Loosey-goosey

[JPablo]

—adj. Slang.
relaxed; calm; unperturbed: Despite the pressure, he was loosey-goosey throughout the game.

Any good ideas to translate it into Spanish?

Obviously, relajado; tranquilo; impasible, impertérrito; sin inmutarse...

All these should be valid. But is there any good Spanish synonym with the rhyming sound, or some other alliterative quality?

In a Spanish slang register I thought also of "tranqui" as in "tranqui, colega, ya encontraremos una solución" or "tranqui, tronco..."

Anyone inspired? :?:

[Tomisimo]

loosey-goosey
tranquilo (o tranquis)

relajado
sin ninguna preocupación en el mundo
muy (demasiado) casual
muy impreciso
sin definición ni dirección (con conotación negativa)
juguetón
tonto


Check out Google news for some sample usage (http://news.google.com/news/search?q=loosey-goosey).

[JPablo]

Hey, thank you very much!
Your options are great, but also the sample usage link you put is awesome. At a glance I got 'laissez-faire' / 'laisser-aller' which will work in many contexts, in Spanish (even if it is a French expression...). This is no loosey-goosey activity, translating, it is a laser precise one... :)

[Tomisimo]

This is no loosey-goosey activity, translating, it is a laser precise one...
That is for sure.

[Chris]

In English it is more often (at least where I'm from) referred to a female who is promiscuous. She is loosey-goosey. Or simply.. She is loose. Sorry if this is taboo here. I know it shouldn't be permitted that someone use swear words but I also feel like a person should be educated in case someone was calling his mom what he thought was "relaxed."

[Elaina]

De acuerdo. Solo he escuchado esa frase para querer decir que es "una mujer facilita".

Pero quizás estoy en un error.

:eek:

[JPablo]

The above seems correct, but the term can be used in many contexts as well.
One example from the web,
Arnie, a loosey-goosey man with a corny sense of humor, had been everyone's favorite school teacher; now he was retired and taught computer classes in his basement to neighborhood children. :)

[Chris]

I would still assume that Arnie was a promiscuous man or a pervert and would not let my children near his basement. Sorry but maybe it's one of those older words that change meaning over time.

[JPablo]

Okay, Chris, you're the A. English native speaker, so I definitely appreciate your input... I take it gets associated with that type of idea more often than not, but for example in the contexts of rifles and guns I get this Google quotation,
"I would rather have a loosey-goosey old Colt with a well fitted barrel and bushing than an overly tight,..."
And fine, one can get Freudian too, and give figurative meanings to a "Colt", but on a rugby context, that becomes more difficult, (quote)
really annoyed at loosey goosey old rugby code right now. (unquote)
At any rate, I just searched a few more contexts for the expression, and while not restricted, it tends to be more derogatory than not...

The egg industry is clearly not above playing "loosey goosey" with rhetoric that makes it sound like they're concerned with more than just profit.
Or
Where can I buy the version that says he ran a loosey goosey and unprofessional Athletic Department which lead to serious NCAA sanctions in both Football and Basketball before being fired?
Or,
“I was loosey goosey about the church.”
Or
They don't seem to be "loosey-goosey" about anything,

So, well, that was an interesting exercise. :)

[Elaina]

Well to tell you the truth I don't really think anyone uses that term in every day speaking.

And.........Arnie was a goosey-lossey man sure sounds like a weird way to describe someone...... maybe.... Arnie was a laid-back man with a corny sense of humor, etc.. just seems more "clean"

Who knows!!

;)

[JPablo]

Thank you Elaine, I understand. (Luckily, the context where I needed to translate the expression is very clear... so I am happy with the understanding of these words... as well as the many implications and connotations it may include...) :)

[Chris]

Oh by the way. After trying to convince you not to use that word because I had never heard it mean calm and relaxed I heard someone use it on tv in that context. I thought it was weird heh. It was on the TV show Singing Bee and the guy was nervous. The host told him to be loosey-goosey.

[Elaina]

Was it a kid's show?

[hermit]

Hi Elaina,

Not a strange term, easily understood, "loose as a goose", eh? Although definitely not used a lot coast to coast, sure can have a lot of applications...

[poli]

I agree with Hermit. Loose as a goose is a common term for someone who is easy going especially in a sexual manner. Loosey goosey is not a term I have heard much, but it sounds kind of whimsical to me. Perhaps it isn't used much on the east coast.

[Chris]

Was it a kid's show?

No. It is a show where people get selected from the crowd and sing parts of songs.

[JPablo]

Well, thank you all for the excellent data on the usage of this term/expression... :)

[Chris]

De nada.

[pjt33]

To add to the data, BNC includes no instances of "loosy", "loosey", "loosey-goosey", "goosy". It has 9 of "goosey", all of which refer either to geese or to names.

COCA has 26 instances of "loosey-goosey", but I can't work out from the limited context what all of them mean.

[Elaina]

The term became famous after "The Sky is Falling" story, right? So maybe that is why I associate it with a kid's program. But you know how society is....we just have to turn it into something naughty!

Funny how the other characters' names have not had the same fate as "Loosey Goosey".

Live and learn!

:)