# To look like death warmed up



## LadyMaria

Здравствуйте,

I cannot seem to find a proper translation for that English phrase, in Russian. 
In effect, I wanted to answer to a Russian, when he asked me "Как ты?" - "I look like death warmed up, this morning." 
Alternatively, "I look like something the cat dragged in, today" would do, at a pinch.

Help, anyone? (translation of both phrases would obviously earn you brownie points.

Заранее спасибо.

Мария


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

> "I look like death warmed up, this morning."



Этим утром у меня вид такой, что краше в гроб кладут.


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## covar

Carrot Ironfoundersson said:


> Этим утром у меня вид такой, что краше в гроб кладут.



Перевод эффектный, но, к сожалению, выпадает из контекста.

Он спрашивает меня: Как ты? (В смысле: Как себя чувствуешь?)
Ответ же не соответствует вопросу, как ты выглядишь, он и так видит, ему интересно, как ты себя при этом чувствуешь.
(И на английском не соответствует тоже.)


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

А кто вам сказал, что это не переписка?


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## LilianaB

Hi, LadyMarla. What exactly do you want to say: that you look pale, you feel sick, you did not have time to go to a hairdresser?


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## LadyMaria

Thanks everyone, please don't start a war, it was only a harmless question.
I'll try to answer in order; as my Russian is very poor, I do appreciate translations (literal, if possible) of Russian phrases.
So, "Этим утром у меня вид такой, что краше в гроб кладут" would mean something like "this morning, the sight of me is such that they deposit more prettiness in graves" ?
That would suit me fine. Would you kindly confirm that my translation is more or less to the point? Much appreciated.

In answer to covar, well, he couldn't very well have seen me, as this was instant messaging. Besides, I did say "to LOOK like death warmed up". You can FEEL like that, as well, but I left that part out. Somebody may tell you "you look a fright" and you'd answer "I feel like it, too". This would require another thread...

In answer to LilianaB, I meant abnormal pallor, hair a mess, but no feeling of sickness, just a deathly, ghastly look. Of course, it's supposed to be humorous.


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## Carrot Ironfoundersson

> So, "Этим утром у меня вид такой, что краше в гроб кладут." would mean  something like "this morning, the sight of me is such that they deposit  more prettiness in graves" ?



OK, the literal translation goes like this: this morning I look worse than someone put into a coffin.


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## rusita preciosa

LadyMaria said:


> Thanks "Этим утром у меня вид такой, что краше в гроб кладут" would mean something like "this morning, [I look so bad]  - they put better looking people [than me] in a coffin"



This is the best suggestion.

LM, if you have provided the context, as per the forum requirements, (i.e. it is a text message where you describe how you look), you would have gotten better and faster results.


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## e2-e4 X

LadyMaria said:


> In answer to LilianaB, I meant abnormal pallor, hair a mess, but no feeling of sickness, just a deathly, ghastly look. Of course, it's supposed to be humorous.


Well, he will guess that you feel a little sickness, too (or, no — I don't know what he will think, but I would think exactly that). The suggestion is very good and humourous; and the logic is, if you look bad, it's because you feel bad, so there is probably no way to avoid the association with sickness. So I think, this suggestion is the best one.

Besides, the graves are mentioned, they always remind of sickness and sickliness.


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## e2-e4 X

Well, be I to say that, I would intuitively think of something like "сегодня с утра выглядеть, как после катка со сновидениями", but it's not strictly Russian. 

PS:


LadyMaria said:


> I'm not sure whether I should clarify while I specifically denied to  "feel sick". It's because I thought that in US English, when one said "I  feel sick", this ordinarily meant "I'm going to vomit". And this was  not the case... but if you mean "sickness" as "slightly ill, a tad under  the weather" well yes, we're agreed. You wake up looking trashed after a  bad night, you don't feel so good, generally!


Ah, sorry... I was not aware of that!  I thought, you denied that you are slightly ill, so I came up with that crazy suggestion that means only a little thing.


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## LadyMaria

I'm not sure whether I should clarify while I specifically denied "feeling sick". It's because I thought that in US English, when one said "I feel sick", this ordinarily meant "I'm going to vomit". And this was not the case... but if you mean "sickness" as "slightly ill, a tad under the weather" well yes, we're agreed. You wake up looking trashed after a bad night, you don't feel so good, generally!


