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Odeljenje
haustracija
Oct 3, 2008 10:28
15 yrs ago
14 viewers *
Serbo-Croat term

mrtvo slovo na papiru

Serbo-Croat to English Art/Literary Journalism
znam da postoji adekvatan izraz, ali stao mi mozak, help!
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 dead letter
3 +1 dead letter
3 not worth the paper it's written on

Proposed translations

+3
4 mins
Selected

dead letter

As simple as that...

Peer comment(s):
disagree Mark Daniels : Sorry, disagree - "dead letter" doesn't mean that to me and I can't find it in any English dictionary (with that meaning). I think there are more idiomatic phrases around.
7 mins
I beg to differ. I don't think you can actually do better than "dead letter" for "mrtvo slovo na papiru". Google "remained a dead letter", and you'll find tons of reliable sources confirming this meaning - "to remain unimplemented".
agree Ljiljana Krstic : a dead letter- an agreement or a law which still exists but which people do not obey or which is not effective any more. The ceasefire agreement was a dead letter as soon as it was signed since neither side had any intention of keeping to it-the free dict
1 hr
agree Dragan Novakovic : Dead letter: "b. A writ, statute, ordinance, etc., which is or has become practically without force or inoperative, though not formally repealed or abolished." "Many a treaty of marriage became a dead letter almost as soon as it was signed." (OED)
6 hrs
agree Larisa Djuvelek-Ruggiero (X) : da, jedna od mogucnosti
7 days
agree Mira Stepanovic
8 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
5 mins

dead letter

Rečnik - Hrvatsko ili srpsko-engleski rečnik

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Note added at 6 mins (2008-10-03 10:34:43 GMT)
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Iyvinite rečnik je Bujasov

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Note added at 6 mins (2008-10-03 10:35:12 GMT)
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Izvinte zbog greške!
Peer comment(s):
disagree Mark Daniels : See above
6 mins
agree Dragan Novakovic
6 hrs
Hvala!
agree Mira Stepanovic
8 days
Hvala Miro!
Something went wrong...
18 mins

not worth the paper it's written on

I don't have the context, but I am guessing that is an informal journalistic phrase to mean a promise, a law, an agreement are effectively invalid, even though perhaps found in written form. I don't believe this is used in Serbian in a formal, legal sense, so that is why I disagree with the solution "dead letter", even though I will grant that it may have a similar meaning. This is an idiomatic use probably, so needs a similar idiom in English.

My main suggestion above might not be the appropriate one in the context - you might also say that the agreement, or whatever, was: "on paper only", or something like that.
Reference:

http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/deadletter?view=uk

Peer comment(s):
disagree Ljiljana Krstic : dead letter is used in all occasions; look at: http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/letterhttp://idioms.thef...
1 hr
I will concede the point - I have learned something new. Still, my subjective "native" feeling is that this expression is not nearly as common as "mrtvo slovo na papiru" is in Serbian but will consider using "dead letter" myself in future!
neutral Pavle Perencevic : These are two different things. If your contract is not w.t.p.i.w.o., you want to enforce its terms, but you can't for whatever reason; if a law is a "mrtvo slovo n. p.", its provisions can be enforced at least in theory, but the will to do so is lacking.
1 hr
agree Larisa Djuvelek-Ruggiero (X) : Yes, I agree with you. It can be used like that depending on a context
7 days
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