si hay sangre, va en cabeza

10:39 Dec 12, 2010 

Thanks very much to P Forgas for providing me with the pdf link of Susan Sontag's "Regarding the Pain of Others" so that I could find the quote I needed. My thanks to everyone who participated in this question and the discussion, and I hope you will understand that, as I cannot give the points to P Forgas who only posted a reference, I feel it would not be fair to give points to anyone else.

13:34 Dec 8, 2010 

The dust has settled here, and the last thing I want to do is stir it up again. But I would just like to say:
1) I too am grateful to P. Forgas for posting the link to the (naughty but very useful) pdf of Regarding the Pain of Others. I could have done with it a few months ago when I needed this text in a big hurry. Personally I hate having to backtranslate quotations when I haven't got the original to hand.
2) Strictly speaking, according to KudoZ rule 3.7, we are not supposed to comment on an asker's decision to post.

12:47 Dec 8, 2010 

because the English quote doesn't contain the word "blood". Well done Mr. Forgas.

18:21 Dec 7, 2010 

when Kudoz discussions become moral debate.

From a practical point of view, though, if Kudoz is to be a useful medium it should (and does) include terminology-related problems that are not purely a question of semantics. It's all part of the art and craft of translating and these questions still contribute something to what is basically a 'universal university of translation'.

18:03 Dec 7, 2010 

I am not going to belabour the point with you. Nikki was unsure of the rendering of the phrase to begin with (P. Forgas subsequently posted the link). Furthermore, Nikki is not in the habit of posting "wanton", unresearched questions for the sake of posting what apparently looks stupid to you. Did you know the answer - I am sure you did not! I insist, if you don´t want to help ... don't, but I strongly suggest you be more tolerant of other askers and stop insisting that certain askers (well regarded ones at that) do certain things before , i.e. research (it is not the first time you have made uncalled for remarks). They are not questions raised for the sake of flooding ProZ. I am done! Saludos.

17:59 Dec 7, 2010 

countless time answering KudoZ questions and providing them with the right answer. I thought after all the times I had helped people out, and given that I haven't asked a question for ages, that it might be ok for me to admit that I hadn't been able to find the quote today (and I did try to find it myself, actually, but obviously failed). I suggest you filter my questions out in future, Phil, so I won't offend your sensibilities with my failings as a translator in future.

17:50 Dec 7, 2010 

Well, I beg to differ. The asker knew exactly what the phrase meant. She wasn't asking us for suggested translations (as some of the discussion entries imply), because there is only one correct answer. She was asking us to do her research for her, which is not what KudoZ is for - I use it when I don't understand something in a foreign language, or I don't know how to phrase it. Anyway, I bow to the majority view.

16:06 Dec 7, 2010 

Because although Nikki knows what the term means, she didn't know how to render it appropriately and needed help finding the right answer, which in this case happened to involve finding the original quote.

16:06 Dec 7, 2010 

and I object very strongly to you suggesting otherwise. I said the following: quote from Susan Sontag's work "Regarding the Pain of Others" (2003), and that it concerned TV violence. What more context do you need?

16:01 Dec 7, 2010 

Well done, Mr Forgas! It's obvious now you mention it.
I thought this was a random quote from a random book - I didn't realise it was a famous phrase, and you didn't give any context.

15:55 Dec 7, 2010 

@ Phil. I believe Nikki's doubt is more to do with "va en cabeza", so if you can help, then do so, but your comments are counter-productive. If you don't want to help, don't .. move on, but pleasssssssse more tolerance on your part is needed. Sorry!

Thanks Nikki, but FWIW, I will post some links I found and you can see some pages in the first link provided. Hope you find these useful.

15:52 Dec 7, 2010 

I now have the quote, which is: "If it bleeds, it leads". Sorry if this has offended some, but I asked the question because my skills in tracking down the exact quote were obviously lacking and not as good as other people's obviously are.

15:44 Dec 7, 2010 

Having a translation and wanting to compare it with what some colleagues can come up with, or simply hoping that something better than what we have exists, is a perfectly legitimate reason to post a KudoZ.

15:35 Dec 7, 2010 

This is not a translation question, as you clearly know what it means. You should do your own English version and point out to the customer that it's not the verbatim original quote. This almost certainly won't matter if they just want to know what the document says, but if the translation is for publication they'll need to track down the original wording. Either way, I don't think your question has a place here.

15:33 Dec 7, 2010 

And not just a reference to the general idea of the book? Something like 'where there is blood, sharks gather' springs to mind.