This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Greek to English translations [Non-PRO] Law/Patents - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Greek term or phrase:σκιώδης συμπεριφορά
Επειδή οι λόγοι δια την τοιαύτη σκιώδη συμπεριφορά του εναγομένου είναι η υπέρμετρη ζηλοτυπία του εξ αιτίας του χρόνιου αλκοολισμού του και του βαναύσου χαρακτήρα του.
I don't have a clear idea of what σκιώδης means here other than just 'bad'. 'Shady' or 'shadowy' just doesn't fit the context.
Is this a correct use of σκιώδης? (I see that 'σκαιώδης συμπεριφορά' occasionally appears in Greek too).
@ Nick: This is a matter of opinion. I was not entirely convinced that Dylan's sentence definitely meant that the terms "υπέρμετρη ζηλοτυπία", "αλκοολισμού" and "βάναυσου χαρακτήρα" implied that the person had behaved rudely or brutally. Those words could easily have applied if the person’s behaviour had entailed uploading nude pictures of his girlfriend onto the internet or putting embarrassing photographs of her into her employer’s letterbox. I can think of many other examples that such words could apply to. I therefore considered two possibilities; either that σκιώδης had mistakenly been written instead of σκαιός or that σκιώδης had been written intentionally to provide a different meaning. My answer therefore covered two possible likely bases because I had not regarded the information that was available at the time to have been entirely clear. I wrote my answer in the way that I did for that reason.
I, on the other hand, believe that it is made entirely clear both in the news item of the video (you have "βίαιη συμπεριφορά" and "ακραία συμπεριφορά" in other sentences) and in Dylan's sentence, where you have "υπέρμετρη ζηλοτυπία", "αλκοολισμού" and "βάναυσου χαρακτήρα". Therefore, Dylan should leave no doubt as to the intended meaning behind the mistake by saying that σκιώδης in that sentence might also stand for "unethical" or "shadowy". The mistake can only stand for "abusive" in that context.
@Nick, OK, no argument on that score. However, if the context of the full text had been a little different (because Dylan's brief example had not made this entirely clear) two alternative meanings could have been "questionable" or "unethical" behaviour, which would have been possible interpretations of "σκιώδης συμπεριφορά" for the reasons that I had endeavoured to explain in my notes.
@Peter: When I have already included "rude" in my reply, how could I have considered "abusive" to be wrong? What I say is that "σκιώδης" does not mean rude or abusive and that in the specific examples it is used instead of "σκαιός", which covers the range from rude/abusive to brutal. But I have to repeat that this is a WRONG use of σκιώδης.
@Nick, Although I provided the website example that the video that you refer to is included in, I was not suggesting that your anwser was incorrect. I merely implied that it was not the only one possible in the circumstances. If you had read my full recommendation, you will have noticed that I included the word "abusive" and had in fact said that "abusive behaviour" is term that I would use to describe "σκιώδης συμπεριφορά" in the case of that video. If you are implying that the term "abusive behaviour" is an unsuitable alternative for Dylan for his particular text, I regret that I must disagree with you.
Sorry, guys. My answer to Dylan's question was short and precise. You cannot use "σκιώδης συμπεριφορά" to describe rude or brutal behaviour, as in the context of the above question or of the unionist in the star.gr video (have you watched it?). People may have used "σκιώδης" wrongly to mean "σκαιός" or wrongly to mean "σκοτεινός". In the case above it has been used wrongly to mean σκαιός, brutal.
Shadowy Behaviour can be frustrating and upsetting, but, I think this can be done without the shadowy behaving person having to be either abusive, rude, violent or swearing. The shear silence, or non co-operation of that person might make YOU, the other Party blow up to swear be rude and perhaps be violent, as you cannot get to a conclusion without the proper co-operation of the former.
