# Lock up your daughters!



## TheUnitedStatesOfEurope

Hi everyone, 

how can I say this Expression? Might it be badly interpretated by Chinese People, as it is very Western and a bit cheeky?

It can be used in many contexts:

- I´m going to the gym, lock up your daughters!
- I´m going to call some customers, lock up your daughters!
- I´m back in-town, lock up your daughters!
- I´m going out tonight, lock up your daughters!

It is a funny way to say: "Big Boss is back in-town, brace yourselves!"

Is there a Chinese equivalent for this? 

My try:
我今天晚上想去晚会, 锁掉你们的女儿!

Sound weird though and not idiomatic...

Thanks a lot for your propositions. 
Cheers,


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## NewAmerica

The expression 锁掉你们的女儿 is completely a mess and makes no sense in Chinese.

Did you want to say something like this:
我今晚参加晚会，看好你们的女儿（别让她们乱跑）?

But it still sounds a bit ridiculous. Because girls （女儿）often make the atmosphere of a party more cheerful. Why do you want to forbid their participating?

If you meant that the evening party (晚会）would be serious, so that girls would not be allowed going there, then simply tell your girls the seriousness of the party and they would obey.

More context will help.


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## Skatinginbc

今晚的聚會, 帥哥我可是會來, 你要是怕女兒控制不住投懷送抱的話, 就得把她們鎖好。==> 帥哥來了(男神回城了), 你得把女兒拴好。
If the subject does not refer to the first person, then it might be 大野狼來了, 快把女兒藏好(e.g., 鎖在保險櫃裡)。


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## retrogradedwithwind

第一次听说这个俗语。

管好你女儿，别被野小子给勾去了？


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## TheUnitedStatesOfEurope

@NewAmerica.

"They will obey".
Well, you don´t sound very feminist, do you...

This is an expression, as I endeavoured to explain it in my first post.

You are intepretating it too formaly. It´s ironic and very Western, perhaps that´s why it is a bit difficult for Chinese to understand?
However, that would be too quick and too easy of a conclusion.
I´m sure that in Chinese culture there is an equivalent.

Even if Western and Chinese humour sometimes just can´t help but bump heads, they sure have commonalities too.

@Skatinginbc:

大野狼來了 sounds good! Although different than the initial Western Expression, it depicts very well the idea that this Expression is meant to convey!
快把女兒藏好 sounds even closer to the original one.* But is it as idiomatic as: 大野狼來了 ?*
帥哥來了(男神回城了), 你得把女兒拴好。This one is very good too and conveys the funny part of the expression too!

@retrogradedwithwind:

Happy to read that you already heard this expression (I´m not the only one, thank God)! 
管好你女儿，别被野小子给勾去了 is great! However, I can apply it to only a certain context (a cute guy is coming to catch girls).

I think that I will stick to 快把女兒藏好. That´s the best compromise and the most polyvalent of all.

Many many thanks for the great Input!


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## ktdd

I can think of a similar expression that might be applicable to a broader context:
某某某进村了，各家各户把小孩藏好！


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## fyl

I think it's not difficult to understand at all if you had explained what the expression means... Not everyone here speaks English as well as Skatinginbc does.



TheUnitedStatesOfEurope said:


> 大野狼來了 sounds good! Although different than the initial Western Expression, it depicts very well the idea that this Expression is meant to convey!
> 快把女兒藏好 sounds even closer to the original one.* But is it as idiomatic as: 大野狼來了 ?*


Just to make sure you understand it correctly. 大野狼来了 is not the same as 快把女儿藏好, they cannot be compared.
大野狼来了 is not supposed to be a translation of "Lock up your daughters". It's a background just like "Big Boss is back in-town". But it's a bit derogatory, and is pretty context dependent. Don't use it if the subject is "I".
In fact, how did you tell one sentence is idiomatic or not?



TheUnitedStatesOfEurope said:


> Happy to read that you already heard this expression (I´m not the only one, thank God)!


What retrogradedwithwind has posted means "this is the first time to hear this phrase".



TheUnitedStatesOfEurope said:


> I think that I will stick to 快把女兒藏好


This is a good choice.
Though I would also recommend 把闺女、媳妇都看好了.


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## NewAmerica

Skatinginbc said:


> 帥哥來了(男神回城了), 你得*把女兒拴好*。



      把女兒拴好？这个栓字让我不由自主地联想到大陆有些无良禽兽父母将自己孩子当牲口一样栓起来。这种家庭暴力文化的垃圾语言（不论东方还是西方）是不应该传递的。

*版主把这个帖子锁了吧？*


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## TheUnitedStatesOfEurope

@fyild , thanks for your great input! Very interesting and enriching.
I´m well-acquainted with the Level of English of all members here. No need to recall me that.  This point doesn´t make my above-mentioned statement wrong though.

How do I define what is idiomatic and what is not? Well, I´m not an ethymologist or a grammarian. I´m not Chinese either, hence the fact that I ask such forums, to know what´s idiomatic and what is not. 

I know what 大野狼来了 means and I know it is context-dependent, that´s why I commented it above.
Perhaps my question above misled you and made you confused: "*But is it as idiomatic as: 大野狼來了 ?*".

Thanks for the great Input anyhow. 

@ktdd , excellent! Thanks a lot!


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## fyl

快把女儿藏好 is very idiomatic, whereas 大野狼来了 is not (at least not clear in terms of meaning, if without a context).


