# Bulgarian: close run thing



## Masis

In 1807, for example, a British fleet forced its way into the Sea of Marmara to threaten the Ottoman capital but then had to retreat through the Dardanelles Straits where ancient artillery pieces dating from the 15th century had meanwhile been strenghened by 306 cannon, 16 mortars and thousands of additional troops under the technical guidance of men from the French and Spanish embassies. The result was a *close - run thing* for the Royal Navy.



Здравейте. Помогнете ми моля с този израз. Никога не съм го срещал преди и ми е тотално неясен. Надявам се че тука все някой ще е в състояние да ми окаже компетентна помощ. Мерси предварително.


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## texpert

It's a risky business, риск, опасност..

съгласен?


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## Masis

Thanks. Maybe you are right. I do not know. I have not got a idiomatic dictionary. Otherwise I would translate this easy.


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## Transatlantic

OK, so _close-run_ means "close" in the sense of "decided by a very narrow margin". 

For example, if a candidate wins 51% of a vote and the other one wins 49%, you could call this a close-run race, i.e. a victory by the narrowest of margins. 

Another idiom with a similar meaning is "to win by the skin of your teeth". Another similar expression is "to squeak through". 

The opposite (at least when talking about elections) would be "winning by a landslide" (e.g. 70% to 30%) or "achieving a landslide victory". 

When talking about fighting, the opposite of "a close-run thing" would be "a decisive victory". "A decisive victory" would be "одлучна победа" in Serbian (maybe the Bulgarian word is similar?), but I am afraid I don't remember how to say "a close-run thing". Maybe something like "с тешком муком/једва/с великим напором су победили/победише". I don't know...

I hope this helps.


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## Masis

Thanks a lot. На български ние казваме победа или каквото и да е там на косъм. We say victory or something else with difference from a hair. For instance we say This is avoid on hair. This maybe is like your example skin of teeth. This sound very strange on Bulgarian as maybe the bulgarian expression sound strange on English.


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## Transatlantic

Oh, I believe Serbian has the expression "победити за длаку", which, translated literally, means "win by a hair".


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## Masis

Thanks a lot. So you know serbian. That is interesting.


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## Transatlantic

You're welcome!

As for my knowing Serbo-Croatian: No major mystery. It's one of my two strongest languages, though my English seems to have a bit of an edge on it these days


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## Masis

Thanks. Can you explain me what means ( seems to have a bit of an edge ? It is from last letter here. This is an idiom maybe and I can not understand what exatly you want to say.


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## Transatlantic

edge = advantage (here). So, it meant my English is better these days.


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