@Nick Η 'σκιώδη συμπεριφορά' της Αντιπολίτευσης (συνδικαλιστή) είναι να υποσκάψει το πρόγραμμα της Κυβέρνησης....... Τhe 'shadowy behaviour' of the Opposition (expressed by the Shadow Cabinet) is to undermine the work of the Government for their ulterior ..... I think they are valid uses of one case of Shadowy/Shady Behaviour.
I believe 'σκιώδης' is the adj. from σκιά(shadow). As a shadow is there, present together with the subject, almost in a ''virtual'' existence that one cannot make the true characteristics of the subject from it, no defined sharp lines, no expression, all in the back of the mind, left to you to ambiquously construct the subject, similarly SHADOWY BEHAVIOUR is such that, although you see/hear very little of it, any little expressed is so ambiquous, as to leave one far from a NORMALconclusion. CAPITAL letters are for Emphasis!!
1.Shadowy/shady CHARACTER= A shifty/dodgy/mysterious/quietly scheeming/undermining your authority(Shadow Cabinet)/unco-operative character 2. A SHADOWY/SHADY DEAL. An illicit/ under-the-counter/ shifty/ DEAL 3. '' '' BEHAVIOUR. Mysterious/secretive/contreary(Irish)/undermining your authority for their gain(Shadow Cabinet behaves thus) noncomformist behaviour/little talk/ all trousers and no mouth/under the radar behaviour A few of the 'qualities' of a SHADY BEHAVIOUR. This behaviour can be MOST POLITE but, my God, it would break you down by the shear SILENCE AND SULKINESS of the whole affair (where met).
Perhaps there is some sort of association in people's minds between σκαιός and σκιώδης that would account for this (mis)use of σκιώδης with reference to brutal/rude/abusive behaviour.
As for the uses of "shadowy" in English - for instance "shadowy" meaning "of uncertain nature or identity" - and whether they correspond to any of the correct uses of "σκιώδης" in Greek, that's another question.
In the present case, the behaviour, as decribed in the document, amounts to this: violence and a lot of shouting (mostly swear words). There is no subtlety about it, no clever subterfuge, no "shady dealings".
Reply to Nick: Babiniotis’s Greek Dictionary describes one of the interpretations of σκιώδης to be synonymous with σκιερός , and the Oxford Greek –English Learners’ Dictionary describes σκιερός to mean shady or shadowy. Also, the Oxford Greek –English Learners’ Dictionary describes σκιώδης to mean shadowy or shadow.
Therefore, Transphy appears to have been correct in construing σκιώδης to mean shadowy.
One can find examples of behaviour being described as shady or shadowy on the internet. One example for shadowy is one that Transphy gave and that is: http://www.getclarity.com/tag/shadow-behavior/
….although admittedly the meaning of shadowy in this context is probably unethical or questionable or suspicious
I've only just read the star.gr link about the συνδικαλιστής and his σκιώδης συμπεριφορά. It is equally bad Greek. If the reporter's Greek were only slightly better, he/she would have used "σκαιά / σκαιή".
Good morning. Could you please point me to a specific example where 'σκιώδης' corresponds to 'shadowy' and where examples from both languages are of reputable provenance?
Thank you for all the comments. In your last link, Peter, I see that the person in question "έβρισε με το χειρότερο τρόπο συναδέλφους". Similar "σκιώδης συμπεριφορά" (shouting abuse, etc.) is described in the document I have here.
Also, if σκιώδης συμπεριφορά in such contexts is bad Greek, it would appear to be quite common bad Greek because Google and Firefox give a number of examples where the words are used in similar situations.
I would like to add that σκιώδης is not the same as the English shadowy. Resistance can be σκιώδης, i.e. weak. And we also have σκιώδης κυβέρνηση for the shadow cabinet. Shadowy, on the other hand, corresponds to σκοτεινός. Neither meaning fits the specific context. http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/le...
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
6 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +3
σκιώδης συμπεριφορά > σκαιά / σκαιή συμπεριφορά
rude / brutal behaviour
Explanation: Bad Greek. It can't be σκιώδης in this context. Σκαιώδης is ancient Greek for σκαιός.