# to go downhill



## fannikin

Ciao!
Mi è capitata questa frase: _Before he passed, although he had been a very strong young man, he went down hill rapidly._
_Prima di morire, nonostante fosse stato un giovane molto forte, ...._
Non capisco se vpglia dire, peggiorò rapidamente, o si depresse rapidamente.
Mi potete aiutare?
Grazie, Fannikin


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## Kraus

Prima di morire, benché fosse stato un giovane molto forte, deperì rapidamente.


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## fannikin

Grazie mille Kraus.
Ciao, F.


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## Kraus

Di nulla!


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## Angel.Aura

> _Before he passed, although he had been a very strong young man, he went down hill rapidly._


Per pura pignoleria:
downhill tutto attaccato.


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## cesca4

Hi everybody
I had a doubt about this use of downhill: ok, to go downhill means to worsen, but what about "to be downhill"? In Italian with this expression  we mean something that is getting easier and easier. The paragraph I found it in talks about a family who seems to be really succesful at the beginning, but later on get in troubles. Thanks in advance!


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## Einstein

You're right that the sense of "downhill" in English refers to the decline, so it's a negative concept, while in Italian it's positive because the descent is easy. I don't think we use it in this sense in English.


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## cesca4

Wow, ok, my mind couldn't catch it  Thanks!


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## GavinW

Einstein said:


> You're right that the sense of "downhill" in English refers to the decline, so it's a negative concept, while in Italian it's positive because the descent is easy. I don't think we use it in this sense in English.


 
I think we do, actually, Einstein: "From then on, it was downhill all the way", for example. (But maybe "all the way" is an esential part of this idiom, and has to be there.)
HTH


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## Einstein

Hmm... Yes, "downhill all the way" sounds right. Maybe there are other expressions too.


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## GavinW

From then on, it was downhill / It was downhill from then on
After that, it was all downhill


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## Necsus

*##### NEW QUESTION #####*​
Buondì, WRF!
Nel film 'Grease Live' (che credo sia ambientato a New York) ho trovato quest'espressione usata in un modo che mi fa nascere qualche dubbio su come tradurla. Queste sono le battute:

FRENCHY - Sandy just moved here all the way from Salt Lake City, Utah.
RIZZO - Salt Lake? That means you're one of those, uh...
SANDY - Skiers.
RIZZO - Well, *it's all downhill from here*.

Vorrei capire se è usata con significato letterale o figurato. Vuole dire forse che essendo una sciatrice per lei lì sarà tutto facile?
Grazie!


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## johngiovanni

It is a joke, a play on words, which works in English because of the meaning of the idiomatic expressions mentioned in posts 8-11 and the use of "downhill" in skiing contexts. So to translate that into an Italian sentence which would mean  literally something like "Being a skier, you will from now on find things easier" would not make much sense and would not convey the play on words.  I can find only one hit for "sarà tutto downhill", in the context of longboarding, but it is likely, I would have thought, that the English "downhill" would be understood by skiers of different nationalities.  So, perhaps "Allora, da ora in poi sarà per te tutto downhill" would be a possibility, but would still depend on some of the listeners actually getting the joke.
Edit: Would "Allora, da ora in poi il gioco sarà per te una discesa libera (,per così dire)!" work?


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## King Crimson

Credo che direi semplicemente _d'ora in poi / da qui in avanti è tutto in discesa_. Mi sembra che conservi abbastanza il gioco di parole dell'originale.


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## johngiovanni

Mi pare che la soluzione proposta da KC sia ottima.


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## King Crimson

Ne approfitto anche per segnalare che, secondo me, una traduzione idiomatica a questa espressione e sue varianti (v. post 9 - 11) sarebbe 'abbiamo scollinato'. Scollinare (letteralmente, 'passare da un versante all’altro di una collina') è un verbo usato soprattutto nel ciclismo, ma metaforicamente può essere utilizzato per indicare che è stato superato il punto / momento più difficile (la 'cima' della metaforica collina) e che da lì in avanti sarà tutto più facile.