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## Enquiring Mind

Этим утром у меня вид такой, что краше в гроб кладут - the phrase "doesn't travel well" from Russian into English, but the neatest formulation I can think of is "this morning I look ("feel" would work too) even worse than the ones they're burying."
(ps. hope this doesn't sound patronising, LM, but I would never have guessed you're not a native English speaker! )


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## e2-e4 X

The phrase is non-translatable, because it's crazy and wild... "Каток" is that thing (a road roller). "Сновидение" is a dream that you have while sleeping. "После катка" means that that machine has run over you. "Со сновидениями" means that you had dreams while the road roller was rolling over you, or maybe that the road roller had dreams in it.

It's not a set expression, I just made it up.


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## covar

better:
 "I look like something the cat dragged in, today" - "Я выгляжу сегодня как драная кошка."


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## LilianaB

LadyMaria said:


> I'm not sure whether I should clarify while I specifically denied "feeling sick". It's because I thought that in US English, when one said "I feel sick", this ordinarily meant "I'm going to vomit". And this was not the case... but if you mean "sickness" as "slightly ill, a tad under the weather" well yes, we're agreed. You wake up looking trashed after a bad night, you don't feel so good, generally!



Well _sick_, doesn't necessarily mean ready to vomit in AE. Ill is hardly ever used in AE. _Nauseous,_ would be the more usual word for vomiting. To tell you honestly, I would advise you against using this phrase at all, especially when translated into Russian -- it may be misunderstood and it sounds really somber, not funny. I would rather say something more like _dragged by a cat_. I cannot think about the right word, but death is not that often an inspiration for jokes in the Russian culture, I think.


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## e2-e4 X

LilianaB said:


> I would rather say something more like _dragged by a cat_. I cannot think about the right word, but death is not that often an inspiration for jokes in the Russian culture, I think.


Зато могила — довольно часто оказывается предлогом для шуток: "я сегодня выгляжу — лучше некуда, просто хоть сразу в могилу ложись!"  ("Загробный юмор" у нас достаточно в ходу.)

Как легко понять, "лучше некуда" ("can't be any better") означает здесь "very bad", то есть используется в ироническом смысле. Не знаю, возможно ли такое в английском, а вот в русском — пожалуйста.


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## covar

Как-то мрачно всё это - про гроб, могилу.


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## LadyMaria

Did I start something I shouldn't have?
Let's consider the case closed.

*coffin lid falls back with a deathly thud*

I would love if e-...x would kindly translate some part of that joke, though... I tried and tried and only got 3/4 of it.


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## e2-e4 X

LadyMaria said:


> I would love if e-...x would kindly translate some part of that joke, though... I tried and tried and only got 3/4 of it.


Along these lines: "I look today — can't be any better, I could as well go right away into my grave and lie there!"

"Просто" is an introductory word, it means that some simple enough explanation follows; "хоть" intruducts a case, a possibility; "ложись" is a self-addressed imperative.


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## LadyMaria

Ha! That guy can't be feeling too good...

Thaaaank you!


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## e2-e4 X

LadyMaria said:


> Ha! That guy can't be feeling too good...


In fact she can... I would rather think she's complaining that she looks so bad it is better for her not to live, even if she feels very good (maybe she does, maybe she does not)... You know, a thing that can be said by a girl whose life objective is to be beautiful, always, or by a girl, who pretends to be such (I mean, with such an objective) — but sure, this is a joke, she can't be serious while saying that. 

Maybe I mixed up the verbs "could" and "might", I still can't catch their logic for sure.


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## LadyMaria

Finally, a man who understands a woman's mind.
That _was_ my original meaning. When I first started this thread. Coquettishness. But not out of arrogance, just in a humourous fashion. On top of that, I was thinking in French, and had to find the proper English for it...


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## e2-e4 X

And what was the French expression? — that's interesting...


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## LadyMaria

"J'ai une tête de déterrée."

Hihi, I'll break it up for ye. Rough transliteration: "I have the face of an exhumed person." (as in, unearthed, freshly dug-up corpse.)

Isn't it funny? Well, perhaps not so very much in English, but the sound of it in French (it may be the alliteration in "t") never fails to amuse me.


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## e2-e4 X

Yes, it is.  Thank you!


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## covar

LadyMaria said:


> "J'ai une tête de déterrée."


"У меня голова трупа, выкопанного из могилы."
Да, французский катится туда же, куда и английский.


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## covar

Это просто точный перевод той французской фразы.


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