# perdere colpi



## alinush

Volevo sapere la traduzione in inglese di questo termine italiano.

*E' vero, si possono perdere i colpi anche a 15 anni

* E' un modo simpatico per dire che si sta invecchiando

grazie


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## danalto

alinush said:


> Volevo sapere la traduzione in inglese di questo termine italiano.
> 
> *E' vero, si possono perdere i colpi anche a 15 anni
> 
> * E' un modo simpatico per dire che si sta invecchiando
> 
> grazie


La frase sarebbe *si possono perdere colpi*, senza l'articolo. (almeno, io l'ho sempre detta omettendo l'articolo...)
Fai un tentativo di traduzione.


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## MünchnerFax

Maybe: _That's true, you can be over the hill even at 15._


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## alinush

Sto cercando la traduzione di "perdere colpi"


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## Danieloid

alinush said:


> Sto cercando la traduzione di "perdere colpi"


E Münchner ha provato ad aiutarti. Forse non te ne sei accorto, ma la tua frase suona un po' scortese.


> _That's true, you can be over the hill even at 15_


Non è un po' forte? Non vuol dire qualcosa tipo "mezzo morto" o "con un piede nella fossa"?

Ciao!


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## Paulfromitaly

You can go/fire blank even if you're only 15.


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## london calling

Even fifteen-year-olds can lose their marbles!

Questo normalmente è un riferimento alla senilità (vecchiaia in quel senso lì), rincitrullire, insomma!


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## Coriolanus

Paulfromitaly said:


> You can go/fire blank even if you're only 15.




A me servirebbe una versione adatta di "perdere colpi" a un soggetto come un software.

Ad esempio:

*"Firefox con l'andare del tempo potrebbe perdere colpi se va avanti così e Chrome risultare migliore"*

Tentativo di traduzione (scusate, ma è richiesto ^^):

"With the passing of time, Firefox might reduce its efficacy if it goes ahead in this way, and so Chrome becomes better."


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## MStraf

In that context, you can use " ... FF might* lose its edge* ... "


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## Coriolanus

Perfetto grazie! Peccato però che mi pare non andrebbe più bene se non ci fosse un riferimento a una posizione di vantaggio.


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## ChickenChicken

Ciao,

Io dovrei tradurre invece "La macchina perde colpi fino a quando si spegne".

Scusate ma non idea di come si potrebbe tradurre "perdere colpi" riferito ad una macchina...


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## london calling

Direi "the engine starts to fail and then the car stops altogether".


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## Holymaloney

Hi !
LC do you think that '...the engine *starts sputtering *and then stops altogether...' works here?
Cheers


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## london calling

Hello Holy! 

That had also crossed my mind, but I didn't know how formal a translation was required so I decided to stay on the safe side.


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## pat2009

ciao a tutti ho un problema con una traduzione relativa al settore automotive. Il seguente è il testo in italiano


Appena accendo la macchina a freddo questa perde i colpi. E' un diesel, si abbassano i giri del motore. Sento il calo nei primi 3-4 minuti poi quando si scalda non succede più. La macchina parte accelerata con l'aria automatica poi ha la perdita, anziché andare a 900 giri perde 200-300 giri e poi si riallinea. 

Non sono sicura di riuscire a tradurre perde colpi in modo corretto. Io lo tradurrei con _it loses hits_.

Grazie per l'aiuto


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## Tegs

Mi puoi spiegare cosa vuol dire "perdere i colpi"?


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## elfa

Tegs said:


> Mi puoi spiegare cosa vuol dire "perdere i colpi"?



I think informally we would say "the engine stutters".


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## Matrap

Hi girls

Can we also say: "The engine misses"?


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## Tegs

Ah, thanks Elfa  An engine can't _miss _in English, but you can say "the engine turns over but doesn't catch" (I think that's appropriate here but I'm not 100% sure)


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## rrose17

Ciao Matrap you can say the engine misses but I don't think you can say that something causes the engine to miss. More likely for me is either as Elfa wrote or _the engine skips.

