# was du bei manchen Kerlen für eine Aufmerksamkeit verursachst.



## phew

Hi,

I'm translating a passage and having trouble understanding two sentences. The first one I think I get the gist, but I'm at a loss for the second. The scene takes place between two people in a club.

Wir haben uns die ganze Zeit schon darüber amüsiert,was du bei manchen Kerlen für eine Aufmerksamkeit verursachst. Ich wurde ausgewählt, um dich anzusprechen, damit den notgeilen Typen vor Neid der Saft stecken bleibt.

We've been laughing the whole time as you grab all the attention of all the guys. I was picked to talk to you so the juice remains hidden in the horny guys?

Thanks for your help.


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## perpend

Just my understanding/interpretation.

We've found it quite interesting/amusing how you seem be the focus of attention for numerous guys here. I was chosen to talk to you so that the really desperate guys stop drooling, due to jealousy.

EDIT: Cross-posted with ayuda.


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## ayuda?

*Your Quote:* Wir haben uns die ganze Zeit schon darüber amüsiert,was du bei manchen Kerlen für eine Aufmerksamkeit verursachst.
Ich wurde ausgewählt, um dich anzusprechen, damit den notgeilen Typen vor Neid der Saft stecken bleibt.
*
Just my take on this [a somewhat loose translation]:*

We've been laughing the whole time at how[found it funny/amusing how]  you attract the attention of many of the guys.

I was picked to talk to you so those horny guys who are hot for you [vor Neid] don’t get all excited [der Saft stecken bleibt] ----->[See link] [you could get a little more graphic…if you know what I mean!


saft translation English | German dictionary | Reverso
sl_(=Sperma) _*spunk vulg*


*Note:* cross-posted with perpend


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## manfy

phew said:


> ... damit den notgeilen Typen vor Neid der Saft stecken bleibt.


 
That sounds like a normal, spontaneous figure of speech in this context. I never heard it that way, but the rough meaning seems obvious.

"notgeil" = ultra-horny with a connotation of needy, desperate
"der Saft stecken bleibt" is a wordplay on "damit ihnen der Brocken im Hals stecken bleibt", and in connection with "notgeil", Saft can only mean cum or pre-cum.

I'll leave it up to you to find an idiomatic equivalent in English 

PS: I just had a thought: ' cum or spunk' is certainly too vulgar and too direct to be funny. Could "sap" work? Does it allow connotations of recreationally used reproductive fluids??
...so that they'll choke on their sap out of envy. (or something along those lines)


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## perpend

manfy said:


> Saft can only mean cum or pre-cum.
> 
> I'll leave it up to you to find an idiomatic equivalent in English



You could say "stop their juices from flowing", but your statement, manfy is odd for me that "Saft can only mean cum or pre-cum".

I think that that is not allowing for non-literal usages, and/or, creative usage of "Saft". 

The "Saft" could be in their mind. Or, alternatively, are they really sitting in the club getting pre-cum and/or "coming" in the club, in this context? Ick and gross.

You lost me there.


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## manfy

perpend said:


> I think that that is not allowing for non-literal usages, and/or, creative usage of "Saft".


 
Yes, see my edit above. "cum" wouldn't work as translation, even though that may have been one of the intended connotations.


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## perpend

_(Oh, I had not seen your edit, till just now. Thanks.)
_
"sap" sounds odd/weird, for what it's worth.


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## manfy

For what it's worth: also the German expression is not something that everybody would understand the same way. That's the thing with figures of speech. If you have a dirty mind, your thoughts go in one direction and if you don't, they might go in the opposite direction.
There's probably no way to translate it in a literal way and retain all possible, potential connotations and, on top of all, being also idiomatic in the target language. Just pick the best compromise!


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## Kajjo

phew said:


> Wir haben uns die ganze Zeit schon darüber amüsiert, was du bei manchen Kerlen für eine Aufmerksamkeit verursachst.


_ We've been laughing the whole time as you grab all the attention of all the guys.
_
Yes, that quite good. Some notes:

(1) all the guys > several guys, a lot of guys

(2) Is "grab the attention" passive enough to fit? She gets the attention probably unwillingly. They guys are attracted to her, not she does not actively draw the attention. Are there other verbs that go with attention that could work here?



> Ich wurde ausgewählt, um dich anzusprechen, damit den notgeilen Typen vor Neid der Saft stecken bleibt.


_I was picked to talk to you so the juice remains hidden in the horny guys?_

(1)  _to talk to you _> to address/approach you -- the focus is on having the courage to approach the girl and open up the talk. Can that be expressed better in English?

