# so-so / comme ci comme ça



## rusita preciosa

If something is medium / neither good nor bad, what do you say in your language?
Please provide literal translation.

English: *so-so* (such-such)
French: *comme ci comme ça* (like this like that)
Russian: *так себе* /tak sebe/ (such to itself)


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## Montesacro

Italian: *così così* (so so)


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## Orlin

Bulgarian: горе-долу ("up-down").


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## Maroseika

Another Russian variant (and very close to English "so-so"): 
*так-сяк* (lit. 'this way, that way').

*Туда-сюда* (there and here)


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## murciana

Spanish: 
*así así* (so so)
*ni fu ni fa* (so so)(very coloquial)


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## apmoy70

In Greek:
«Ἐτσι κι έτσι»
'etsi ci 'etsi
_so and so_

«Ἐτσι», Byzantine adv. with obscure etymology. There are a couple of suggestions for it:
a/ From the Classical «οὑτωσὶ» (houtō'sĭ)-->_so, thus_ 
b/ A loan word from the Latin; conjunction "etsi"-->_though, although, even if, yet_


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## Maroseika

murciana said:


> Spanish:
> *ni fú ni fá* (so so)(very coloquial)



Does it mean something literally? Why these words are stressed?
Does it refer to fu - miaow and fa - a musical note?


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## murciana

Maroseika said:


> Does it mean something literally?
> Colloquial expression to indicate that something is indifferent, neither good nor bad.
> Why these words are stressed? -They are not, I made a mistake, sorry. It is already corrected in my earlier post
> Does it refer to fu - miaow and fa - a musical note? - I would say so


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## Maroseika

Now it clear, thanks. Though I also mistaked, _fu _means sniffing, and not mewing.


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## Outsider

Montesacro said:


> Italian: *così così* (so so)





murciana said:


> Spanish:
> *así así* (so so)


And the same in Portuguese: *assim-assim*.


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## HUMBERT0

In Spanish (Mexico)
We say "más o menos" / more or less


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## Tjahzi

*Swedish* uses _sådär_. With _så_ translating to _so_/_like that _(specific form of the unspecified _how_) and _där_ meaning _there_ but also translating to _that_ in all compounds such as _that one, like that, _etc.


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## Rallino

In Turkish:

*Eh...* (It's just a sound we make in this situation, it doesn't have any meaning.)

We also sometimes say:

*Şöyle böyle...* (lit. Like this, like that)

and

İdare eder ... (lit. It manages/It will manage)



rusita preciosa said:


> French: *comme ci comme ça* (like this like that)



I wonder if anyone actually uses this. I've seen it in some French conversation _books_, but never heard it in an actual conversation.


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## Juan Jacob Vilalta

murciana said:


> Spanish:
> *así así* (so so)
> *ni fu ni fa* (so so)(very coloquial)


 


HUMBERT0 said:


> In Spanish (Mexico)
> We say "más o menos" / more or less


 
Suelo usar: *Entre azul y buenas noches.* ¿La conocen?
Saludos.


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## Tamar

Iמ Hebrew it's ככה ככה [kakha kakha]
ככה means "like this", "so".


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## Havfruen

Danish:

*så som så (med) = "*so as so (with)"


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## ThomasK

Dutch: *zo-zo*. 

But if you consider 'more or less' a synonym: _*min of meer*_ (less or more)


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## J.F. de TROYES

In Chinese the expression   马马虎虎      (  mǎmǎ  hūhū )  litterally means _horse-tiger _and is used to answer a question as " How are-you ? ".


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## OneStroke

J.F. de TROYES said:


> In Chinese the expression   马马虎虎      (  mǎmǎ  hūhū )  litterally means _horse-tiger _and is used to answer a question as " How are-you ? ".



I believe that means you're just barely OK.

In Cantonese we always use the English 'so-so'.


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## mataripis

Tagalog = Dumating ang dapat/ Mangyari ang nararapat.


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## MaijaPoppanen

rusita preciosa said:


> French: *comme ci comme ça* (like this like that)






Rallino said:


> I wonder if anyone actually uses this. I've seen it in some French conversation _books_, but never heard it in an actual conversation.



In Finland we use it  (Although we write it differently: *komsii komsaa*)
And the other way to say the same thing in Finnish: *niin tai näin* (like that or like this)


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## AutumnOwl

Tjahzi said:


> *Swedish* uses _sådär_. With _så_ translating to _so_/_like that _(specific form of the unspecified _how_) and _där_ meaning _there_ but also translating to _that_ in all compounds such as _that one, like that, _etc.


Also _si sådär; (lite) si och så_.


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian *--- so-so does not work in Hungarian. you have to find other alternatives...


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## ger4

MaijaPoppanen said:


> In Finland we use it  (Although we write it differently: *komsii komsaa*)


Interesting: in German we sometimes say *comme ci comme ça *as well (unfortunately we don't have the logical Finnish spelling system...). Another expression derived from French is *so* *lala* (lit. 'so there-there') - but would _là-là_ make any sense to French speakers in this context?


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## 810senior

In general we use まあまあmaa-maa(repetition for maa[interjection] meaning well, good.)


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## Sudani

In Sudanese arabic we usually say نص نص (nus nus) which literally means half half or sometimes we use the expression كدة و كدة ( kida u kida) which means like this and like that.


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## bibax

Czech:

*jakž takž* = how-so, which way-that way;


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## Gavril

Welsh *gweddol *"fair, moderate, so-so" is an adjective based on the noun _gwedd, _which has many meanings, including "appearance, aspect, form", etc.

The original semantics of _gweddol_ may have been something like "according to form", therefore "normal".


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## ilocas2

Czech:

*jakž takž*

these words don't mean anything

definitions from a dictionary:
*jak* means how, as, like, yak, as soon as, when as, the moment, if, both - and
*tak* means this way, like this, so, such a, that, about, some, or so, as... so..., both... and..., ...as well as..., (and) so, then, after, so, well then, only

*jakže* means (beg your) pardon, what?, come again?
*takže* means (and) so, thus


So *jakž takž* originated either by adding *-ž* to *jak, tak* or by dropping *-e* from *jakže, takže*


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## Dymn

In *Catalan* I'd say _així aixà_ (lit.: like this like that). 

The word _aixà_ is only used in contraposition with _així_. E.g.: _Tant li fa així com aixà_ (He doesn't care if like this or like that).


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## J.F. de TROYES

Rallino said:


> In Turkish:
> 
> I wonder if anyone actually uses this. I've seen it in some French conversation _books_, but never heard it in an actual conversation.



Any Frenchman knows the phrase and can use it, perhaps not often because using it implies some familiarity between two persons ; moreover people don't like to say they are'nt very well. When they are  asked "comment ça va ? ",  they generally prefer to answer  : "ça va" or "pas mal ", but I'll not be surprised at all if a friend or acquaintance says : "Comme ci, comme ça ".
There is another phrase with the same meaning : "Couci- couça" , another form of "comme ci, comme ça "


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## 123xyz

Macedonian:

така така (so so, thus thus)


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## ilocas2

ilocas2 said:


> *jak* means how, as, like, yak, as soon as, when, as, the moment..., if, both - and



I must make little corrections for clear conscience. I forgot a comma and three dots.


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