_edit: @Tegs you do say the the engine is missing, meaning it's not running smoothly.


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## pat2009

rrose17 said:


> Ciao Matrap you can say the engine misses but I don't think you can say that something causes the engine to miss. More likely for me is either as Elfa wrote or _the engine skips.
> 
> _edit: @Tegs you do say the the engine is missing, meaning it's not running smoothly.




Thank you very much to everybody for precious help. Do you know whether there is a terminology ita-engl for automotive? thank you again


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## Calum

The term I would use is 'the engine _misfires_'. 

Calum


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## Tegs

Calum said:


> The term I would use is 'the engine _misfires_'.



Yes, I've heard this one too. Rrose, if someone told me "the engine is missing" I would think that person was saying a thief stole his engine


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## MR1492

Tegs said:


> Yes, I've heard this one too. Rrose, if someone told me "the engine is missing" I would think that person was saying a thief stole his engine



Actually, Tegs, "the engine is missing" to describe a misfire of a cylinder is perfectly acceptable in AE.  Since the OP described a diesel engine, it probably isn't spark related although the glow plug on one cylinder may be bad causing the poor starting.

Phil


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## elfa

MR1492 said:


> Since the OP described a diesel engine, it probably isn't spark related although the glow plug on one cylinder may be bad causing the poor starting.



Impressive, Phil. You can come round and service my car anytime!


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## Tegs

MR1492 said:


> Actually, Tegs, "the engine is missing" to describe a misfire of a cylinder is perfectly acceptable in AE.  Since the OP described a diesel engine, it probably isn't spark related although the glow plug on one cylinder may be bad causing the poor starting.
> 
> Phil



Ah, ok, this must be a BE/AE thing then  (And I agree with Elfa too, hehe!)


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## Einstein

I'm sure I've heard "The engine is missing" in BE too. It's true that taken in isolation it could mean the engine has disappeared, but if you say something like "it keeps missing" it's clear.


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## Paulfromitaly

Einstein said:


> I'm sure I've heard "The engine is missing" in BE too. It's true that taken in isolation it could mean the engine has disappeared, but if you say something like "it keeps missing" it's clear.



That's what the Oxford dictionary suggests



> http://www.wordreference.com/iten/colpo
> *perdere colpi* [motore] to miss;



although the accurate technical term is misfire.


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## GavinW

For the record, I've translated this idiom a zillion times, and I've never used any of the suggestions above. That's because the Italian expression is, appunto, an idiom (ie metaphorical, not literal). I'm not aware of any equivalent idiom in English that uses the image of an engine misfiring. The English translation must, similarly, be an idiom. A fixed idiom. An idiom that is fixed in the language. And immediately recognisable. 

Something like: 
Aldo: "Ma come, c'hai messo 45 secondi a divorare quel'hamburger; 10 anni fa ci mettevi 20 secondi secchi". (No comments, on grammar, please.. ;-)    ) 
Alfio: "Si, lo so, sto perdendo qualche colpo."

Translation:
Aldo: "(etc)..."
Alfio: "Yeah, I know, I must be losing my touch" (Or just, "I'm losing my touch".)

That's just one (very idiomatic) suggestion. Another, which retains the idea of an engine, without actually using the verb "misfire" or "miss", could be:
"Hmm, let's say he wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders".

HTH (but maybe all this already appears in some other thread on the same expression. Boh. I didn't go looking.)


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## You little ripper!

_To not work at full throttle_ is similar to _not firing on all cylinders_. Would that work, Gavin? 

Full throttle

if a person or a machine is at full throttle, they are doing something as well and with as much energy as they can. _By the end of May, the assembly line will be working at full throttle._


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## GavinW

Hi YLR,
It's a useful suggestion, but IMHO one objection is that your expression doesn't necessarily mean that something's gone wrong, or that performance has declined. Instead, it could suggest that the "person or machine" hasn't yet reached its/their maximum performance.

Also, I think it's not as fixed, common, or metaphorical as the Italian expression. Also, I think it's used much more of machines, or with the image of a machine, than the Italian expression. But, hey, only my opinion.


