Cached

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 14 mins (2009-09-16 15:05:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

taking a bit of poetic licence with the pronunciation but at a pinch ....

maybe: Ollie the proley (but that's really stretching it :))

Selected response from:

David Hollywood
Local time: 05:20

Grading comment

Many thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +2

Ol the prol

David Hollywood

Joe Schmoe

Andrea Black

Summary of reference entries provided

Prolet

Andrea Winzer

Prole

Helen Shiner

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

12 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

Ol the prol

David Hollywood
Local time: 05:20
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32

Grading comment

Many thanks!

Notes to answerer

Asker: I like it. It even allows me to retain the rhyme, and an idea from Hollywood is just right considering it's a film (albeit a short)! :-)

2 hrs confidence:

Joe Schmoe

Explanation:
As an American suggestion, although it might not be "negative" enough. Joe Schmoe is more along the lines of "Otto Normalverbraucher," but maybe it'll work here?

"Joe Shmoe (also spelled Joe Schmoe and Joe Schmo) is one of the most commonly used fictional names in American English. It is used to identify the typical, everyday person who does not have any special status, frequently in contrast to some group."

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Schmoe

Andrea Black
United States
Local time: 03:20
Native speaker of: German

Reference comments

17 mins peer agreement (net): +1

Reference: Prolet

Reference information:
Der umgangssprachliche Begriff Proll ist (noch mehr als der Begriff Prolet) vergleichsweise unscharf und entfernt sich in der Benutzung teilweise erheblich von der Bezeichnung einer gesellschaftlichen Gruppe im soziologischen Sinne (Schicht, Klasse, soziales Milieu), sondern assoziiert (anstelle ökonomischer Ungleichheit) meist eher kulturelle Wertungen im Sinne von derb, vulgär, nicht kultiviert, ungebildet oder kulturlos, manchmal auch in Abgrenzung zu intellektuell.

Jedoch muss man sagen, dass die Komiker das Tragen von Lederjacken sich erst verdienen mussten (Mord, Erpressung, Hunde Gassi führen), somit wenigstens eine Spur taktvoller sind als die Heutigen Prollis.
http://www.stupidedia.org/stupi/Proll

Andrea Winzer
United States
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

German
PRO pts in category: 4

Note to reference poster

Asker: Good site! Pity there isn't an English version of that page ;-)

5 hrs

Reference: Prole

Reference information:
This article deals with Proles as appeared in 1984. The term is also used in Tom Wolfe's novel Bonfire of the Vanities, Jack London's novel Iron Heel, Harry Harrison's trilogy To the Stars, and the game Dark Conspiracy by GDW.

Proles is a term used in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four to refer to the working class of Oceania (i.e. the proletariat).

In the novel, the society of Oceania is divided into 3 distinct classes: Inner Party, Outer Party, and proles (upper, middle, and lower classes, respectively). The proles constitute 85% of the population. They receive little education, work at jobs in which tough physical labour is the norm, live in poverty (but qualitatively richer than the Outer Party members with regard to certain freedoms inherent to their relative anonymity), have plenty of children, and usually die by the age of sixty.
The Party's slogan in regard to proles is "Proles and animals are free." This is a sharp contrast to the control of the members of Inner and Outer Parties. The Party members are constantly monitored by telescreens in both private and public places. However, prole quarters are more or less free of telescreens. Mostly because proles are not expected to understand that they are exploited by the Party (as a source of cheap labour) and are unable and/or unwilling to organize resistance. Their functions are simple: work and breed. They care little about anything but home and family, neighbour quarrels, films and football, beer and lottery tickets. They are not required to express support for the Party. The Party creates meaningless songs, novels, even pornography for the proles (all written by machines, except pornography, which is compiled by members of the Outer Party and accessible only to party members working in Pornosec). Proles do not wear a uniform, can use cosmetics and have a relatively free internal market economy. Proles also have free sex lives, uninterrupted by the Party, and divorce is permitted. Despite the personal freedoms enjoyed by the Proles, the Thought Police moves among them, spreading false rumors and marking down and eliminating any individuals deemed capable of causing trouble. The Prole quarters consist of rundown apartment buildings, shops, and pubs. Though it is nominally illegal for Outer Party members to trade with proles, all do it because they are the only source for certain minor necessities (the novel mentions shoelaces and razor blades as examples).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proles

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 34

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.

Return to KudoZ list

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:

ProZ.com term search

Search millions of term translations

Prolli

English translation: prol/prole

Answers

Reference comments

KudoZ™ translation help

Your current localization setting

Select a language

Prolli

English translation: prol/prole

Answers

Reference comments

KudoZ™ translation help

You have native languages that can be verified

Your current localization setting

Select a language