Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
holier-than-thou
Portuguese translation:
mais papista que o papa
- The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2020-04-14 09:54:10 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Apr 11, 2020 00:32
4 yrs ago
21 viewers *
English term
holier-than-thou
Not for points
English to Portuguese
Social Sciences
Religion
On a newspaper opinion page debating whether a society of moral saints would be a good place to live in.
"This “aggressive moral scrutiny directed at the minutiae of everyday life” is suspect on multiple grounds, Kaufman thinks. For one thing, it backfires, triggering resentment against holier-than-thou types, and maybe contributing to events such as Donald Trump’s election."
The expression "holier-than-thou" is used to describe certain people who, because they are morally virtuous, they remind us of our own moral shortcomings. What could we use in Portuguese to translate it?
Thank you
"This “aggressive moral scrutiny directed at the minutiae of everyday life” is suspect on multiple grounds, Kaufman thinks. For one thing, it backfires, triggering resentment against holier-than-thou types, and maybe contributing to events such as Donald Trump’s election."
The expression "holier-than-thou" is used to describe certain people who, because they are morally virtuous, they remind us of our own moral shortcomings. What could we use in Portuguese to translate it?
Thank you
Proposed translations
(Portuguese)
5 +1 | mais papista que o papa | Nick Taylor |
3 +1 | dono da verdade | Tereza Rae |
3 | moralistas / pessoas que se julgam superiores | Bruna Mattos |
3 | (pessoas) soberbas | Julio Cinquina |
Proposed translations
+1
6 hrs
Selected
mais papista que o papa
mais papista que o papa
+1
44 mins
dono da verdade
No caso, poderia ficar assim: 'pessoas que se consideram os donos da verdade'.
24 mins
moralistas / pessoas que se julgam superiores
Pensei nessas duas possibilidades: a primeira caso você prefira um termo único e a segunda se você achar que funciona na tradução.
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Note added at 1 hr (2020-04-11 01:57:34 GMT)
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Outras duas sugestões:
"pessoas que se consideram acima do bem e do mal" ou, como tem sido muito usado atualmente, "detentores da virtude"
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Note added at 1 hr (2020-04-11 01:57:34 GMT)
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Outras duas sugestões:
"pessoas que se consideram acima do bem e do mal" ou, como tem sido muito usado atualmente, "detentores da virtude"
6 hrs
(pessoas) soberbas
Sugestão caso queira manter o "tom bíblico" de holier-than-thou.
"Holier-than-thou" aparece em Isaías 65:5: https://www.biblestudytools.com/parallel-bible/passage/?q=is...
"Soberbo" aparece em Isaías 2:12: https://www.biblestudytools.com/aa/isaias/2-12.html
"Holier-than-thou" aparece em Isaías 65:5: https://www.biblestudytools.com/parallel-bible/passage/?q=is...
"Soberbo" aparece em Isaías 2:12: https://www.biblestudytools.com/aa/isaias/2-12.html
Discussion
As elsewhere, the UK is not faring well in the pandemic and the hope is that something good politically might come out of this. Johnson is doing much better as well, thank you for asking. Brazil, on the other hand, is also looking ugly, though the hope for a change in it is much more feeble. Stay safe, Pedro
As I see it the points system is a type of "reward" to incentivate answerers to provide assistance where unusual terms are encountered or the context is vague. Oft-times the answers are "intuitive" by bi-linguals. The level of certainly is of course quite there to differentiate between absolutely positive down to "what about this then?"and in most cases is is of course subjective. I basically gave up translating when I got tenure at my university and only take on work that appeals to me and ia challenge - like novels for example. I leave the bread and butter work to my PROZ coleagues. Who are exellent translators, whom I know personally, and as has been my own experience, get jobs by reference to this "leaders" chart which seperates the wheat from the chaff. (another biblical reference). Of course there are freeloaders who just ask and never! answer, which IMO isnt playing fair! All take and no give! I do it just to keep mentally agile, like crossword puzzles, and I find it fun! And of course good answers get put in the database for future reference, which can be very helpful. I suppose things in the UK are "as good as to be expected", keep well.
Thank you for clarifying the rules of the website a little, Tereza; i will consider making my next question for points after your explanation, though i really don't see the point in the point system (pun not intended but accepted). It is hard for me to imagine a client turning someone down because he is not in the leader board of Proz.com, but, then again, i'm new here.
On your point about the expression (a thorny answer this one) i don't know how often it is used in a derogatory sense, but i'm almost certain it is not ironic in the context i submitted it. It is used technically, in an explanation of a concept used by a philosopher (Kaufman), so no irony.
Would love to see more (and ironic) instances of it, for contrasting, if you have any?
Have a great post-Easter
Enjoy Proz Kudos, its fun! better than a crossword. Keep well!
PS - take a look at the pt En Leaders in the "league table" for me ha ha!
https://www.proz.com/?sp=leaders_new
Happy Easter to you too, with social distance and all. 🌸🐇🌸🐣🌸🐝🌸🥕🌸🌼 (Sorry, but I love emojis!)
Have a good easter and keep well in the UK?
First, it is used very descriptively of people who are extremely committed to something, that is, it is not judgmental of the person of whom it is said allowing space for the rest of the passage to "speak". Plus, it implies in this context that they are morally superior, which i believe the original expression does to.
Second, it preserves the biblical/religious undertone of the ST very well, especially given that the ST is a newspaper article meant for a wide audience, not only people particularly interested in religion.
Third, as an idiomatic expression, it avoids paraphrasing the ST, which is one of those widely held rules of thumb of translation practice. It makes use of a good idiomatic expression of Portuguese.
If i say of someone "Ele julga-se o dono da verdade, ou quê?", i am implying that he is not in fact right, or that he is wrong in believing his version of the facts. At least, that i disagree with him regardless of how well supported his answer is.
The same goes for "moralistas" (which was my first choice while translating tbh) or "pessoas que se julgam superiores". These expressions imply that they are not in fact morally superior. But the way i'm reading "holier-than-thou" is that those of whom we say that are, in fact, morally superior to us, or at least they act in such a way that they make us feel like they are. Their example shine on our moral shortcomings.
The use of "pessoas soberbas" preserves the idea that those people are morally superior, and keeps the biblical overtone, but implies that these people succumb to pride and boasting, ie, they commit a sin of some kind. I am looking for a more neutral expression given the rest of the text.
Judging a translation's quality using relative terms, instead of absolutist, is more close to good practices in translation, i believe.
Thank you for your input!