(2) _horny guys > notgeile Typen_ -- that's fine.

(3) _vor Neid der Saft stecken bleibt --  _Yes, I agree with manfy that this is at least a clear pun on "juice > cum". However, _Saft_ is in German not vulgar at all and is NOT a typical word used for semen in this context. This "der Saft vor Neid stecken bleiben" is a nonce-creation, invented for this once and only usage. Thus, an English equivalent could also be a "peculiar" wording.

Suggestion for our English natives to rate:

_..., so that envy makes the horny guys bog down.
..., so that the juices of the horny guys get stuck out of envy._


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## bearded

A question to perpend: in this case, what is more appropriate in English, _out of jealousy _or _out of envy?_  I should think that 'jealousy' (Eifersucht) is not fully correct here.  The other guys 'envy' (beneiden) me because I am talking with the girl. The text says ''vor Neid''.


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## Kajjo

@BM: Very good question. I got lured into using jealousy by the preceding posts, but it does not sound too wrong to me.

In German, the distinction is much more clear:

Neid ... you want to have what the other one has (things, properties, compentences, even girl friends).

Eifersucht ... painful emotion if a social relationship appears to be in danger, e.g. if love or attention is directed at some else instead of you


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## manfy

Good question, BM. I researched that a couple of years ago, and the general consensus seemed to be that you should use 'envy' only in the context of objects and 'jealousy' in relation to feelings for people.
I intentionally used (or maybe misused) 'out of envy' in my suggestion above, because in this scenario the word 'jealous' just feels wrong and it might be a primary reason for this (otherwise generally innovative) pick-up line to fail. It's the same in German, "Eifersucht" and "Neid" have a very very different ring to it.
But I'm also curious how perpend or other native speakers look at this.

[cross-posted with Kajjo]


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## berndf

perpend said:


> but your statement, manfy is odd for me that "Saft can only mean cum or pre-cum".


It is simply the way it is. It might strike _you personally_ as odd but this does not affect the way the expression would be understood by any native speaker.


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## Kajjo

I agree with manfy and Berndf. _Saft_ can only mean semen ("cum") here, but the term itself is not as clear -- its a play of words with only one "juice" coming to mind in this context.


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## berndf

bearded man said:


> A question to perpend: in this case, what is more appropriate in English, _out of jealousy _or _out of envy?_  I should think that 'jealousy' (Eifersucht) is not fully correct here.  The other guys 'envy' (beneiden) me because I am talking with the girl. The text says ''vor Neid''.


_Envy_ includes at least to some degree the notion of _jealousy _but _jealousy _does not include the notion of _envy _(though it doesn't exclude it either). The same is true for the concept pair _Neid _and _Eifersucht_.

So, _Neid=envy_ is in my mind the only correct translation, even if _Neid _includes some notion of _jealousy._


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## Kajjo

I agree that _envy_ is the only correct word here. In German, _Neid_ is very clearly defined.


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## Kajjo

manfy said:


> you should use 'envy' only in the context of objects and 'jealousy' in relation to feelings for people.


*Exkurs auf Deutsch:*

Neid und Eifersucht sind ja zwei grundsätzlich völlig verschiedene Gefühle, die in uns ganz unterschiedliche körperliche und psychische Reaktionen hervorrufen.

Eifersucht richtet sich auf Gefühle. Neid richtet sich auf materielle oder immaterielle Güter.

Die Grundaussage von Neid ist "das möchte ich auch haben". Neid richtet sich auf "Dinge im weitesten Sinne", die andere Menschen besitzen und die man auch gerne hätte, z.B. Besitz, Fähigkeiten, Eigenschaften oder sogar Freundin oder Familienverhältnisse. Es überlappen sich manchmal Gefühle von Missgunst oder Habgier, die jedoch klar abgegrenzt werden sollten.

Die Grundaussage von Eifersucht ist, "diese Gefühle sollten auf mich gerichtet sein statt auf jemand anderen". Eifersucht heißt, man spürt, dass eine einem wichtige soziale Beziehung von Einschränkung oder Verlust bedroht ist, z.B. der Chef wertschätzt einen Kollegen mehr, die Mutter liebt die Schwester mehr, die Freundin wirft ihren Blick auf einen anderen Mann, der Tanzpartner tanzt lieber mit einer anderen.

*Summary in English:*

There are two distinct emotions that are clearly defined with respect to mental and physical reactions of our bodies. In German these two distinct emotions have two different terms that are clearly separated and usually are not mixed-up by common people.

