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Mini-contest 2012: "Yogi Berra Quotes" » English to Icelandic

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Source text in English

- "I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous."

- "When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

- "You can observe a lot just by watchin'."

- "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

- "I can't concentrate when I'm thinking."

- "The future ain't what it used to be."

- "I'm not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did."

- "We're lost, but we're making good time."

- "Half the lies they tell about me aren't true."

- "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."

- "It's like deja-vu, all over again."

- "It ain't over till it's over."

- Mrs. Lindsay: "You certainly look cool." Yogi Berra: "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself."

- "If the world were perfect, it wouldn't be."

There were 5 entries submitted in this pair during the submission phase.

Entries submitted in this pair were rated on a per-segment basis. Listed below are all submitted translations of each individual source text segment.

Submitted segment translations

Translations submitted for each source text segment are listed below. Segments have had surrounding punctuation stripped, and the resulting identical segments have been grouped together, so each listed translation should differ, but the difference may be subtle (eg. internal punctuation or diacritics).

Viewing segment # out of 14

Source text segment #1

- "I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous."
Rank by:
+111 | -3
It's [supposedly] humorous because if you were to give your right arm, you could no longer be ambidextrous.
+33 | -2
A somewhat dull oxymoron. Another one of this kind would be "I'd die for the chance of living that moment."
+27 | -1
He is/was a baseballer. Ability to throw/catch with both arms is an obvious advantage. THe paradox of losing one arm to be able to keep using both is what makes this funny
+22 | -1
He would pay any price (idiom -give his right arm) to fulfil his wish of being ambidextrous - he ends up in oxymoron, which is funny.
+24 | -13
Being ambidextrous (as opposed to strongly right or left-handed) would solve a lot of problems (e.g. cutting fingernails). "I'd give my right arm to..." is an idiomatic expression meaning to want something very much.
+8 | -1
to give the right arm means "to pay any price for something", ironically in this case, for being ambidextrous (to be able to use both hands equally well)
[Edited] +5 | -1
I would give my right arm (= I'd do absolutely anything) to be able to use both hands with equal facility.
+6 | -2
A set expression: "I'd give my right arm to {whatever}". Once again, Yogi comes up with something funny to plug in. (By the way, the desire to be ambidextrous is common among baseball players.)
+3 | -1
In baseball been ambidextrous as I am, is a privilege among the baseball players, so is a good translation for this or any sport, due to the big advantages of using both arms and have the same strength, and abilities to throw or bat.
We shall forever remember him.

Translations of this segment (5 total; 5 unique)

Ég gæfi hægri handlegg fyrir að vera jafnvígur á báðar
Ég gæfi á mér hægri handlegginn til að vera jafnhentur
Ég myndi gefa hægri handlegginn til að verða jafnvígur á báðar
Ég væri til í að gefa hægri hendina fyrir að vera jafnhentur
Ég myndi vilja gefa á mér hægri handlegginn fyrir að vera jafnvíg á báðar hendur
Viewing segment # out of 14