# sbroccare



## lulustar

Ciao a tutti, come posso tradurre "sbroccare" in inglese?
Io ho pensato che "let loose" sarebbe un buon tentativo ma avete altri suggerimenti?
grazie!


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## Paulfromitaly

Hello 

Would you please give us a full sentence to work with?
Sbroccare is not exactly the most common Italian word, you know..


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## Holymaloney

lulustar said:


> Ciao a tutti, come posso tradurre "sbroccare" in inglese?
> Io ho pensato che "let loose" sarebbe un buon tentativo ma avete altri suggerimenti?
> grazie!


Ciao !
Qui trovi alcune definizioni del vocabolo *sbroccare http://dizionari.hoepli.it/Dizionar...re_1.aspx?idD=1&Query=sbroccare+(1)&lettera=S*
*http://www.dizi.it/sbroccare*
E qui una discussione già presente su WR nel forum Italiano/Spagnolo
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=493329

Aggiungo che dalle mie parti (Emilia-Romagna) sbroccare qualcosa vuole dire _scheggiare (generalmente qualcosa di vetro o ceramica)_
Comunque, come dice Paul, abbiamo bisogno di una frase intera per capire come tradurre questa parola 
Saluti


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## DavideV

Dalle mie parti (Roma) sbroccare vuol dire "andare fuori di testa". In questo caso WR ha una traduzione, ma aspettiamo contesto e/o conferma.


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## tsoapm

This is from Yahoo! Answers:


> Sbroccare si usa quando una persona accumula tanti piccoli inconvenienti, tante piccole cose che prese da sole non sono molto importanti ma che insieme la fanno uscire di testa, le fanno perdere la pazienza, quando non riesce più a sopportare tutto...è un pò la classica gocia che fa traboccare il vaso... ecco quando quella goccia cade e il vaso trabocca...la persona in questione "sbrocca"...


I see there’s now a dictionary entry: ‘flip out’. That seems good to me. Checking Oxford Dictionaries reminded me of ‘flip one’s lid’, which I haven’t heard in a long time and seems perhaps a little weak.

The above description (I can’t vouch for its accuracy) made me think of ‘going postal’, which I just learned originates from genuine incidents of fatal violence in the US postal service. As such, I gather that it’s use is discouraged.

*Edit:* Oh, I see – _s*brocca*re_ like spilling out from a _brocca_.


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## giginho

Hi TSOAPM,

As far as I know, in my surroundings "sbroccare" can, indeed, have the meaning reported by you but can also be more generic, meaning that someone got angry, usually just out of the blue.

The English term that spring to my mind is "to go ballistic", which is a term I, personally, love!


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## tsoapm

Oh yeah, that’s a good one. Also ‘fly off the handle’.


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## Odysseus54

tsoapm said:


> This is from Yahoo! Answers:
> I see there’s now a dictionary entry: ‘flip out’. That seems good to me. Checking Oxford Dictionaries reminded me of ‘flip one’s lid’, which I haven’t heard in a long time and seems perhaps a little weak.
> 
> The above description (I can’t vouch for its accuracy) made me think of ‘going postal’, which I just learned originates from genuine incidents of fatal violence in the US postal service. As such, I gather that it’s use is discouraged.
> 
> *Edit:* Oh, I see – _s*brocca*re_ like spilling out from a _brocca_.



According to the Garzanti :

_(fam.) perdere la testa, dare in escandescenze


*Etimologia* ← voce di origine roman.; deriv. di brocca, nel sign. dial. di ‘testa’, col pref. s-.

_
Why not also 'freak out' ?


giginho said:


> Hi TSOAPM,
> 
> As far as I know, in my surroundings "sbroccare" can, indeed, have the meaning reported by you but can also be more generic, meaning that someone got angry, usually just out of the blue.
> 
> The English term that spring to my mind is "to go ballistic", which is a term I, personally, love!




Yes, that means you blow your top.  You lose your temper, in a very volatile way. 

But I thought 'sbroccare' can also mean 'having a meltdown' - defined as a 'breakdown of self-control' (MW).  Which can manifest itself in ways different from losing your temper - crying, for instance.


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## tsoapm

Odysseus54 said:


> Why not also 'freak out' ?


Well it makes me think of hippies, flower power and Zappa, personally.


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## Odysseus54

tsoapm said:


> Well it makes me think of hippies, flower power and Zappa, personally.




That's interesting.  Do you think it's a common reaction ?