_Eifersucht_ is about emotions directed to others, _Neid_ is about material or immaterial goods of others.

The basic message of the natural emotion _Neid_ is "I want that, too!". _Neid_ wants things, properties, competences, even girl friends or family relations that other people have.

The basic message of the natural emotion _Eifersucht_ is "That positive emotion (love, attention, respect, value) of a certain person should be direct towards me instead of someone else". _Eifersucht_ is the emotion you feel when a social relation considered important to you, is threatened to be lost or weakened. For example, your girlfried desires another man, your boss values a colleague more than you, your mother appears to love your sister more and so on.


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## manfy

Kajjo said:


> Neid und Eifersucht sind ja zwei grundsätzlich völlig verschiedene Gefühle, die in uns ganz unterschiedliche körperliche und psychische Reaktionen hervorrufen.


 
Yes, and in my mind the difference is very clear.
But what I do remember from my research, some time in early 2000-something, is that it is looked at a bit differently by native English speakers. You cannot categorically say that 'Neid' must always be translated a envy and 'Eifersucht' as jealousy.
I read through blogs, forums, etc. and of course you have different opinions from different speakers, but still the idea of jealousy is for people and envy for objects seemed strong (sometimes also in cases where I would have strongly disagreed from a German point of view).
So now for my own usage, I just pretty much follow my gut feeling in English (which may be a bit closer to the German usage than a native English speaker ... but well, nobody's perfect  )


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## Kajjo

Yes, I agree that the distinction in English might not be as clear as in German. _Jealousy_ appears to be used more often, i.e. also for cases of envy. Whether this is unclear usage (some kind of native incorrectness) or of wider definition, remains unclear to me.


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## berndf

Kajjo said:


> Eifersucht richtet sich auf Gefühle. Neid richtet sich auf materielle oder immaterielle Güter.


That is not sufficient as a demarcation. These immaterial good may also be love, affection and attention.

I still think that by argument in #15 constitutes sufficient cause to limit ourselves to the translation _Neid = envy_.


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## Kajjo

@berndf: Of course, the two short sentences are just a very brief summary. I believe, I depicted the difference sufficiently in #17 to cover the nuances you mentioned.

Of course, love, affection or attention can be target of envy, but in tast case you envy the situation the other is in but are not jealous towards the exactly this bondage between the other two involved people.


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## perpend

Well, this gives a new meaning to "Saftladen" = sperm bank.  Das hat was.

On that topic, you could use "wad" or "load" for "Saft" as slang in American English.

... so that the desperate/horny guys' wad/load gets stuck, due to envy/jealousy.

I'm going to try to side-step the envy/jealousy issue a little, but since it came up, I'll give my opinion. I do think the German is more clear as to "Neid/Eifersucht". That said, for American English, if you use "envy" to translate "Neid" it would be confusing to some American English speakers. "Envy" is quite strong. So, I often view "Neid" as "jealousy", since there is indeed a lot of overlap.

In this case, with guys sitting around in a club ogling an attractive babe ... I view them as jealous that they are not the one actually having a conversation with the bombshell.

I couldn't really use "envious" there, if that makes sense.

And, it would appear I'm not good at "side-stepping".


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## Kajjo

perpend said:


> _so that the horny guys' load gets stuck, due to jealousy._


I like your suggestion "load" very much. That is not at all vulgar in itself, but its meaning of course is. That is very close to "Saft" in German.



perpend said:


> I do think the German is more clear as to "Neid/Eifersucht".


Yes, that has been my impression for a long time, too. If Americans make a difference, it's that they apply "jealousy" to people, without the clear distinction of emotions that German _Neid/Eifersucht _defines.


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## ayuda?

Kajjo said:


> I like your suggestion "load" very much. That is not at all vulgar in itself, but its meaning of course is. That is very close to "Saft" in German.
> 
> 
> Yes, that has been my impression for a long time, too. If Americans make a difference, it's that they apply "jealousy" to people, without the clear distinction of emotions that German _Neid/Eifersucht _defines.




Re: ...*vor Neid* der Saft stecken bleib
Right! That is exactly the impression I got here also.
I don’t think *Neid* translates exactly for English speakers.
*Vor Neid*, in a strict sense, would be something like “green with envy” or “jealous,” like you might see in the dictionary.

However, this idea of “being jealous of”—wanting something someone has, either character or possession—seems to also mean something more like* Gier, Verlangen,  Begier *[wanting,lusting after,desiring (hot for) someone], which can have more of a sexual bent to it and applies more to a person…differing a lot in meaning from the word “jealous,” although you might just normally be able to get that connotation or shade of meaning quite naturally in German??


