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Memória de cálculo
Apr 13, 2008 17:42
17 yrs ago
26 viewers *
português term

"enxugar gelo"

português para inglês Outra Gíria the war on drugs
O “estourar” de uma “boca de fumo”, como se diz no Rio de Janeiro, é rapidamente compensado pela atividade de uma outra “boca”. Com a vida à prêmio na repressão ao varejo, policiais do Rio caracterizam esta atividade como um “enxugar gelo”.

I get this, but am wondering if there's some "cool" way to say it in English. :o)
Proposed translations (inglês)
4 -2 drying ice
5 +1 flogging/beating a dead horse
5 exercise in futility
4 "swat flies"
3 making bets in a burning house

Discussion

Amy Duncan (X) (asker) Apr 14, 2008:
Some of you may be disappointed that I picked Luiza's reply. It's not that the other answers weren't good approximations of the slang expression "enxugar gelo," but they don't quite get the feeling across. If you look further down in Luiza's answer, you'll see that she suggested translating it literally, and THEN giving an explanation. This works much better, IMHO. v

Proposed translations

-2
21 minutos
português term (edited): enxugar gelo
Selected

drying ice

The concept is easy to understand so I think you can use it in English too followed by : and a one-word definition:

this activity is like drying ice: everlasting (or)
this activity is like drying ice: useless.
Peer comment(s):
disagree Lincoln Silveira (X) : I suspect it wouldn't make the slightest sense in English
54 minutos
I don´t think English speakers (or anybody for that matter) are uncapable of deducting that drying ice is useless.
disagree Rui Freitas : Luiza, even if they kind of get the meaning, the semantics of idioms are a result of years or centuries of usage. They are untranslatable in literal terms. // Nevertheless, Luiza, the translator's mission is not to create new expressions.
7 horas
Languages evolve on a daily basis Rui and many of our own expressions come from the English.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, Luiza."
1 hora

exercise in futility

Cool enough?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2008-04-13 19:04:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

futile job, fool's errand
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3 horas

making bets in a burning house

This might be an older expression but in any case it seems to fit in this particular case.
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6 horas

"swat flies"

I think it applies to your context.

George W. Bush Wants to Do More Than Swat Flies. Ah. Here is the context of George W. Bush's pre-911 "can't we stop 'swatting flies' and eliminate al Qaeda? ...
econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/2004_archives/000521.html - 91k
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+1
8 horas
português term (edited): \"enxugar gelo\"

flogging/beating a dead horse

"the police officers describe(refer to) this activity as flogging/beating a dead horse"

Other idioms:

As much use as a chocolate fire-guard or fifth wheel

(they refer to this activity as being as useful as a chocolate fire-guard)
( as useful as a fifth wheel)

Or Lincoln's suggestion of "fool's errand".
Peer comment(s):
agree lexical : Flogging a dead horse captures the sense perfectly. Must be "flogging" though, not "beating".
7 horas
Thanks lexical. I believe AmE accepts both flogging and beating a dead horse.
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