# С праздником вас, дорогие мужчины



## redfire

How could you translate: « С праздником вас дорогие мужчины » in english ? thanks !


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## rusita preciosa

*Happy holiday, dear gentlemen! *(In English it sounds a bit stupid, but it is a normal Russian expression).

Do you need explanation what holiday it is?


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## redfire

Thank you! Yes I wonder what kind of holiday it is ... an explanation would be appreciated


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## k1ddo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_of_the_Fatherland_Day


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## LilianaB

More or less it is a Men's Day, though, February 23.


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## Maroseika

rusita preciosa said:


> *Happy holiday, dear gentlemen! *(In English it sounds a bit stupid, but it is a normal Russian expression).


Are you sure "gentlemen" is right word? It seems to have quite different connotation. At least, none of Webster's explanations of this word matchs its Russian meaning. I have no idea what word would fit (males?), but definiteley not gentlemen, it's like C праздником, уважаемые господа.


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## LilianaB

I think it fits: just like Ladies and Gentlemen.


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## Explorer41

rusita preciosa said:


> (In English it sounds a bit stupid, but it is a normal Russian expression).


So it does in Russian, to be honest. There are many different reasons for this, partly political.


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## rusita preciosa

Maroseika said:


> Are you sure "gentlemen" is right word? It seems to have quite different connotation. At least, none of Webster's explanations of this word matchs its Russian meaning. I have no idea what word would fit (males?), but definiteley not gentlemen, it's like C праздником, уважаемые господа.


I'm not usre what Webster says, I'm just going by usage in real life. *Happy holiday, men! *and especially *happy holiday, males! *would sound absolutely idiotic.


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## Maroseika

rusita preciosa said:


> I'm not usre what Webster says, I'm just going by usage in real life. *Happy holiday, men! *and especially *happy holiday, males! *would sound absolutely idiotic.


Agree. The problem is, that gentlemen is also pretty much ambiguous. 
Maybe "guys"?


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## Vektus

_Dear guys _sounds odd to me, not suitable in this case, it will be better to say *Happy holiday, dear men*. At least if nobody founds a more suitable word, I don't see a catastrophe here saying this way.


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## morzh

Well, we do have somewhat similar event...."The father's day". 
Not all men are fathers.
But then not everyone served in the army, and yet everyone was congratulated, so.....

I am not sure there's a English version that makes sense at all. In the first place, it is kinda strange, to congratulate English-speaking folks with  Feb. 23 (if of course we are talking about this day).
And there are no strictly mens' all-encompassing holidays here, as far as I know....unless they consider the Superbowl such an event


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## Maroseika

morzh said:


> Well, we do have somewhat similar event...."The father's day".
> Not all men are fathers.
> But then not everyone served in the army, and yet everyone was congratulated, so.....



And what's worse, not all the men are men...


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## rusita preciosa

Maroseika said:


> Agree. The problem is, that gentlemen is also pretty much ambiguous.
> Maybe "guys"?


Dudes 

I'm not sure what's ambiguous about "gentlemen", I wouldn't overthink it.


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## LilianaB

I like Gentlemen, but I like Gospoda, too.


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## morzh

When a holiday is artificial, the congrat. phrase is artificial too, and it makes it even more difficult to make it sound right in another language.


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## LilianaB

You mean Maslenica is a more natural holiday, or Christmas? I think Women's Day is kind of ridiculous. In fact I like only traditional holidays like Christmas and the Midsummer Night.


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## morzh

Maslenitsa is a very natural holiday, if only for the reason of it being a pagan custom venerated by the Christian church. It does not favor any genders, and it is, actually, simply a feast.
Feasts are very natural and exist in every culture; they are not political.

March 8 is half-nonsense, as from political celebration (born, as a matter of fact, same as May 1st, in the USA, in Chicago) it became (at lest in the only country where it grew roots) more or less what St. Val's day is here - men showing their gallantry towards women. Nothing really unnatural.

Feb 23-rd is very political. It was born as a nonsense, and then it was passed for a substitute for Men's day, that was absent, still being called "The Army day".
So, all kinds of people who have very little relation to Army were congratulated, myself included. I, a pacifist type, who never served, (although I did receive the reservist officer rank, but then almost all college graduates did) - I' m the last person on Earth who should be congratulated during this holiday.
And then, it was not really a Holiday - it was not a day off, unlike others.

So, the problem is, that saying to a non-military person, who, as a matter of fact, at least potentially, may be opposed to military service,  "congratulations with the Army day", on the sole basis of him being a male is the same as congratulating a christian with Hanukah on the sole basis of Jesus being a Jew. I am sure no good Christian will understand this reason.
And, since this comes out very artificially, it is hard to translate.

Then, why would anyone even try to congratulate anyone else using English? Even if we give his Holiday some respect, it is STRICTLY Russian Holiday for strictly Russian men, as it is called now "The day of the defender of the Fatherland (or Motherland)". There is no English spoken across the Fatherland of those congratulated. English, as a matter of fact, is the language of countries still considered potential military opponents.

So, all this together for me makes it very hard to understand.

Whereas even though I personally do not celebrate Maslennitsa, I fully understand it and have no problem participating in it, should I ever happen to be in the place where people celebrate it.
And with other holidays, I have no problem to understand how to phrase the congratulatory phrase, as it DOES make sense for me, even if it is Divali or Christian Paskha (Easter).


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