Del pie al deslizarse

[Tyrn]

Hi,

And it had all happened with the casual ease of slipping into a pair of sneakers on Saturday morning.

Y todo había ocurrido con tanta tranquilidad como la del pie al deslizarse en las zapatillas un sábado por la mañana.


Somehow I can't quite wrap my head around this. Is there some approach to this piece of grammar?

[aleCcowaN]

Y todo había ocurrido con la despreocupación de calzarse un par de zapatillas una mañana de sábado.

To slip into and out of garments translates into ponerse y quitarse abrigos, camisas, pantalones, faldas, medias, etc. and calzarse y descalzarse zapatos, zapatillas, pantuflas, etc.

[Tyrn]

Thanks!

Your suggestions are quite valuable. Still

Y todo había ocurrido con tanta tranquilidad como la del pie al deslizarse en las zapatillas un sábado por la mañana.

This sentence is not mine. It's composed presumably by a native speaker, probably from Spain; I've got it from a novel translated from English.

My question is about its particular grammar. Does it really look like a piece of nonsense?

[Rusty]

The original sentence makes sense, and contains correct grammar.
What part of the sentence don't you understand?

[Tyrn]

Originally Posted by Rusty

The original sentence makes sense, and contains correct grammar.
What part of the sentence don't you understand?

Y todo había ocurrido con tanta tranquilidad como la del pie al deslizarse en las zapatillas un sábado por la mañana.

del pie part is probably the most confusing

[Rusty]

tranquilidad (tranquility, peace, calm, serenity)
This is repeated in the sentence using the pronoun la, after como, when an example of serenity is then provided.
como la del pie (like when one's foot)
al deslizarse en (is being slipped into)

[Tyrn]

Thanks! That's exactly what I hoped for.

[aleCcowaN]

The text is from a translation of the novel It by Stephen King, which original wording is exactly as Tyrn quoted it in the opening post («And it had all happened with the casual ease of slipping into a pair of sneakers on Saturday morning.»). It was translated by Edith Zilli, from Santa Fe Province, Argentina.

The translation is too much close to the original text in English and a bit un-Spanish from a stylistic standpoint. It requires some creativity to find a text in Spanish that suggests the swiftly or unhindered act of "slipping into ones sneakers" used by King to describe Stanley so easily becoming incorporated and employing six people (that's why context is always needed in a forum when a question is asked). Maybe it should've been better to say "Y todo había ocurrido con la facilidad con la que uno se desliza en sus pantuflas al levantarse un sábado cualquiera". That would be the case of keeping the meaning and not the wording that one expects from a translation.

But we live in modern times...

[Rusty]

I like both of the translations Alec gave better than the "un-Spanish" one found in the book, to be sure, and I see why some confusion could arise (since 'foot' and other wording seemed out of place).

[Tyrn]

On the whole, the translator does not stick too closely to the English original.