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Funktionswichtigkeit

Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Alltagstristesse

English translation:

sordid details

Added to glossary by Susanne O'Connell
Mar 10, 2015 13:36
9 yrs ago
2 viewers *
German term

Alltagstristesse

German to English Art/Literary Journalism Newspaper article
Die herausragende Erscheinung in diesem Mordprozess, der mit Alltagstristesse wenig sparsam umgeht, ist der kroatische Dolmetscher.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 sordid details
4 +8 litany of everyday misery
4 day-to-day dreariness ( or gloominess )
3 +1 dismal existence
3 +1 dishes out large doses of mundane reality
3 world-weary apathy/jadedness/lethargy
3 distress of daily life

Discussion

Yorkshireman Mar 12, 2015:
The case against melancholy rests! As Lancsman has just so lucidly illustrated by posting the original text, there is absolutely nothing melancholy about any aspect of this case.

An observer may indeed have become melancholic after aurally and visually experiencing the proceedings, but the handling of the case in all its gory details is the likely cause, much more so than a "melancholy" at the root of the crime as supposed here by others.

It tells of dereliction, hate, brutality and unbridled violence, the voyeurism of observers, the superficial and supercilious attitudes of the judiciary and the media in concentrating on trivia like the style of the ashtray and the dismal/sordid milieu in which the murder happened (or was, perhaps, de facto, the cause), rather than treating the defendant as "innocent until proven guilty" - which the interpreter did.

A couple (or more) definitions of melancholy to be going on with
noun, plural melancholies.
1. a gloomy state of mind, especially when habitual or prolonged; depression.
2. sober thoughtfulness; pensiveness.
3. Archaic. The condition of having too much black bile, considered in ancient and medieval medicine to cause gloominess and depression. black bile.
Lancashireman Mar 11, 2015:
And still the posted extract is being misread: Unter dem Titel «Elend, Hass und ein Aschenbecher» beschrieb ein bekannter österreichischer Gerichtsreporter und Buchautor einen Mordprozess: Der angeklagten Frau wurde vorgeworfen, auf den Schädel ihres Mannes zuerst mit einem Aschenbecher eingeschlagen und den Mann anschliessend erwürgt zu haben. Der Mordprozess war ein grosses Medienereignis, ganze Schulklassen sind zuhören gekommen; von der Staatsanwaltschaft und den Medien wurde der Aschenbecher als «Bleikristallaschenbecher» bezeichnet. Jedenfalls beginnt und endet die Gerichtskolumne in der Tageszeitung Der Standard mit der Dolmetschung. Hier der Anfang des Artikels:
Die herausragende Erscheinung in diesem Mordprozess, der mit Alltagstristesse wenig sparsam umgeht, ist der kroatische Dolmetscher. Vor den Augen von ein paar Dutzend Schülern, denen hier eine neue Dimension des Grauens zugemutet wird, rückt er mit seinem Sessel ganz nah an die Angeklagte Ivanka heran und nimmt mit ihr einen erstaunlich zarten und vertraulichen Dialog auf.
http://www.gerichte-zh.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Dokumente/ob...
Lancashireman Mar 11, 2015:
Horst Unfortunately, the link to the original article has now been deleted. The Croatian interpreter is praised for his solicitous manner towards the accused. Some of the voters en passant here would have benefited from reading through the article in its entirety.
Horst Huber (X) Mar 11, 2015:
I assume everyone realized before me that the German sentence is poorly constructed, making one think it is the translator who will not spare us the depressing details, rather than the court procedure as such? "Mit etwas sparsam umgehen" would normally be said of a person, less likely of an impersonal agent, but not of an event.
Ramey Rieger (X) Mar 10, 2015:
Other options are cynicism or indifference, although I believe jadedness covers it well.

