Disenfranchised

[aleCcowaN]

Can the word disenfranchised be used in the sense of Spanish desposeídos? I mean, to allude to the underprivileged, or common people considered like having no well-being, no opportunities and no voice in important affairs.

[JPablo]

Let's see what English native speakers have to say, but I don't think so.

desposeído = deprived, discriminated against, underprivileged; lacking certain necessities

To disenfranchise means 1. to deprive (a person) of a right of citizenship, as of the right to vote.
Or 2. to deprive of a franchise, privilege, or right.

Oxford gives for "los desposeídos" = the poor and needy, the destitute, the dispossessed.

[Rusty]

I would say no.

[pjt33]

My instinct was to say yes, but the examples of the broader sense which I find in BNC almost all qualify the adjective with «effectively» or «in effect».

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you all, I thought so but it seemed to match so well the dialogue. Here's a transcript, maybe this'll help to find an equivalent in Spanish:

Oliver Queen - "I am Oliver Queen, right? People would stand in line for 3 hours if I opened a club."
Bodyguard - "And no one who actually lives in The Glades would see a penny of those cover charges."
OQ - "We make it a successful business, we gentrify the neighbourhood."
B - "I was wondering when we would get to that. The white knight swooping in to save the disenfranchised. And all by his lonesome with no help from anybody."
OQ - "Wow! You don't think very much of me, do you?"
B - "No, sir, actually, I have a very high regard for how ... perceptive you are ... Sir."

The term disenfranchised sounded to me like "commoners in distress" so I automatically understood it like Spanish desposeídos, which is a common collocation in such cases: para enmendar/corregir una injusticia | para hacer justicia a los desposeídos. Desposeído also suppose having being demoted, dispossessed or deprived of titles, charges, properties and even fame or honour.

[chileno]

Desprivilegiados, no?

EDIT: I hate my fingers and my eyes too. That's all I can say in my behalf.

[aleCcowaN]

But that would be unprivileged. The problem is the figurative use of these terms in politics, in both languages.

Looking up in other fora, I found, for example, someone asks about "Hill found that some of her respondents felt disenfranchised by the news, rather than publicly connected" and the answer explains that "the news made some people feel that they had no power to influence things as citizens". I instantly though of "dejados de lado". In a different instance somebody with a good grasp of the exact meaning of the word explains that "economic disenfranchisement" means "to be excluded from the process of creating or distributing wealth: the loss of access to employment, credit, funding; the inability to trade or start a business, etc."...

I think I found it! A common word that I should be smacked in the face for forgetting: marginados.

[JPablo]

Actually in the context, I think that "marginados" may work fine... (even "desposeídos" could probably be "acceptable")

The first thing I thought was "los que han sido/fueron privados de sus derechos", "a quienes se les ha arrebatado todo derecho"

In some other context, even "segregados" could work... discriminados... desfavorecidos... menos favorecidos... los no privilegiados... los plebeyos y sans-culottes...

[chileno]

Yo sigo pensando en la gente a la cual se le han quitado privilegios.

[JPablo]

Pues, eso, marginados. (Y en un tono condescendiente, la chusma, la plebe... pero depende del punto de vista...)

[chileno]

No necesariamente la chusma. Qué tál un abogado a quien le han quitado el derecho/privilegio de ejercer por alguna razón, temporal o permanentemente?

Para mí es un desprivilegiado, no?

[JPablo]

No, claro, lo decía de chunga, de broma... (desde otro punto de vista.)

Pero creo que "desprivilegiado" no aparece en los diccionarios... aunque se entiende... pero un abogado "que se ha enajenado de sus derechos consuetudinarios" o "ha sido desposeído de sus derechos" sería un "disenfranchised lawyer"...

[chileno]

Originally Posted by JPablo

No, claro, lo decía de chunga, de broma... (desde otro punto de vista.)

Pero creo que "desprivilegiado" no aparece en los diccionarios... aunque se entiende... pero un abogado "que se ha enajenado de sus derechos consuetudinarios" o "ha sido desposeído de sus derechos" sería un "disenfranchised lawyer"...

Más que perfecto.

Y Alec le pegó en el clavo con ese "marginado".

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by JPablo

No, claro, lo decía de chunga, de broma... (desde otro punto de vista.)

Pero creo que "desprivilegiado" no aparece en los diccionarios... aunque se entiende... pero un abogado "que se ha enajenado de sus derechos consuetudinarios" o "ha sido desposeído de sus derechos" sería un "disenfranchised lawyer"...

Disbarred.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by pjt33

Disbarred.

Ah, yes. That's the "proper" name. Right?

[JPablo]

Sí, "que lo han echao del bar"

Well, all kidding aside, (and CORRECT ME if I am WRONG) "disbarred" I believe it's stronger than "disenfranchised".

If as a lawyer you are "disbarred" you are expelled from the legal profession or from the bar of a particular court.

"Disenfranchised" implies that you don't have the right to vote or other privileges or rights, but not necessarily "expelled"

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by JPablo

Sí, "que lo han echao del bar"

Well, all kidding aside, (and CORRECT ME if I am WRONG) "disbarred" I believe it's stronger than "disenfranchised".

If as a lawyer you are "disbarred" you are expelled from the legal profession or from the bar of a particular court.

"Disenfranchised" implies that you don't have the right to vote or other privileges or rights, but not necessarily "expelled"

Bueno, entonces hay dos posibilidades: o el ser abogado no tiene naa que ver, o se trata de algún castigo que no conozco ni sospechaba que existiera.