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13:39 Dec 17, 2017 |
Italian to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Idioms / Maxims / Sayings / Character-based fiction | |||||||
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| Selected response from: philgoddard United States | ||||||
Grading comment
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Summary of answers provided | ||||
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4 +1 | pseudo-literary outpourings |
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4 | pseudo-literary favours |
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pseudo-literary favours Explanation: Quite difficult to translate this one, marchette has several meanings including the act(and payment for) soliciting. marchétta s. f. [dim. di marca1]. – 1. Piccola marca; in partic., la marca assicurativa, cioè il bollo che veniva applicato sui libretti di lavoro (sistema oggi sostituito dal versamento dei contributi mediante bollettini di conto corrente); per estens., lavoro non impegnativo fatto per compiacere qualcuno o per ottenere un minimo guadagno. Here I think it is used figuratively to mean these poor quality writings, of little literary value, that the writer has submitted to try and win the publisher over. By calling them marchette he is saying the writer is selling himself, perhaps for very little money, and has no real talent. It's not easy to put this idea into a couple of words but you could liken it to a sexual favour rendered in order to obtain recognition. I think the source is playing with these two meanings of marchette. -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2017-12-17 14:41:57 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/marchetta/ -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 hr (2017-12-17 15:21:55 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Maybe pseudo-literary writings or works then but you lose some of the sarcasm |
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pseudo-literary outpourings Explanation: Lisa Jane's reference is very useful, but I don't think "favours" conveys a clear meaning. Her definition says "lavoro non impegnativo", ie churned out at high speed and without much effort, so I think "outpourings" works well. I'm not sure "falsely poetic" is quite right for the next bit. Maybe "spuriously". |
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