# who's to say that the cat couldn’t be the new pig



## Baltic Sea

Witam wszystkich serdecznie!

In terms of hosts and mutations, *who's to say that the cat couldn’t be the new pig*?

Czy ktoś mógłby sprawdzić czy moje tłumaczenie wytłuszczonego fragmentu jest właściwe?

Pod względem (jeśli chodzi o) gospodarzy i mutacji(e), *to kto może stwierdzić, że kot nie mógłby być nową swinią*?

Termin ten pochodzi z Your pet can catch the flu from you, study says.W akapicie 9, linijce 2 znajduje się ten tekst, o którym mowa:
In terms of hosts and mutations, *who's to say that the cat couldn’t be the new pig*?

Źródło: http://todayhealth.today.com/_news/...et-can-catch-the-flu-from-you-study-says?lite


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## LilianaB

Hi Baltic. No -- I don't think this is the right translation. Host must be something completely different in genetic engineering. It does not make much sense translated as "gospodarz", in my opinion. As to the beginning of the sentence: Jesli chodzi o X to Y. Co do X to Y.  

Yes -- it is a totally specialized term -- it is the host genetic material into which a new genetic material is inserted during cloning. (one of the procedures)


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## Thomas1

host -- żywiciel
EDYCJA: właśnie mi przyszło do głowy, że w tym kontekście "host" może też oznaczać "biorca" (na przykład w przypadku przeszczepów). Tekst powinien wyjaśnić, o co dokładnie chodzi.


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## LilianaB

It has to be exactly what they call it in genetic engineering, not just something close. Maybe you could check it in a medical dictionary -- I don't know if there is one online.


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## Baltic Sea

Could you tell me if the fragment in bold is translated properly.

*who's to say that the cat couldn’t be the new pig =? to kto może stwierdzić, że kot nie mógłby być nową swinią*?


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## LilianaB

Ze względu na X i Y (biorąc pod uwagę X i Y) kto może powiedzieć (na obecnym etapie) czy kot nie będzie w przyszlosci przyslowiowa (nową) swinię. I think you have to use a diffrent mode in your sentence and change _źe_ to _czy_.


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## Baltic Sea

Thank you, LilianaB. I was going to use "czy" instead of "że", but decided otherwise. I think this example of "to be to infinitive" is commonly found in instructions or on maps. For instance, "these details are to be found......", meaning "these details can be found......" Can you provide other examples of using "am/are/is to be" as "can be"?


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## LilianaB

Who is to judge, who is to tell you what to do, who is to cook today (supposed to cook), who is to blame (who should be blamed). There are many.


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## Thomas1

> *AD is to stand in all districts*
> 
> Times of Malta-9 hours ago
> AD _is to_ stand in all districts. AD chairman Michael Briguglio.





> *Footballer Rio Ferdinand is to judge on Britain and Ireland's Next ...*
> 
> heatworld-6 hours ago
> Footballer Rio Ferdinand _is to_ judge on Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model!





> *UK troops to assist Mali operation to halt rebel advance*
> 
> BBC News-6 hours ago
> The UK _is to_ provide two transport planes but No 10 stressed no UK troops would be deployed in a combat role.





> *EXCLUSIVE: Mbia opens up about QPR's relegation plight: 'The ...*
> 
> Daily Mail-Jan 11, 2013
> EXCLUSIVE: Mbia opens up about QPR's relegation plight: 'The players _are to_ blame - we just didn't give our best under Hughes'.


[Italics mine.]

I am to do it.
Another possibility of translating the sentence:





> *who's to say that the cat couldn’t be the new pig*


kto wie czy kot nie będzie (w przyszłości/kiedyś) nową świnią.

The contruction 'be to do something' can be translated into Polish with different constructions/wordings, as its modal scope is quite wide. 





> *3. * Used with the infinitive of a verb to express intention, obligation, or future action: She was to call before she left. You are to make the necessary changes.
> http://www.thefreedictionary.com/be


You can often see 'mieć coś zrobić', e.g. _Miała zadzwonić przed wyjściem._, as its translation into Polish.


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## Amerykańska kobieta

"Host" here is disease carrier (rather than the swine or chicken being the carrier of the influenza virus, it could be cats).  Like rats (actually the rat flea) carried/transmitted/spread the bubonic plague.  Or the deer tick spreading Lyme's disease.   A medical term would be "disease vector".

The article is more or less saying that the cat can catch the human flu (human-to-pet-transmission, i.e., where the human was the host).  The statement about the cat becoming the next "swine" takes it to the next phase, where potentially the flu virus strain would undergo mutations in the cat, resulting in a new strain of influenza (where it would be pet-to-human transmission, the cat as the host) that could result in the next flu epidemic.


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## Thomas1

In that case 'nosiciel' would be the translation, I think.


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## Baltic Sea

Thank you all for your comments and help. Regarding the structure, for instance, "these details are to be found......", I asked for examples in which "am/is/are to be found, seen, etc." is translated as "można znaleźć, zobaczyć, itp." not "trzeba, powinno się znaleźć, zobaczyć, itp."


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