Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
Was nicht sein darf, kann auch nicht sein
English translation:
there's no need to worry about the unthinkable
Added to glossary by
Douglas Arnott
Jan 14, 2009 16:48
15 yrs ago
German term
German>English, Hungarian>English
Native in: English 
Works in: German to English, Hungarian to English, English to Hungarian
Was nicht sein darf, kann auch nicht sein
German to English
Bus/Financial
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Die vorsichtigen Schweizer waren übrigens die einzigen, die bereits im letzten Frühjahr ihre Kunden mit Krisen-Szenarien vertraut zu machen versuchten. „Wir erarbeiten schon für eine Reihe von Kunden Alternativ-Szenarien: Was machen wir bei einem 30-prozentigen Umsatz-Einbruch?“ Aber, so XY heute, viele wollten davon nichts wissen, nach dem Motto: Was nicht sein darf, kann auch nicht sein.
Appears in an article on the current crisis.
Appears in an article on the current crisis.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 | there's no need to worry about the unthinkable |
Ken Cox
|
| 5 +3 | "For, he reasons pointedly, that which cannot, must not be" |
John O'Brien
|
Proposed translations
3 hrs
Selected
there's no need to worry about the unthinkable
since we're taking another run at this, here's another prosaic rendering
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "This fits perfectly, thank you!"
+3
17 mins
John O'Brien
Native in English
Legal Translations from a Legal Expert
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English, Italian to English, and 2 more.
"For, he reasons pointedly, that which cannot, must not be"
Already answered by Michael Walker
Answer for Weil nicht sein kann was nicht sein darf
Answer for Weil nicht sein kann was nicht sein darf
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
BrigitteHilgner
: This sounds really good. ;-)
16 mins
|
| agree |
Sabine Lenz
: For sure.
57 mins
|
| neutral |
Ken Cox
: This may be OK in UK English, but it simply doesn't work in contemporary US English.
2 hrs
|
| disagree |
Aziz Hashmi
: with ken: this is very difficult to understand for the reader who lives in the 21st century. Sounds like bad Shakespeare to me. Absolutely inappropriate for the text given.
8 hrs
|
| agree |
Anne Schulz
: "Weil - so schließt er messerscharf - nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf." No bad Shakespeare, but good old Morgenstern.
14 hrs
|
| agree |
Ulrike Kraemer
: Disagree with Aziz here.
15 hrs
|
Discussion
http://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/law:_patents_tra...