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## Skatinginbc

NewAmerica said:


> 把女兒拴好？这个栓字让我不由自主地联想到大陆有些无良禽兽父母将自己孩子当牲口一样栓起来。


同樣的道理, 該英語俚語, 也是廣受爭議的. 反對者認為該句 (1) 違反女權 (鎖住女兒, 強行控制其情慾, 上貞操鎖的做法侮蔑人性), (2) 為強姦脫罪 (說話者言下之意是: 我已經事先警告過了, 女孩子在外受欺負是女方家長失責)。


NewAmerica said:


> 把这个帖子锁了吧


假如別人用英語髒話罵我, 我會想知道該髒話是什麼意思。假如有人要我"Lock up your daughters", 我也會想知道那到底是什麼意思。這些都是語言上的問題, 而非道德立場, 贊不贊同該用語的問題。只要是語言問題, 即使是骯髒齷齪殺人放火的詞句, 我也會照實回答翻譯。

Re: 帥哥來了, 大野狼来了, 野小子来了
The English slang expression is ambiguous (sometimes intentionally so for being funny).  For example, what does "I'm going out on the town tonight.  Lock up your daughters" actually mean?  It can be interpreted in multiple ways:
1. 帥哥型: I'm a charmer (good-looker, ladies' man) ==> 你把女兒拴好, 鎖好, 管好, 看好 (with a verb pertaining to control or guidance).
2. 大野狼型: I'll be out on the prowl (a sexual predator or a pedophile interested in the daughter-type) ==> 快把女兒藏好, 把女兒鎖進保險櫃 (with a verb pertaining to defense or protection).
3. 野小子型: Boys will be boys.  I'm wild, immature, and incapable of controlling myself.  So keep the children out of harm's way. ==> 把女兒看好, 關在屋裡別讓她出來.

If one intends to portray a 大野狼 (sexual predator) image of himself, then 把女兒藏好 fits the bill.  Don't mistake "sexual predator" for "alpha male".  The latter falls in the category of "帥哥" or "有吸引力的".


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## TheUnitedStatesOfEurope

@Skatinginbc , however as I mentioned above, it can be used in many other situations.

The easiest and, supposedly the original one, is the sexual one. Presumably stemming from the invasions of cities and villages in middle-Age.

However, People will Keep using this Expression in Europe without sexual thoughts, for instance:

- I´m going to call some Clients, lock-up your daughters
- I´m going to the gym, lock-up your daughters.

It is just another way to say: Brace yourselves!
Without being a pedophile... (This really cracked me up, when I read this)! 

Being a pedophile is just galaxies away from this Expression...
This confirms my Statement above: it doesn´t matter how good People are in English here, it´s all about cultural differences and interpretations (that you see through the lens of your own culture).

Thanks for the multifarious and plentiful Input, @Skatinginbc , though! I learned a lot!


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## Skatinginbc

TheUnitedStatesOfEurope said:


> It is just another way to say: Brace yourselves!  Without being a pedophile... (This really cracked me up, when I read this)!


You may wish that it means simply "brace yourselves", but the fact is: That expression can indeed be interpreted in various ways.  Its association with pedophiles, for instance, can be found in this article: "Lock up your daughters: fear surrounds the September release of a Drumheller pedophile" (Alberta Report, August 5, 1996).  Also, another article says, "Never has the expression _lock up your daughters_ been more appropriate" to describe "underage lust."

The definition given by Urban Dictionary: "The phrase is used to suggest a man looks very handsome/dapper and would be able to take advantage of your daughter."

OK, I got the idea.  All your examples of "Lock up your daughters" in the original post are intended to mean "brace yourselves", and you would like to have it translated into Chinese.  Am I right?  If so, my suggestion would be "要有心理準備."


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## TheUnitedStatesOfEurope

Thanks @Skatinginbc !
Another input which I didn´t know. Well, at least I have an alternative now, as I don´t want to be insulted as pedohphile if I want to say in Chinese: "I´m going to the gym, lock your daughters up".

Careful with newspapers, they like to use, reuse and misuse expressions in order to get the attention of readers. I wouldn´t take this article as universally defining this expression.

What is a pity, and I´m back at the subject of humour: in the Translation process, we have lost this funny, cheeky and edgy humour that there was originally in the Western expression.


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## Skatinginbc

TheUnitedStatesOfEurope said:


> I wouldn´t take this article as universally defining this expression.


I've never claimed it to be its sole definition.  It is merely one of the many connotations that it may evoke in people's minds. Anyway, if you google "lock up your daughters" and "pedophile" together, you'll get 1,670 results.  And if you google "lock up your daughters" and "brace yourselves" together, you'll get 537 results.

BTW, my immediate interpretation for "lock up your daughters" is usually "I'm so sexy, so cute, so handsome, so...irresistible", not "pedophile."


TheUnitedStatesOfEurope said:


> we have lost this funny, cheeky and edgy humour that there was originally in the Western expression.


My humor: 大老闆回来了, 快把他的女兒藏好 (該掩的掩, 該藏的藏, 別被抓姦在床).

今晚我有個聚會, 你得把閨女鎖牢, 財寶藏好 ("Lock up your daughters and hide the silver away").
My humor: 今晚我有個聚會, 你得藏好自己, 別嚇死了盜賊。

"I'm going to call some clients.  Lock up your daughters." ==> My translation attempt: 我得打電話給幾個客人, 限制級的, 兒童不宜。


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