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## johngiovanni

Ciao, KC.  I've just had a thought.  Do you think I / we have been missing some/ all of the joke here?  - That Rizzo is actually saying that the prospect of living in NY is not going to be wonderful?  I think we would still need to keep the "discesa", though, and would still go for your suggestion in post 14.  "Allora, avanti, sempre in discesa!"


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## King Crimson

Ciao jg, yes, I agree that keeping 'discesa' in the translation is our best bet for the dialogue posted by Necsus. My comment on 'scollinare' was just meant to give an additional option to translate this type of expressions.


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## johngiovanni

Thanks, KC.  He may be making a jokey reference to the impending rapid descent into moral corruption that Sandy is facing now she has come to the Big Apple after Salt Lake City.
(It's interesting that the previous sentence does not finish - "one of those...".  And actually I didn't expect "skiers" after that, but a reference to a religious group, and Sandy's completion of the question comes as a surprise. Rizzo thinks quickly and comes out with a witty remark.)


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## joanvillafane

We don't know what Rizzo meant but I had a different thought.  He was about to say, one of those... Mormons. And Sandy completes the sentence with "skiers," perhaps out of ignorance, perhaps to save him from an embarrassing comment.  (We would see "those Mormons" as rude when referring directly to someone of that faith.)  Maybe he thinks that being a Mormon, she would not consider dating him, so his chances with her are "downhill from here." 
If you're watching the video, I'm sure you can see a lot of visual clues that might make this clearer.

So many possibilities.


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## johngiovanni

Hi Joan.  Of course, I was also thinking about the same group, and on a similar wavelength about the morality issue, but your suggestion that it might be a reference to his chances with her seems very plausible.  But do you agree that the use of "discesa" is best kept in the translation?


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## joanvillafane

Well, I would never presume to advise Necsus on an Italian translation  but I think "discesa" definitely goes with "sciatrici."


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## You little ripper!

joanvillafane said:


> We don't know what Rizzo meant but I had a different thought.  He was about to say, one of those... Mormons. And Sandy completes the sentence with "skiers," perhaps out of ignorance, perhaps to save him from an embarrassing comment.  (We would see "those Mormons" as rude when referring directly to someone of that faith.)  Maybe he thinks that being a Mormon, she would not consider dating him, so his chances with her are "downhill from here."
> If you're watching the video, I'm sure you can see a lot of visual clues that might make this clearer.
> 
> So many possibilities.


That was my first thought, too, Joan. This website suggests that too:

Did You Catch the Mormon Moments in Grease: Live?

_In the film, Sandy Olsson is from Australia. In the live broadcast, Sandy Young is from Salt Lake City, Utah, which matches Julianne Hough’s real-life history. The actress, singer, and dancer grew up in Orem, Utah and while she no longer identifies with the LDS Church, members of her family still attend. 

While it is never stated implicitly that the character is Mormon, the cast hints at the large population of members in the Church._


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## King Crimson

Well, actually my suggestion at #14 is suitably ambiguous, so it could work also in the situation described by Joan.


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## Necsus

Thank you very much for your precious suggestions.
I agree with you about the figurative meaning of _discesa_ and the Mormons, in fact I hadn't understand the reason of that final "from here" before, but now I see that it probably means that her life in NY will be so much easier than the life among Mormons in Utah.


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## MStraf

I am not a skier, but I thought that "it's all downhill from here" meant "it is going to be *without any obstacles*", unlike the other alpine events (like slalom). Was I wrong?


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## rrose17

Strangely enough I think it can mean both "It's all smooth sailing from here on" i.e. easy without obstacles, or "It's only going to get worse from here on". It depends on the context. In Nexus, you can't really say without more.


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## johngiovanni

As KC said, his suggestion is suitably ambiguous.  I am inclined towards Joan's interpretation, and think that KC's translation is the best so far.

(Incidentally, I thought it was a great piece of TV).


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## MR1492

Just to be clear about the stage show _Grease_, it was originally based on Chicago's William Howard Taft School. (For our Italian friends, Taft was a President of the USA).  The authors of the story and music went to that school and wrote the musical about their experiences with "the greasers" who were the kids interested in cars.

Phil


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## Necsus

Thank you, Phil!


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