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German to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / hard, idiomatic German
German term or phrase:in den Arsch geblasen bekommen
This is part of a tirade by a character in a novel. He's very upset and verbally attacking an old friend, and is not happy about his rather privileged upbringing. His friend, by contrast, spent most of his childhood in some sort of orphanage: "Ich habe es ertragen, dass ich Zeit meines Lebens die Dinge in den Arsch geblasen bekommen habe…"
The basic sense is that he's had everything handed to him on a platter his whole life, but I'm looking for a similarly hard or intense way of saying it as in the German. Variations on the word 'a'-word are not necessarily required :-)
Thanks for your time and assistance on this. A hard choice, and I still haven't come up with exactly the right formulation, but this is probably the closest in terms of tone and the character's emotions at that moment (and therefore the most helpful, as per Proz guidelines) of the many useful entries here. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
You have not provided enough background information to be sure, but on the basis of my experience with the original expression I disagree with your choice of answer. There's a spoilt brat who seems unhappy (claims to be unhappy) with having been spoilt.
is my first take. The "ertragen" bit doesn't sound like he perceives whatever the "Dinge" were as having been positive. "For my whole life, I've had to put up with things being stuffed down my crack." But more context is needed to be sure of the deeper meaning here.
David Moore (X)
@ Brigitte:
11:42 Aug 21, 2013
Your 1960s memories make it even more necessary that Edwin gives us the date of this novel, as that may well have a bearing on a realistic translation of the expression in context.
(1960s) the expression "dem/der muss man alles hinten 'rein blasen" was quite common if somebody wanted to say that another person was unable or more frequently unwilling to do even simple things for him-/herself. Even my mother, who never said "Sch...." used that expression without thinking twice about it.
David Moore (X)
Just because...
11:12 Aug 21, 2013
the German uses an expression most ENS regard as offensive - or crude - is not to say it has to be translated offensively for an ENS audience. Just ask yourself what an ENS would say in the given circumstance, and work from there.
However, we don't really know what register Edwin is looking for, so I guess any of these answers may suit.
I'm not a native speaker of course but I really agree with your second comment above -- this is how one can go about it.
You take the "handed on a platter" expression and try to make it freakier. This is a technique that should work. Try to imagine some semi-mad character in a really stressful situation -- that should trigger the right expressions for you. Write down the stuff, repeat. After some time, you'll get closer.
(Also, maybe "funky" instead of the over-used f-word, dunno.)
Good take, but I'd use "I've withstood having had..." as the caracter isn't happy about it. Why not post your proposal?
David Moore (X)
Edwin,
06:49 Aug 21, 2013
does it really have to be offensive?
'I'm used to having had everything stuffed down my throat with a silver spoon' TMWOT hits the right register, and is suitably emphatic, without being remotely offensive.
oa_xxx (X)
Germany
23:47 Aug 20, 2013
I think you could probably use one of the standard phrases - silver platter, spoon etc and just add the f- word or damned or bloody or something to make it stronger, otherwise theres many colourful but crude ways of saying it...
The usual suspects: Linguee, Leo, Proz, Redensarten-index, thesaurus.com, urban dictionary (using pamper, mollycoddle, indulge, spoil). Any useful suggestions among those "numerous websites" you mention that might suggest a coarse equivalent of something as complex as "Dinge in den Arsch geblasen bekommen"?
... how this gets solved, earnestly. Not so easy I guess.
Of course, the a-word can quite reliably be replaced by the f-word, in many cases. But IMHO, the point here is that the expression is not only coarse and intense and offensive, it's also funny in a certain (weird) way. Very much in the German tradition, cf. Till Eulenspiegel et al. And that is something which can't be expressed by just inserting the random f* here or there, I guess.
What prior research have you already done? There are numerous websites containing synonyms, both polite and coarse. Have you exhausted these?
Automatic update in 00:
Answers
1 hr confidence:
get real kicks in the pants (arse)
Explanation: Gemeint ist, dass jemand sehr streng behandelt wird (siehe auch ersten Link). Eigentlich ist die übliche Redewendung »Jemandem Pfeffer in den Hintern blasen«, was bedeuted: »jemanden gehörig zu etwas antreiben«:
Erika Berrai-Flynn United States Local time: 02:51 Native speaker of: German
Notes to answerer
Asker: I'm familiar with "Pfeffer in den Hintern blasen," but "Dinge in den Arsch geblasen bekommen" was new to me.
Looking at examples of it on the web, it's pretty clear that the meaning is very different from "Pfeffer in den Hintern blasen," meaning more that they get everything given to them, they don't have to work hard for anything: everything is just, in English, "handed to them on a platter."
A couple of examples from the web:
http://pumkin-purr.blogspot.de/2012/11/the-dreams-in-which-im-dying-are-best.html
http://xrays.antville.org/stories/1097086/
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=3757684
1 hr confidence: peer agreement (net): +1
born with the sun shining out of my ass
Explanation: suggestion to get the ball rolling....
AllegroTrans United Kingdom Local time: 01:51 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 8
