грабли

07:35 Mar 21, 2023
Russian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Slang
Russian term or phrase: грабли
A sub-heading in a book I am translating is the following:

Сильные стороны или "любимые грабли"


I would like a bit of advice on how best to call this. I was thinking of "favourite pitfalls" but maybe something a bit more lyrical.

For more context, in the paragraph that comes before this heading there is the phrase: "Мы наступаем на одни и те же грабли", и совершаем одни и те же ошибки. I have translated this as "we often 'fall into the same trap' and keep making the same mistakes."
Sarah McDowell
Canada
Local time: 07:51


Summary of answers provided
4keep treading on the same rake / stepping into the same trap twice / fool's errand
Turdimurod Rakhmanov
3"pet"traps
DTSM
3vicious circle
Boris Shapiro
2pitfalls
Mikhail Zavidin
Summary of reference entries provided
прогулки по граблям
DTSM
the source
Boris Shapiro

Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
pitfalls


Explanation:
I think "impending pitfalls" or "„favourite“ pitfalls" would convey Russian "„любимые грабли“" better than "favourite pitfalls" due to "любимые" is used in ironical/sarcastic sense here.

Mikhail Zavidin
Local time: 15:51
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
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33 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
keep treading on the same rake / stepping into the same trap twice / fool's errand


Explanation:
keep treading on the same rake / stepping into the same trap twice / fool's errand

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Note added at 2 hrs (2023-03-21 09:41:17 GMT)
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Oh, sorry Sarah,
My answer is for the second, you quesiton is любимые грабли
I believe the point here is любимые in the sense of repeated and easy mistakes over and over made.
So I am thinking perhaps it would be: easy pitfalls or
my haste makes waste

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Note added at 2 hrs (2023-03-21 09:42:27 GMT)
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My haste that makes waste

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Note added at 2 hrs (2023-03-21 09:51:53 GMT)
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I am sure it can't be "favourite" in English.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2023-03-21 11:47:47 GMT)
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or
my regular pitfalls

Turdimurod Rakhmanov
Kyrgyzstan
Local time: 18:51
Meets criteria
Native speaker of: Native in UzbekUzbek, Native in KirghizKirghiz
PRO pts in category: 4
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13 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
любимые грабли
"pet"traps


Explanation:
Если в предыдущем абзаце вы уже использовали trap для "граблей", то и в заголовке было бы логично использовать trap. Грабли в обоих случая будут одни и те же (простите за каламбур).

You may further recall Manny Ramirez trying to waste Kevin Youkilis while endeavoring to get himself exiled two years ago, but we naturally assumed that was just another of Manny’s pet idiosyncrasies.
https://www.dotnews.com/columns/2010/civility-sports-where-h...

We can hold onto these toxic emotions…and they become our pet sins. We feed them and keep them around! But unlike your favorite pet, your pen sins won't make you happier. They will only drag you down.
https://donnapartow.com/pet-sins/

When one compares this to the analogous A#’s in measure 53 and 69, it becomes even more likely that it should read B#.
Questionable accidentals in this and similar figures occur in profusion in Mozart’s solo piano sonatas: for example, the New Mozart Edition marks many in the third movement of K. 284: Var. 4, measures 6, 7, 10, and 16 and Var. 12 measures 9, 15, 28, 31, 35, and 37.
We all have our “pet” mistakes, and this seems to be Mozart’s.
https://www.henle.de/blog/en/2017/07/17/mozart-piano-variati...




DTSM
Local time: 15:51
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Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4
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1 day 8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
vicious circle


Explanation:
Having read the source text, I am now sure that the specific all-but-untranslatable idiom need not be translated at all. What it describes here is, in effect, a vicious circle: the mistakes you are forced to make over and over again (relying on your strong 'working style' far too often). The specific idiom of грабли, and the the modifier любимые, are incidental. You are perfectly free to compensate this loss of idiomatic language elsewhere.

Boris Shapiro
Russian Federation
Local time: 15:51
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: I like it!

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Reference comments


6 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: прогулки по граблям

Reference information:
По ссылке довольно много попыток подобрать аналог русской идиоме.
https://rb.gy/4uldp3

DTSM
Meets criteria
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
neutral  Boris Shapiro: Да, любопытно. Жаль, там другой акцент описания ситуации, для этого вопроса не очень подходит. Непереводимая игра слов :)
12 mins
agree  danya: хороший тред
6 hrs
  -> Спасибо!
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1 day 8 hrs
Reference: the source

Reference information:
Dunno if this is the complete source, but it does contain the chapter in question

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Note added at 1 day 12 hrs (2023-03-22 20:05:00 GMT)
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Можете попробовать https://t.ly/UJp3Z и там найти поиском "лидеры дышат".


    https://kartaslov.ru/%D0%BA%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%B8/%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%A4%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0
Boris Shapiro
Russian Federation
Does not meet criteria
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4
Note to reference poster
Asker: The link does not open for me.

Asker: Thanks! Found it and you are indeed right.

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