apron saying

Discussion in 'Vocabulary & Translation Help' started by dzurisova, Mar 11, 2011.

  1. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    Hi all

    I'm still searching for a clever saying to put on an apron for my friend who build his own smoker and often throws parties where he smokes sausage. Soundczech on Radio Praha says that the saying, "je mi to buřt" literally translates it's sausage to me, but means "it doesn't matter" or "it's all the same".

    My question is would a Czech person read it and think it translates something like "Whatever". In the States, we say "whatever" meaning, "who really cares" If someone wore a shirt that simply said "Whatever" it would imply that the person is a care free person who doesn't care about rules or social norms or perhaps doesn't care about what you have to say when you're babbling on about religion or politics, etc.

    If you, a czech, saw someone with a shirt or apron or something that simply said "je mi to buřt", would it give the same impression described above - whatever?
     
  2. wer

    wer Well-Known Member

    This kind of persons is called "vrchní udič" in Czech. :D

    Pay attention to the "to me" part, it's essential.

    "Je mi to buřt" is just emotive paraphrase of neutral phrase "je mi to jedno" (lit. "it is one thing to me"). I don't know why "buřt" is used quite nonsensically for this purpose, but we know for sure it wasn't Czech idea. It originates from German "Es ist mir Wurst" (= "It's sausage to me") which comes analogically from German "Es is mir egal" (= It's all the same to me. / It makes no difference to me.). You can google for various explanations of the German expression, the Czech usage is identical.

    While Czech word "buřt" comes from German "Wurst", it is not of identical meaning. For Czechs, "buřt" is rather a specific kind of sausage than sausage in general. "Buřt" is smoked meats, but the link to smoking needn't be obvious to Czech Pepík who thinks of buřt in the same way as Average Joe American of marshmallow.

    Context is everything. The Czech saying on its own is just statement of personal attitude. It means "I have no preference / I'm indifferent about it".

    It could mean that you are not concerned at all ("who really cares" / "I couldn't care less" / "I don't give a damn"), but also that you are actually concerned while being indifferent about some subsidiary problem ("It's your choice", "It's up to you", "I will respect your choice"... "Do whatever you want, but do something"... "I don't give a damn about the means - I want the results.").

    With no context it would give the impression that the person is apathetic.

    The link to actual sausage is practically non-existent, it's just a word chosen at random and you can use many other words (buřt, vuřt, fuk, šumafuk, šumák, ukradený, u prdele...) in the same way. You can even invent a word on the spot or just make a pause instead of the word and the effect is the same. The only function of the word is to express emotion or to replace a taboo word with that function.
     
  3. dzurisova

    dzurisova Well-Known Member

    hmmm, I guess I keep looking. I don't need it til July anyway, it's for a Name Day present. Thanks for your help Wer. Let me know if you come up with some cute/clever saying for the apron. :)

    Somewhere on it, it has to say "Mita the Moravian" but that doesn't necessarily have to fit into the clever saying. That can fit into the saying or just be on the apron somewhere.

    Thanks for your help :)
     

Share This Page