Meanwhile, let's see what the MW has to say about this expression :



> _2. to yield to mental or emotional stress
> the landlady totally freaked out when she saw the dead body in the hall_
> _
> Synonyms of freak outbreak down, break up, flip (out) [slang], crack (out), melt down, wig (out) [slang]
> _


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## tsoapm

Odysseus54 said:


> Do you think it's a common reaction?


Common enough, I expect. The connotations are definitely there: dictionary.com has “to enter into or cause a period of irrational behavior or emotional instability, *as under the influence of a drug*: to be freaked out *on LSD*”, Merriam-Webster has one sense of ‘freak-out’ as “a gathering of hippies” and in the case of Zappa, there’s the album.


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## Pietruzzo

tsoapm said:


> Well it makes me think of hippies, flower power and Zappa, personally.


Why not "freak out - le freak c'est chic", since we're at that?


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## tsoapm

Why not indeed? From Wikipedia’s article on the ‘Freak scene’ of the 1960s and 1970s:





> Following the success of the 1978 smash hit "Le Freak" by Chic, the term enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence on the funk scene by the early 1980s, thanks to artists like Rick James (the guy who did ‘Super Freak’, apparently), Whodini and Midnight Star.


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## johngiovanni

_Treccani _gives "Perdere completamente il controllo di sé, uscire dai gangheri".

In many of the contexts where I have seen "sbroccare" used in this sense I would translate it using the expression "lose it".  "X completely lost it".
However, the OP hasn't provided a context.
"X ha sbroccato sul palco dei Y Awards" in the English press was "X lost it".


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## Blackman

Varianti:
Ha perso la brocca.
Gli è partita la brocca.


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## london calling

tsoapm said:


> Well it makes me think of hippies, flower power and Zappa, personally.


And me. I haven't used the expression since the 1970s.


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## Odysseus54

It must be an American thing, then.  I can only say that in my experience it's a very common expression, generally unrelated to psychedelic drugs.  A quick google search seems to confirm that.


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## tsoapm

All my references in #11 are essentially American ones. I think we can say that in AE, it’s entered into a more generic and common use, whereas the original associations are more present in BE, where ‘freak out’ is perfectly intelligible but sounds quite AE.


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## joanvillafane

Hi kids - An American checking in to confirm. "Freak out" is definitely AE and in my circles would definitely date the speaker to the time period mentioned in post #9. I'd be interested to hear an AE speaker who's of the younger generation say that it's currently in use.   Today I think we'd hear "flip out," "lose it" or some of the other expressions listed above, depending on context.


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## johngiovanni

joanvillafane said:


> Today I think we'd hear "flip out," "lose it" or some of the other expressions listed above, depending on context.



Agreed: I am not an AE speaker of the younger generation, but nowadays I would "lose it" or "flip out".  It's been a long time since I "flipped my lid".  Was "flip one's wig" an American expression?


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## tsoapm

giginho said:


> The English term that spring to my mind is "to go ballistic", which is a term I, personally, love!


If you love ‘ballistic’, perhaps you’d also go for ‘apeshit’? Not an expression I’ve ever understood, I must say.


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## giginho

tsoapm said:


> If you love ‘ballistic’, perhaps you’d also go for ‘apeshit’? Not an expression I’ve ever understood, I must say.



Tsoapm, that's gorgeous! 

In a scale of rudeness from 1 to 10, how would you rate ballistic and apeshit?


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## tsoapm

Um. ‘Ballistic’ 1 on that scale – 0 really. I think ‘apeshit’ might be whatever ‘shit’ is plus 1.


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## tittiugo

Blackman said:


> Varianti:
> Ha perso la brocca.
> Gli è partita la brocca.


"Gli è partito l'embolo" I heard


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## Pietruzzo

tittiugo said:


> "Gli è partito l'embolo" I heard


Personalmente trovo odiose tutte le espressioni ingiuriose che fanno riferimento a problemi di salute.


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## Odysseus54

"Sbroccare", though, the way I understand the term, does not mean "to go ballistic" or "-- apeshit", which indicate an irrational/exaggerated angry or aggressive reaction.

It is a synonym for "andare via di testa", which _by itself, unless the context triggers a semantic shift, _only indicates a (temporary loss) of one's rational faculties.

Italiani!  Cosa ne pensate?


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## Pietruzzo

Odysseus54 said:


> Italiani! Cosa ne pensate?


Ma "sbroccare" è veramente usato in tutta Italia? Comincio a sentirmi isolato.


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## MR1492

tsoapm said:


> Oh yeah, that’s a good one. Also ‘fly off the handle’.



I would vote for this one.  It's that "out of the blue", "just went ballistic" meaning and is concise and precise.

