rotisko

English translation: hunk of junk

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Finnish term or phrase:	rotisko
English translation:	hunk of junk
Entered by:	Owen Witesman

01:01 Sep 18, 2011

Finnish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature

Finnish term or phrase: rotisko

"Olipahan vain yksi rotisko eteisen nurkassa johon kaikki vastasivat."

Describing an old rotary dial phone. I know the dictionary definition of rotisko, but everything I can think of to use in the translation is an adjectival phrase, and I'd really like to have a cleaner solution--a single noun if possible. Any thoughts?

Owen Witesman KudoZ activity Questions: 22 (none open) Answers: 119
Local time: 03:08

We only had this rotary junk in the corridor...

Explanation:
or maybe, we only had one of these ancient rotary phones ...

Or, maybe you don't need to say rotary... maybe just an ancient contraption?

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Note added at 8 hrs (2011-09-18 09:40:42 GMT)
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On reflection, I think "contraption" is the right word to use, conveying the feel of "rotisko".

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Note added at 1 day6 hrs (2011-09-19 07:35:00 GMT)
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Owen, I understand where you're coming from, and hunk of junk rhymes nicely. Here in the UK though HUNK really has the meaning of a large piece of bread or cheese or male with a good physique... I suppose your choice really depends on the overall use of expressions in the text you are translating.

Selected response from:

Hannele Marttila
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:08

Grading comment

Thanks again, Hannele. Although I didn't use your exact suggestion, yours was ultimately the most helpful.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +1

We only had this rotary junk in the corridor...

Hannele Marttila

jalopy

Vladyslav Golovaty

contrivance, relic

urbom

Lemon

aleski

flivver

Timo Lehtilä

Answers

9 mins confidence:

jalopy

Explanation:
if no, than clunker or rattletrap, why not?

Vladyslav Golovaty
Ukraine
Local time: 12:08
Native speaker of:

English,

Russian

Notes to answerer

Asker: Those terms are more appropriate for cars. Thanks, though.

9 hrs confidence:

contrivance, relic

Explanation:
"rotary-dial relic" has a nice rhythm and alliteration to it...

Dunno who the speaker is, so "contrivance" may be the wrong register.

urbom
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:08
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English

Notes to answerer

Asker: Yeah, I should have said: the speaker is a teenager. Certainly doesn't mean she can't use unusual words. I'm liking relic--I'll try it out in the text and see how it feels.

14 hrs confidence:

flivver

Explanation:
This has the same basic meaning as 'rotisko', but I don't know how much it is acceptable for an English native to use it for any other things than cars and aeroplanes.

Timo Lehtilä
Finland
Local time: 12:08
Native speaker of: Finnish
PRO pts in category: 8

Notes to answerer

Asker: That seems a bit dated--I didn't say so, but the narrative seems to be set in the late 80's, and the narrator was a teenager at the time.

8 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

We only had this rotary junk in the corridor...

Hannele Marttila
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:08
Native speaker of:

Finnish,

English
PRO pts in category: 7

Grading comment

Thanks again, Hannele. Although I didn't use your exact suggestion, yours was ultimately the most helpful.

Notes to answerer

Asker: Contraption is a good possibility (it was one of the first things I though of myself). I've been trying to use it less lately in my work though--it's started to lose any flavor it once had for me. It's a little amazing (odd?) how many words Finnish has that basically mean contraption. I guess that goes for a lot of concepts. In my own English dialect we do use contraption, but it has some very specific connotations for me, and at least at first didn't feel like a very good fit here. Thinking about your suggestions just now did give me another idea that may be a perfect fit: hunk of junk.

31 days confidence:

Lemon

Explanation:
...although probably not as descriptive, and appropriate in that, as the aforementioned clunker and rattletrap.

lemon: "a person or thing that proves to be defective, imperfect, or unsatisfactory" (Dictionary.com)

Example sentence(s):

...while cheekily nodding at worries that the Beetle itself was a lemon.

Reference: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lemon
Reference: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11963364

aleski
Native speaker of:

Finnish

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English translation: hunk of junk

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