Proposed translations

+3
23 mins
Selected

sordid details

der mit Alltagstristesse wenig sparsam umgeht > which is not sparing on sordid details

http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/sordid
http://derstandard.at/1494790

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 24 mins (2015-03-10 14:01:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The sordid details of this case, with its shocking revelations of violence, cruelty, and horrific sexual abuse, would be tough for any investigator to stomach. But for Seattle Homicide Detective J.P. Beaumont, the most damning piece of the murderous puzzle will shake him to his very core—because what will be revealed to him is nothing less than the true meaning of unrepentant evil.
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780061999284/improbable-caus...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 45 mins (2015-03-10 14:22:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or squalid banality
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hcQXFwvOeDMC&pg=PA62&lpg...
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0qUJ-JuSPdQC&pg=PA982&lp...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2015-03-10 19:22:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The current leader (everyday misery) is a rather literal translation of 'Alltags-'. It reminds me of the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap: The Archers - an everyday story of country folk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archers
If the answer to this question were so straightforward, I doubt whether it would have been put.
Alternative suggestion
an unremitting tale of woe
19 examples here: https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&as_q="unremitting tale...
I think that either 'banal' or 'unremitting' better captures the idea of Alltag than 'everyday'.
unremitting: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/unremitti...

Also, I am not convinced that 'Tristesse' refers solely to the emotional state of the main players.
Note from asker:
Thank you, that's what I was looking for :)
Peer comment(s):
agree seehand : eher das zweite, Alltagstristesse is more about gloom and grime ...
36 mins
neutral philgoddard : These fit the context, but the problem is they're not what the German says.//I'm suggesting something like "with its litany of everyday misery" for "der mit Alltagstristesse wenig sparsam umgeht". And yes, it is the everyday norm, hence "Alltags".
58 mins
neutral Kim Metzger : Mit etwas "wenig sparsam" umgehen sounds like a "litany" of something. "Misery" or "gloom" appears to be the everyday norm in the lives of these people.
2 hrs
agree Donald Jacobson
1 day 9 hrs
neutral Michael Martin, MA : With Phil.That’s a tempting interpretation given the context. But that’s not what Alltagstristesse conjures up. The source text may have to be changed first..
1 day 9 hrs
agree Yorkshireman : Naahs wunn, ahr kid!
5 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
23 mins

world-weary apathy/jadedness/lethargy



OR:

blasé atmosphere
Example sentence:

...in which jadedness abounds...blanketed in world-weary apathy...

Something went wrong...
1 hr

day-to-day dreariness ( or gloominess )

Straight translation
Something went wrong...
+8
1 hr

litany of everyday misery

From the context provided by Lancashireman, words like "dreariness" and "apathy" clearly don't fit the bill. This is about suffering, which is another possible translation.
Peer comment(s):
agree TonyTK : Depending on your philosophical bent. Hobbes, anyone? ("[life is] solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.")
11 mins
agree writeaway
47 mins
agree Kim Metzger : "wenig sparsam" umgehen sounds like a "litany" of something.
1 hr
agree Shivaun Conroy
1 hr
agree Armorel Young
1 hr
agree Gudrun Wolfrath
2 hrs
agree Johanna Timm, PhD : this captures the melancholy in 'tristesse' quite well
1 day 7 hrs
agree Adam Kiolle
1 day 18 hrs
Something went wrong...
7 hrs

distress of daily life

"The Croatian interpreter is the towering presence in this murder trial where the distress of daily life is little spared."

Just another take...
Something went wrong...
+1
18 hrs

dismal existence

The Croatian interpreter paints a lurid portrait/picture of the murderer’s dismal existence and leaves out none of the gory details.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day2 hrs (2015-03-11 16:30:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or, for a bit of alliteration, "the dismal details"
Peer comment(s):
neutral Johanna Timm, PhD : It's the court proceedings that *paint* the "Alltagstristesse", not the interpreter - see Horst's comment in the discussion field/ sorry, not quite! 'Litany' captures the feeling of melancholy better//http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tristesse
11 hrs
Yes, I saw it and agree. But dismal existence and dismal details are still quite viable answers - n'est ce pas? // It's anything but melancholic - it's brutal, dismal, harrowing, sordid, gruesome - like Zille's milieu pictures of Berli
agree Lancashireman : with "leaves out none of the details"
4 days
Something went wrong...
+1
1 day 9 hrs

dishes out large doses of mundane reality

That's how I would do it:

"The most colorful person at this murder trial, which dishes out large doses of mundane reality, is the Croatian interpreter.(At the murder trial, which dishes out large doses of mundane reality, the most colorful appearance is that of the Croatian interpreter)"

..or perhaps something along the lines of ..

"..provides no shortage of mundane depictions of everyday life/spares no details of mundane (dull/grubby) daily existence





Peer comment(s):
agree Lancashireman : with "spares no details..."
4 days
Something went wrong...
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