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- Idioms & Sayings (http://forums.tomisimo.org/forumdisplay.php?f=30)

- - Great call (http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=11418)

Quote:

"¿Tenía el presidente alguna alternativa esta vez? Sí. Para empezar, podría y debería haber pedido un aumento del techo de endeudamiento allá en diciembre pasado.

Cuando le preguntaron por qué no lo hizo, respondió que estaba seguro de que los republicanos actuarían con responsabilidad. Seguí participando."

(emphasis added)

The phrase in bold is what you usually get from a promotional campaign where each bottle or wrap may contain a prize, like "another free beer" or "you won the trip to the World's Cup with four of your friends", and most of the times "seguí participando", that is the verbal render of that dua-dua-dua tune you get when you miss, and that can be translated as "you got nothing but keep your money coming anyway, sucker".

That was strange enough for me to look for the original article. The original paragraph reads (emphasis added):

Quote:

First of all, he could and should have demanded an increase in the debt ceiling back in December. When asked why he didn’t, he replied that he was sure that Republicans would act responsibly. Great call.

So, my questions are:

a) What does "great call" mean?
b) What does "great call" mean in the context of that article?
c) Was the translation good?
d) What is the English equivalent to "seguí participando" in that kind of campaigns with prizes? (It would be glad to get an answer like "we're too evolved to have such campaigns", but I'm afraid that wouldn't be the point)

Quote:

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN (Post 114762)

I was just reading a column in today's newspaper: "La catastrófica claudicación de Obama", a translation of Paul Krugman's "The President Surrenders" in The New York Times, yesterday [here], and I found this paragraph:
The phrase in bold is what you usually get from a promotional campaign where each bottle or wrap may contain a prize, like "another free beer" or "you won the trip to the World's Cup with four of your friends", and most of the times "seguí participando", that is the verbal render of that dua-dua-dua tune you get when you miss, and that can be translated as "you got nothing but keep your money coming anyway, sucker".

That was strange enough for me to look for the original article. The original paragraph reads (emphasis added):

So, my questions are:

a) What does "great call" mean?
b) What does "great call" mean in the context of that article?
c) Was the translation good?
d) What is the English equivalent to "seguí participando" in that kind of campaigns with prizes? (It would be glad to get an answer like "we're too evolved to have such campaigns", but I'm afraid that wouldn't be the point)

Great call is used sarcastically here. ¡Great call! means something like ídecisión astuto!

I think sigue participando translates to try again (which is a euphemism for
you lose, try again)

Quote:

Originally Posted by poli (Post 114772)

Great call is used sarcastically here. ¡Great call! means something like ídecisión astuto!

I agree with poli that "great call" is most-likely used sarcastically here. However, the expression is not automatically sarcastic: it is also commonly used as a compliment.

Thank you, guys! So it is sort of "¡Qué astuto!" but, what does "great call" usually mean?

Quote:

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN (Post 114787)

Thank you, guys! So it is sort of "¡Qué astuto!" but, what does "great call" usually mean?

It suggests that someone has made an excellent choice when presented with two or more alternatives. When used sarcasitcally, it implies that one made a poor choice from among the alternatives and has suffered the consequences of that poor choice.

Me suena a algo así como "Gran dicho. / Gran(diosa) frase. / Gran acierto. / Alto acierto. (Arg.)" de forma sarcástica y debe referirse al hecho de que dijo estar seguro de que los republicanos actuarían con responsabilidad.

In a horse race a great call would be if you pick a winner.

In sports, if correctly predict which team will win.(Great call!)

When you correctly predict how a person will react to something.

The word call under a few circumstances means decision.
Example: It's your call can mean it's your decision simultaneously
implying that you hold all the responsibilities for the decision.

Thank you again. I had heard that expression several times before but I let the context to explain by itself without paying attention to details.

If I was to translate it within that context, I'd have two groups of expressions. The first one including extremely ironic expressions -painfully ironic, I'd add- : "Profético" (formal, mockingly ironic), "¡Qué ojo clínico!" (less formal, less ironic), or the Mexican phrase "¿Qué comes que adivinas?"

The other group includes very ironic expressions but they preserve the person's image -what I think Krugman is trying to do there-. This includes: "¡Qué acertado!" and variations on what Cuholvke proposed.

I go with "¡Qué ojo clínico!" -the eye of a doctor who diagnoses a patient just with simple observation, with clinical tests made just to confirm it-.

That newspaper (La Nación) has so many mistakes that sickens me. I would change it but the others are increasingly bad too, or good but with a narrower scope.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN (Post 114807)

Thank you again. I had heard that expression several times before but I let the context xtox explain it by itself without paying attention to details.

If I were to translate it within that context, I'd have two groups of expressions. The first one including extremely ironic expressions -painfully ironic, I'd add- : "Profético" (formal, mockingly ironic), "¡Qué ojo clínico!" (less formal, less ironic), or the Mexican phrase "¿Qué comes que adivinas?"

The other group includes very ironic expressions but they preserve the person's image -what I think Krugman is trying to do there-. This includes: "¡Qué acertado!" and variations on what Cuholvke proposed.

I go with "¡Qué ojo clínico!" -the eye of a doctor who diagnoses a patient just with simple observation, with clinical tests made just to confirm it-.

That newspaper (La Nación) has so many mistakes that it sickens me. I would change it but the others are increasingly bad too, or good but with a narrower scope.

Me parece que entiendas que Krugman coincide con las filosofía de Obama
pero le tiene rabia porque en su opinion Obama dejó que sus oponentes
le qane al costo de los ciudadanos más vulnerable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by poli (Post 114816)

Me parece que entiendas que Krugman coincide con las filosofía de Obama
pero le tiene rabia porque en su opinion Obama dejó que sus oponentes
le ganara al costa de los ciudadanos más vulnerables.

Lo entiendo, pero lo que me temo es que están armando un baile de órdago al cual estaremos todos no sólo invitados sino obligados a asistir. Lehman Brothers es un frijol al lado de la que se viene. 2014 va a ser un buen año para mudarse a Marte y mirar lo que pasa acá de los más entretenido.