# Sliding door experience



## vas10

Hello!

I was wondering how you would translate the phrase "sliding door experience".

The sentence is:
He arrived in Australia in 1955 full of dreams and aspirations, his life beginning with a “sliding door” experience missing out on joining his family in America as a result of being offered immigration to Australia first.

I understand the phrase as an important crossroad in someone's life where he chose something over something else (even unconsciously) but I cannot find a way to interpet it in Greek.
Do you have any ideas?

Thank you in advance!


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## Eltheza

Hi vas10!

Well, 'χαμένη ευκαιρία' springs to mind but hang on until the experts show up!

Good luck!


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## panettonea

vas10 said:


> Hello!
> I was wondering how you would translate the phrase "sliding door experience".



How about this:

_Why bother?_ 

I've never heard that phrase before in my life, and I'd say it's awkward at best.  I did a Google search on the phrase as well, and its use in a general (i.e., non-door-related) context seems to be almost nonexistent.  I don't know who wrote that sentence, but if I were that person, I certainly wouldn't want to admit it.


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## ireney

I'm not sure about "χαμένη ευκαιρία". I mean he applied to both, the offer from Australia came first and he decided to take it. It's more of a case of "χρονική συγκυρία", "τυχαίο περιστατικό" during a σταυροδρόμι of his life.


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## cougr

panettonea said:


> How about this:
> 
> _Why bother?_
> 
> I've never heard that phrase before in my life, and I'd say it's awkward at best.  I did a Google search on the phrase as well, and its use in a general (i.e., non-door-related) context seems to be almost nonexistent.  I don't know who wrote that sentence, but if I were that person, I certainly wouldn't want to admit it.



The expression is actually more common than Google would suggest and usually connotes the idea that unexpected circumstances have conspired at a critical juncture in one's life which catapults them on a life-changing course that hadn't been planned or anticipated.

It is derived from the movie "Sliding Doors" starring Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah and is usually expressed as a "sliding door*s* experience".


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## panettonea

cougr said:


> The expression is actually more common than Google would suggest and usually connotes the idea that unexpected circumstances have conspired at a critical juncture in one's life which catapults them on a life-changing course that hadn't been planned or anticipated.



Thanks, cougr.  What I don't get is how a "sliding door" experience would be any different from a "regular door" experience--either one could "catapult" a person into a life-changing course.    The whole concept just seems so pretentious and artificial to me.



> It is derived from the movie "Sliding Doors" starring Gwyneth Paltrow and John Hannah and is usually expressed as a "sliding door*s* experience".



I've never seen that movie, and it sure doesn't sound like I've missed much.    I realize that all idioms have to start somewhere, but those that come directly from movies are usually pretty cheesy in my book.


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## cougr

panettonea said:


> Thanks, cougr.  What I don't get is how a "sliding door" experience would be any different from a "regular door" experience--either one could "catapult" a person into a life-changing course......



I can see your point but I can only speculate that the term "sliding doors" captured the imagination of the films producers more than the term "regular doors", which in turn captured the imagination of some of those who saw the film whom also happened to sense that the term now had some value as a metaphor. Hence a new metaphor is born.

PS: It is also quite frequently referred to as a "sliding doors moment".


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## panettonea

cougr said:


> I can see your point but I can only speculate that the term "sliding doors" captured the imagination of the films producers more than the term "regular doors", which in turn captured the imagination of some of those who saw the film whom also happened to sense that the term now had some value as a metaphor. Hence a new metaphor is born.



I guess it doesn't take much to capture the imagination of those in Hollywood.   



> PS: It is also quite frequently referred to as a "sliding doors moment".



Thanks for the background on this term--otherwise I would've had no idea what planet it came from.


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## vas10

Thank you all for your contributions!

The truth is that I didn't care that much about the translation. But I was curious about this phrase because I could understand very clearly what it meant in English (like ireney and cougr) but I couldn't find any Greek phrase to translate it. The word απροσδόκητο was stuck in my mind, but I couldn't do something with it.

And cougr you were right, in the original text it was also written as "sliding door*s*" but I misspelled it.


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## Mariana94

Well, being a native speaker, I cannot really think of any equally meaningful phrase, so I would suggest a couple of adjectives that offhand come to mind, such as αιφνίδια, αναπάντεχη, απρόοπτη, απρόσμενη, ακαρτέρητη, απροσδόκητη εμπειρία. To me they all encapsulate the palpable sense of ''sliding doors''.


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