Phil


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## TheCrociato91

Pietruzzo said:


> Ma "sbroccare" è veramente usato in tutta Italia?



Personalmente, e ripeto personalmente, non l'avevo mai sentito pronunciato da una persona. Detto ciò, leggendolo in un contesto probabilmente sarei stato in grado di intuire a cosa si riferisse senza dover ricorrere a un dizionario.


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## tsoapm

Pietruzzo said:


> Ma "sbroccare" è veramente usato in tutta Italia?


Questo non lo so, ma l’ho cercato dopo averlo visto scritto su Skype da una collega reggiana.


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## Benzene

_Propongo "to throw somebody out of line."

Bye,

*Benzene*_


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## Blackman

Pietruzzo said:


> Ma "sbroccare" è veramente usato in tutta Italia? Comincio a sentirmi isolato.


Io penso di sì. Una volta sentito in tv, è difficile che non si diffonda.


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## Pietruzzo

Blackman said:


> Io penso di sì. Una volta sentito in tv, è difficile che non si diffonda.


Devo essermi perso quella puntata


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## Odysseus54

Qui da noi si usa (Marche).


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## tsoapm

Benzene said:


> to throw somebody out of line


This sounds rather strange to me.


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## Odysseus54

Benzene said:


> _Propongo "to throw somebody out of line."
> 
> Bye,
> 
> *Benzene*_



Suona sbagliato anche a me.  "To be/step out of line" significa, perlomeno negli USA, comportarsi male, in modo maleducato ecc.  E "sbroccare" e' un intransitivo, sia grammaticalmente che a senso.  L'azione e' interna al soggetto, un cambio di condizione psicologica o nervosa.


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## King Crimson

Odysseus54 said:


> "Sbroccare", though, the way I understand the term, does not mean "to go ballistic" or "-- apeshit", which indicate an irrational/exaggerated angry or aggressive reaction.
> 
> It is a synonym for "andare via di testa", which _by itself, unless the context triggers a semantic shift, _only indicates a (temporary loss) of one's rational faculties.
> 
> Italiani!  Cosa ne pensate?



I thought the same at first, but then I looked up the verb on Treccani and found this:

Perdere completamente il controllo di sé, *uscire dai gangheri*: _avrebbero dovuto capirlo che … aveva sbroccato_,_ perché la sua reazione era stata davvero esagerata_,_ da vero nevrastenico_ (Sandro Veronesi).

So, it seems that an aggressive behaviour is implied by "sbroccare". Having said that, "sbroccare" is not a verb commonly used around here, I'd certainly prefer "andare fuori di testa" in a colloquial context.


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## Paulfromitaly

johngiovanni said:


> In many of the contexts where I have seen "sbroccare" used in this sense I would translate it using the expression "lose it". "X completely lost it".


Yes, to me sbroccare means this.


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## Odysseus54

King Crimson said:


> I thought the same at first, but then I looked up the verb on Treccani and found this:
> 
> Perdere completamente il controllo di sé, *uscire dai gangheri*: _avrebbero dovuto capirlo che … aveva sbroccato_,_ perché la sua reazione era stata davvero esagerata_,_ da vero nevrastenico_ (Sandro Veronesi).
> 
> So, it seems that an aggressive behaviour is implied by "sbroccare". Having said that, "sbroccare" is not a verb commonly used around here, I'd certainly prefer "andare fuori di testa" in a colloquial context.



Not implied, but certainly possible.  What I am trying to say is that 'sbroccare' can also mean that, but it can also mean bursting into tears, for instance.  Or being overwhelmed by panic, anxiety, etc.  Whereas 'going ballistic/apeshit' only indicate a very aggressive behavior.

In italiano : uno che sbrocca, non necessariamente da' in escandescenze.  Perlomeno per come capisco il termine.


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## giginho

Odysseus54 said:


> In italiano : uno che sbrocca, non necessariamente da' in escandescenze.  Perlomeno per come capisco il termine.



Ciao Ody,

Per come l'ho sempre sentito usare io e per come l'ho sempre usato io stesso, il termine sbroccare indica uno che si  incazza e "da fuori di matto": urla, insulta, lancia oggetti, straparla....non necessariamente tutto insieme; insomma uno che ha una reazione rabbiosa esagerata.

Uno che scoppia a piangere non necessariamente sta sbroccando, a meno che, mentre piange, non si lanci in ingiurie o atti di rabbia incontrollata. Ecco, per me sbroccare vuol dire perdere il controllo della propria rabbia ed esprimerla in maniera eccessiva...per questo avevo proposto "go ballistic" al quale si affianca l'ottimo "go apeshit"


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