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## You little ripper!

GavinW said:


> Hi YLR,
> It's a useful suggestion, but IMHO one objection is that your expression doesn't necessarily mean that something's gone wrong, or that performance has declined. Instead, it could suggest that the "person or machine" hasn't yet reached its/their maximum performance.
> 
> Also, I think it's not as fixed, common, or metaphorical as the Italian expression. Also, I think it's used much more of machines, or with the image of a machine, than the Italian expression. But, hey, only my opinion.


It was just a thought, Gavin. I have plenty of those bouncing around in what I like to think is a brain, but most of them are probably just rubbish!


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## GavinW

You little ripper! said:


> It was just a thought, Gavin. I have plenty of those bouncing around in what I like to think is a brain, but most of them are probably just rubbish!



You're too modest!


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## Pietruzzo

GavinW said:


> Aldo: "Ma come, c'hai messo 45 secondi a divorare quel'hamburger; 10 anni fa ci mettevi 20 secondi secchi". (No comments, on grammar, please.. ;-) )


Just a couple of comments... Well... quel*l*'hamburger was a typo, of course, but I have to disagree on the elision of " ci". Actually, "ci" should never be contracted but In this case the"i" is even pronounced, as far as I can tell. It's different to "c'hai fame", for example(even if, as I was saying, you should spell it " ci hai" as well)


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## mxyzptlk63

london calling said:


> Even fifteen-year-olds can lose their marbles!
> 
> Questo normalmente è un riferimento alla senilità (vecchiaia in quel senso lì), rincitrullire, insomma!


Riprendo questa vecchia discussione sul "perdere colpi" riferito ad una persona.

L'idea era di scrivere una frase che in italiano sarebbe "Si vede che sto perdendo colpi!", e quindi proprio nel senso di cui sopra, rincitrullire per la vecchiaia.

Ma cercando "lose your marbles"
lose your marbles - Dizionario inglese-italiano WordReference
trovo qualcosa di molto peggio, relativo all'insanità di mente, alla pazzia:

dare i numeri
non avere le rotelle a posto
non avere tutte le rotelle
che non mi pare c'entri molto con il "perdere colpi" (fra parentesi poi mi spiegate che c'entra il marmo qui)

I traduttori automatici più famosi 😉 si orientano su "run out of steam"
run out of steam - Dizionario inglese-italiano WordReference

perdere forza
esaurire le forze
ma anche questo non mi sembra corretto.

Qualche altra idea?


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## Benzene

_Suggerisco: "to lose one's grip."

Bye,
*Benzene*_


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## Mary49

"Have a senior moment".


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## london calling

mxyzptlk63 said:


> Riprendo questa vecchia discussione sul "perdere colpi" riferito ad una persona.
> 
> L'idea era di scrivere una frase che in italiano sarebbe "Si vede che sto perdendo colpi!", e quindi proprio nel senso di cui sopra, rincitrullire per la vecchiaia.
> 
> Ma cercando "lose your marbles"
> lose your marbles - Dizionario inglese-italiano WordReference
> trovo qualcosa di molto peggio, relativo all'insanità di mente, alla pazzia:
> 
> dare i numeri
> non avere le rotelle a posto
> non avere tutte le rotelle
> che non mi pare c'entri molto con il "perdere colpi" (fra parentesi poi mi spiegate che c'entra il marmo qui)
> 
> I traduttori automatici più famosi 😉 si orientano su "run out of steam"
> run out of steam - Dizionario inglese-italiano WordReference
> 
> perdere forza
> esaurire le forze
> ma anche questo non mi sembra corretto.
> 
> Qualche altra idea?


Si usa anche per dire perdere colpi, credimi. È run out of steam non vuol dire perdere colpi. 😊


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## MintSyrop

Solo per precisare che:


mxyzptlk63 said:


> (fra parentesi poi mi spiegate che c'entra il marmo qui)


_marbles_ vuol dire _biglie_


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