Friday 15 July 2011

Whole lot of fussin'*

A word that come in in three lessons this week, a word that's so naturally English, that's so commonly used in all its forms - and yet a direct translation is missing in Polish. When incidents of 'linguistic white spaces' are noticed, I look for cultural differences.

So then. "To fuss", "to make a fuss", "fussy", "fussiness". Dictionaries offer a wide palate of Polish words, yet none capture the essence of the word "fuss".

Stanisławski: "Fuss. s. 1. zamieszanie, wrzawa, hałas, awantura, historia, podniecenie. 2. krzątanina, zachody, zabiegi, to make a fuss of somebody nadskakiwać komuś, kręcić się koło kogoś 3. ceremonie 4. denerwowanie się drobiazgami. II vi 1. awanturować się, z/robić zamieszanie 2. krzątać się; być zaaferowanym; podniecać się (drobiazgami itp.) 3. zabiegać (over somebody, something koło kogoś, czegoś); denerwować, się (about something czymś) III vt 1. niepokoićl pot. zawracać głowę (somebody komuś) 2. denerwować. Fussy adj. fussier, fussiest 1. grymaśny; kapryśny; rozkaprysznony; zrzędny 2. drobiazgo; to be fussy robić trudności 3. ruchliwy 4. denerwujący 5. (o ubiorze, stylu) wyszukany; przeładowany ozdobami

As a child, I was a fussy eater. At primary school, I would dread having to eat school dinners. [note: not school lunches, though school dinners were indeed served at lunchtime]. There would usually be a fuss between the dinner lady and myself, pushing gristle around my plate. Relaying this at home to my mother, she'd escalate the issue, upgrading it from a fuss to an awantura (a word of Italianate origin, sharing the same root as the English word 'adventure').

In England, one can make a fuss about getting short-changed in a shop. It's not impolite to do so. What would you do w polskim sklepie if pani ekspedientka gave you one zloty change instead of two? Would this be described as a fuss, or robienie trudności/ wrzawy/ historii/ awantury?

How would you translate into Polish: "A group of parents were fussing around their children before the school play" or "my boss is very fussy when it comes to protocol"? In the latter, the word drobiazgowy has a pejorative sense that's missing in English.

Over to you, dear bilingual readers - how would translate fuss and fussy without inflating the issue or getting pejorative about the subject?

A very useful English language resource that reader AdTheLad has posted me is Bill Bryson's Troublesome Words. (Link to this book online on Google Books here)

*The title of this post comes from James Brown and the JB's excellent song I'm Payin' Taxes, But What Am I Buyin'? - "A whole lot of fussin' and everybody's cussin' " Given Mr Brown's history of troubles with the US Inland Revenue Service, in this context, it's clearly an awantura.

This time last year:
Mediterranean Kraków

This time two years ago:
Warsaw's in-between places

This time three years ago:
Plans for Nowa Iwiczna and Mysiadło

This time four years ago:
Golden Time of Day

4 comments:

Outsider said...

While it's true there's no catch-all single-word translation for fussy/to fuss, the idea is of course easily translatable in all possible contexts.

To be a fussy eater: "być wybrednym".

To make a fuss about being short-changed: "domagać się reszty".

A group of parents were fussing around their children before the school play: "Grupa rodziców krzątała się wokół dzieci przed przedstawieniem szkolnym".

My boss is very fussy when it comes to protocol: "Mój szef jest bardzo drobiazgowy w kwestii protokołu".

As long as you stick to Saint Jerome's "non verbum pro verbo", there really is no such thing as "untranslatable". :-)

student SGH said...

Why not use a Polish catchy word foch? Especially women like it (some even too much). Ask you daughter, she should be able to explain you the concept, but there's someting really close to the fuss

adthelad said...

Absolwent SGH ;) - so how does that work? sfochować się? zrobić focha? fochczyć się? Mam focha?

student SGH said...

strzelić focha, odstawić focha