# to spite, out of spite



## lillebror

Hello everyone,

Could you please help me with a Chinese equivalent for the phenomenon of "spite". I cannot find a proper translation for the following ideas: *spite, spiteful, out of spite
*
How would you best translate these into Chinese

_She did it just to spite the teacher

He won't listen to reason out of sheer spite_

Is there a Chinese equivalent for "*cutting off the nose to spite the face*"? (Some dictionaries have 因噎廢食 but I don't think it's close enough)


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## Skatinginbc

spite 恶念 (noun) "a desire to hurt, annoy, or offend someone"
spite (verb) 故意損伤/存心得罪 "deliberately hurt, annoy, or offend"
spiteful 恶意的 (adj) "showing or caused by malice"
out of spite 出于恶念

She did it just to _spite_ the teacher 存心得罪
He won't listen to reason _out of sheer spite_ 完全出于恶念
cutting off the nose to _spite the face_ 故意損伤
_Cutting off the nose to spite the face_ 自殘洩憤


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## Lucia_zwl

My attempt:
_
She did it just to spite the teacher.
_她这么做就是故意惹老师生气。_

He won't listen to reason out of sheer spite._
他存心的不听任何解释。


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## lillebror

Thanks a lot, Skatinginbc and Lucia_zwl!


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## retrogradedwithwind

She did it just to spite the teacher
口语：她这么做，是存心(故意）气她老师。

He won't listen to reason out of sheer spite
口语：他恨他老师，不会听他的。
翻译腔：出于怨恨，他不会听他老师的。

cutting off the nose to spite the face
根据上下文，可以翻成：自食其果，自作自受，作茧自缚，搬起石头砸自己的脚，自己挖坑自己跳 etc.


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## brofeelgood

Cutting off the nose to spite the face
为了损人而不惜伤害自己


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## Ghabi

Skatinginbc said:


> _Cutting off the nose to spite the face_ 自殘洩憤





retrogradedwithwind said:


> cutting off the nose to spite the face 根据上下文，可以翻成：自食其果，自作自受，作茧自缚，搬起石头砸自己的脚，自己挖坑自己跳 etc.


I think you've misunderstood the idiom.


Lucia_zwl said:


> _He won't listen to reason out of sheer spite._ 他存心的不听任何解释。


Perhaps 存心 is a bit too bookish? How about 他就是賭氣不講理?


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## Skatinginbc

你賭氣不吃飯, 真是自殘洩憤的幼稚行為, 不但傷了自己, 也傷了愛你的人.
cut off your nose to spite your face: "to  do  something  because  you  are  angry,  even  if  it  will  cause  trouble  for  you." or "to  hurt  yourself  in  an  effort  to  punish  someone  else".  For instance, 
A: The next time he treats me like that, I'm just going to quit my job.
B: Isn't that a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face?'" (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cut+off+nose+to+spite+face).
A: 下次他再这样待我, 我就辭職不幹了.
B: 那不就如同自殘洩憤吗?
Isaac dropped out of school because he wanted to make his father angry; years later, he realized that he had cut off his nose to spite his face (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/spite). 艾萨克为气他父亲而休學; 多年后, 他意识到自己是自殘洩憤.
 Don't  cut  off  your  nose  to  spite  your  face. 不要自殘洩憤.


Ghabi said:


> I think you've misunderstood the idiom.


Could you please enlighten me?  I have no clue where my understanding goes wrong.  Perhaps you think 自殘洩憤 does not fit in the above contexts?  If so, could you please tell me why?  Thank you.


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## brofeelgood

Skatinginbc said:


> Isaac dropped out of school because he wanted to make his father angry; years later, he realized that he had cut off his nose to spite his face (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/spite). 艾萨克为气他父亲而休學; 多年后, 他意识到自己是自殘洩憤.
> Don't  cut  off  your  nose  to  spite  your  face. 不要自殘洩憤.



自残泄愤 fits the context here - to mutilate/harm yourself, so as to alleviate your own frustration/misery, but something seems missing 

If the original proverb (To cut off the nose to spite the face) was applied to a case where the goal of hurting yourself is to explicitly punish someone else, then 自残泄愤 would be inadequate in conveying the full message. Probably it's just me, because I'm used to seeing 自残泄愤 labelled on people who hurt themselves because they were going through some irreparable misery, and not to spite someone else.


*** added: I've had a rethink and changed my mind. I think 自残泄愤 is a fitting translation here.


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## Skatinginbc

According to Wikipedia, "Cutting off the nose to spite the face" is an expression used to describe a needlessly self-destructive over-reaction to a problem: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your  face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the object of one's anger (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_off_the_nose_to_spite_the_face).

自殘洩憤 is able to convey: (1) needless over-reaction, (2) self-destruction or damaging oneself, and (3) acting out of pique or anger.  The only weak part is the notion of "pursuing revenge", which however would usually be implied in the contexts where the idiom is used.  When I translated that idiom, I also took this into consideration: How about situations where the idiom is not used for the sense of "revenge" but only for "self-destructive over-reaction"?   Will the translation still fit?  So I decided not to spell out "the intent of hurting others".  I think the context itself would make that part clear.  Also, the context itself would automatically make clear that 殘 does not mean "mutilate".  It is just a figurative speech.


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## lillebror

According to these sentences I found online the best equivalent for spite is 泄憤. What do you think about these translations?

The neighbors play their radio loudly every afternoon just to spite us .
鄰居每天下午把收音機的音量開得很大，向我們泄憤。


She continued striking it with childish spite, "and then i'll burn it! "
她接著說，帶著孩子氣的泄憤敲著，“我還要燒掉它！”


And even if they do, they'll burn it for spite
即使相信他們還是會這麼干來泄憤的


I am sure he took my parking space just out of spite
我很肯定他是為了泄憤才搶我的停車位。


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## 枫十二

I started a thread in English only, Skatinginbc is right!


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## brofeelgood

lillebror said:


> According to these sentences I found online the best equivalent for spite is 泄憤. What do you think about these translations?[...]


洩憤 is to vent your frustration. The underlying premise is discontent or unhappiness that has welled up and is waiting to be unleashed. I can see 刁難, 為難 or 激怒 as being better substitutes in some of those sentences. Without supporting context, they could independently be understood as actions committed out of pure malice.


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## Skatinginbc

brofeelgood said:


> 洩憤 is to vent your frustration. The underlying premise is discontent or unhappiness that has welled up and is waiting to be unleashed.


To me, 憤 means "indignation", not "frustration" 挫.  "人神共憤" means "Both people and gods are _indignant_", not "Both people and gods are _frustrated_."  Indignation involves the sense of injustice or "being wronged or unfairly treated" and, consequently, an urge to "make things right" or "get even".


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## brofeelgood

Skatinginbc said:


> To me, 憤 means "indignation", not "frustration" 挫.  "人神共憤" means "Both people and gods are _indignant_", not "Both people and gods are _frustrated_."  Indignation involves the sense of injustice or "being wronged or unfairly treated" and, consequently, an urge to "make things right" or "get even".



Sure. That's a better word.


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