Am I wrong in this?


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## Dan2

I find the discussion of how to translate "Neid" and "Saft" interesting, but the second sentence in the OP still doesn't really make sense to me:
"Ich wurde ausgewählt, um dich anzusprechen, damit den notgeilen Typen vor Neid der Saft stecken bleibt."
Call the speaker "Joe" and the woman "Jane".  A bunch of guys, including Joe, are eyeing sexually attractive Jane.  Joe says (and here I suggest a loose translation for "der Saft stecken bleibt" that I like better than anything I've seen so far), "I was chosen to approach you SO THAT those horny guys don't come in their pants out of Neid".

Some seem to assume that the Neid is envy/jealousy of JOE.  But that doesn't make sense: they CHOSE him SO THAT they'd be envious of him??

Others seem to be assuming that the guys are envious that they are not Jane's boyfriend and are feeling sexual tension.  But then how does sending Joe to talk to Jane in any way reduce that sexual tension?  (Again, note the "damit".)  If she smiles and flirts with him that would only increase the tension.

What _would _make sense is something like, "I was chosen to ask you to _leave _so that ...".  Or maybe the unstated assumption is that Joe will chat her up and then leave with her, thereby removing the source of the sexual tension.  But the sentence as it stands doesn't make a lot of sense to me.


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## Frieder

Dan2 said:


> But the sentence as it stands doesn't make a lot of sense to me.


My thoughts from the beginning .

Perhaps we need more context?


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## Demiurg

My guess: Joe is a simply a pick-up artist trying to sound cool.


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## Kajjo

Dan2 said:


> ...but the second sentence in the OP still doesn't really make sense to me: [...] A bunch of guys, including Joe, are eyeing sexually attractive Jane.


_Wir haben uns die ganze Zeit schon darüber amüsiert,was du bei manchen Kerlen für eine Aufmerksamkeit verursachst._

My grasp of the situation is different: 

+ There is Jane -- attracting attention of some horny guys.
+ There are the horny guys watching the lady.
+ There are other people, not being horny, watching all this happening in front of their eyes.
+ Speaker Joe belongs to the harmless observers and approaches the young lady...

That makes sense. From the German construction "bei manchen Kerlen" I exclude safely, that the speaker belongs to the group of the horny guys. No, the speaker is firmly convinced he is not horny himself. He could belong to another group that even came with girls and really just approaches the lady, so that she is not alone anymore. For whatever motives... anyway.



Demiurg said:


> My guess: Joe is a simply a pick-up artist trying to sound cool.


That's always a possibility, too.


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## ayuda?

Kajjo said:


> _Wir haben uns die ganze Zeit schon darüber amüsiert,was du bei manchen Kerlen für eine Aufmerksamkeit verursachst._
> 
> My grasp of the situation is different:
> 
> + There is Jane -- attracting attention of some horny guys.
> + There are the horny guys watching the lady.
> + There are other people, not being horny, watching all this happening in front of their eyes.
> + Speaker Joe belongs to the harmless observers and approaches the young lady...
> 
> That makes sense. From the German construction "bei manchen Kerlen" I exclude safely, that the speaker belongs to the group of the horny guys. No, the speaker is firmly convinced he is not horny himself. He could belong to another group that even came with girls and really just approaches the lady, so that she is not alone anymore. For whatever motives... anyway.  [That's the way I see it, too.]
> 
> 
> That's always a possibility, too.


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## perpend

I understand the scene like Kajjo and ayuda. It's hard for me to understand it otherwise.

The thing is, wenn du wirklich auf der Mache bist, würdest du kaum einer attraktiven Frau sagen: ... _damit den notgeilen Typen vor Neid der Saft stecken bleibt_.

And that in a club.  I can't envision that. I think it's clear the speaker is trying to help the lady fend off the flies.


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## Dan2

I agree that your scenario is the more likely one, Kajjo; thanks.  I was concentrating on the second sentence and ignoring the first.  Then to finish the "analysis", the implicit assumption in Joe's statement is that when Jane is sitting _alone_, die notgeilen Kerls look at her and experience sexual arousal, but that will be dampened by jealousy/envy once a guy is in conversation with her.


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## Kajjo

Dan2 said:


> die notgeilen Kerls look at her and experience sexual arousal, but that will be dampened by jealousy/envy once a guy is in conversation with her.


Yes, exactly. A lady with company is not a target of horny guys anymore. They got for the single ladies.


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