Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
diputadas-hiena
English translation:
bitchy congresswomen
Added to glossary by
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Jun 23, 2016 19:53
7 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term
diputadas-hiena
Spanish to English
Other
Government / Politics
Current affairs
This is from an op-ed piece in a Bolivian newspaper that seems to be using a lot of highly idiomatic language. (There are a couple of terms I'm uncertain of but, in accordance with protocol, I'll treat them in separate questions.) The sentence & paragraph where "diputadas-hiena" appears:
"Suena a “imperio” ahora que esa palabra se ha puesto otra vez de moda entre imperiales, reyezuelos, ***diputadas-hiena*** y millonarios de nuevo cuño en nuestra América. Sin embargo, el peso que otrora tuviera se ha disuelto en la maraña mal llamada socialista de rejuntados cuyo fin es el robo mientras decoran el latrocinio con rimbombantes declaraciones y peores espectáculos y que la esgrimen hasta en graffitis de baño público."
I have a pretty good idea of the sense of the two-word phrase - maybe something like "mad-dog member of parliament" (??) - but I'm having a hard time coming up with a good idiomatic English equivalent that doesn't sound either fussy or just plain goofy. Or maybe it's an established idiomatic phrase; but if so, I can't find it in any of my resources.
Thanks in advance for your help.
"Suena a “imperio” ahora que esa palabra se ha puesto otra vez de moda entre imperiales, reyezuelos, ***diputadas-hiena*** y millonarios de nuevo cuño en nuestra América. Sin embargo, el peso que otrora tuviera se ha disuelto en la maraña mal llamada socialista de rejuntados cuyo fin es el robo mientras decoran el latrocinio con rimbombantes declaraciones y peores espectáculos y que la esgrimen hasta en graffitis de baño público."
I have a pretty good idea of the sense of the two-word phrase - maybe something like "mad-dog member of parliament" (??) - but I'm having a hard time coming up with a good idiomatic English equivalent that doesn't sound either fussy or just plain goofy. Or maybe it's an established idiomatic phrase; but if so, I can't find it in any of my resources.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Proposed translations
(English)
3 | bitchy congresswomen | Beatriz Ramírez de Haro |
3 +1 | rabid feminist politicians | Daniel Forbes (X) |
4 | squawking women legislators // cackling female politicians | Marcelo González |
Change log
Jul 2, 2016 18:53: Beatriz Ramírez de Haro Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
7 days
Selected
bitchy congresswomen
Hi Tom, your choice is most appropriate.
Glad to be of use
Bea
Glad to be of use
Bea
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "As I said earlier, thanks - to you & to all who responded.
Tom"
+1
8 hrs
rabid feminist politicians
rabid feminist politicians
Well, this extends the semantic range a touch beyond the source term's, since you could have some rabid feminist MPs who are also male diputados. Still, the idiomatic collocation is "rabid feminist," not "rabid female." The proof that it's idiomatic is in the OED getting in hot water for it recently (see https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/2... ). Since your source article doesn't sound overly concerned with being PC, the term might happily find a home here. I'm assuming that the source writer was coming down on the diputadas in question for being aggressively feminist rather than for just being women. In the latter case, "rabid women politicians" or might convey that particular prejudice.
"Rabid" also has an aggressive, canine connotation with "hyena."
For the rest of it, "politician" covers more political systems than "MP" or "congresswomen," is more precise than "representatives" (which includes special interest and lobby groups outside of govt), and is less clumsy than "elected official" (as in the lengthy "rabid feminist elected officials").
Whatever term you go with, have fun with the rest of the your ranting op ed!
Well, this extends the semantic range a touch beyond the source term's, since you could have some rabid feminist MPs who are also male diputados. Still, the idiomatic collocation is "rabid feminist," not "rabid female." The proof that it's idiomatic is in the OED getting in hot water for it recently (see https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/01/2... ). Since your source article doesn't sound overly concerned with being PC, the term might happily find a home here. I'm assuming that the source writer was coming down on the diputadas in question for being aggressively feminist rather than for just being women. In the latter case, "rabid women politicians" or might convey that particular prejudice.
"Rabid" also has an aggressive, canine connotation with "hyena."
For the rest of it, "politician" covers more political systems than "MP" or "congresswomen," is more precise than "representatives" (which includes special interest and lobby groups outside of govt), and is less clumsy than "elected official" (as in the lengthy "rabid feminist elected officials").
Whatever term you go with, have fun with the rest of the your ranting op ed!
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
neilmac
: No veo nada sobre feministas en el texto. Eye of the beholder and all that....
6 hrs
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From my explanation:"I'm assuming that the source writer was coming down on the diputadas in question for being aggressively feminist rather than for just being women. In the latter case, "rabid women politicians" might convey that particular prejudice."
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agree |
Jessica Noyes
: I love your choice of "rabid" here
10 hrs
|
Thanks, Jessica. Beatriz Ramírez (in the discussion thread) had a good call on "bitchy," connotations of not only dogs but specifically female dogs.
|
6 days
squawking women legislators // cackling female politicians
In addition to 'squawking' and 'cackling,' other verbs referring to annoying sounds associated with other species (including 'squealing') may work too, though care needs to be taken to ensure the critical tone is consistent with that of the author.
It reminds me of US president Roosevelt calling his Panama Canal detractors "a small body of shrill eunuchs" quoted in "Gunboat Democracy" (2006), which I rendered as "un pequeño grupo que chilla como eunuco" (for a discussion of 'sarcasm-laden humor' in political discourse, see my doctoral thesis, "Metaphor and agency in the English-Spanish translation of texts in the social sciences," referenced in my ProZ profile).
It reminds me of US president Roosevelt calling his Panama Canal detractors "a small body of shrill eunuchs" quoted in "Gunboat Democracy" (2006), which I rendered as "un pequeño grupo que chilla como eunuco" (for a discussion of 'sarcasm-laden humor' in political discourse, see my doctoral thesis, "Metaphor and agency in the English-Spanish translation of texts in the social sciences," referenced in my ProZ profile).
Discussion
I ended up using "catty congresswomen": "catty" only because I was afraid that "bitchy" might not be appropriate for my target audience. So the idea was yours. If you will post it as an answer, I can give you credit & close out the question.
Thanks,
Tom
fishwife
noun
noun: fish-wife
1. a coarse-mannered woman who is prone to shouting. "the screech of a fishwife"