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Glossary entry

español term or phrase:

patear la pelota para un costado

inglés translation:

let it slide, let life go on, decide not to stir things up/stir up a hornet\'s nest, avoid the issue

Added to glossary by JaneTranslates
Aug 30, 2014 03:48
9 yrs ago
5 viewers *
español term

patear la pelota para un costado

español al inglés Ciencias sociales General / Conversación / Saludos / Cartas Argentina
Hello! Can someone help me with what may be a slang phrase from Argentina?

The text is a scholarly paper about DNA testing, adoption, and the lost children of the desaparecidos. The language is contemporary (published 3 or 4 years ago). The speaker is a man born in 1980 near Buenos Aires.

He knows that he was adopted, and suspects that he was the son of desaparecidos, taken from his mother before her execution and given to a military family to raise. His adoptive father, Jorge, has died, and he wants to know about his own past, but doesn't want to cause his adoptive mother, Aída, pain with his questions. So, I think this phrase might mean something like "I decided to bite the bullet" or "tough it out" or "keep a stiff upper lip" rather than ask his questions.

Here's the paragraph:

Cerraba perfecto. Jorge trabajaba en el ejército, en el servicio de inteligencia, allí siguió trabajando hasta el momento de su muerte. Pero yo no me animaba a preguntarle nada a nadie. Ni siquiera insinuar mi sospecha de que no era hijo biológico. Ni años más tarde, cuando llegué a sentir que aquella incertidumbre me estaba ahogando. Me daba miedo preguntarle a Aída. Me dolía pensar que podía hacerla sufrir con mi pregunta. Además, en ese entonces hacía pocos años que Jorge había muerto y decidí **patear la pelota para un costado**. Seguí de frente, andando.

Any help would be welcome. The sooner the better, as I'm very close to my deadline! Thanks in advance.


Argentine Spanish to US English.
Proposed translations (inglés)
4 Let life continue without having a hand in it.
4 let it go, let it slide
4 take life in its stride
4 let sleeping dogs lie
4 keep/maintain the status quo/current state of affairs

Discussion

Taña Dalglish Aug 30, 2014:
@ Jane Hi Jane:

There are a few references to a case of a youth committing suicide due to discrimination, etc. and the full phrase is **Es patear la pelota a un costado, mirar a otro lado**.

http://stopthepunch.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html
...... “pueblo chico, infierno grande” y creer que en una localidad pequeña, por el solo hecho de ser pequeña va a vivir en el conservadurismo más grande, presa del prejuicio, la intolerancia y dogmas estáticos es una verdad a medias, o sea, una mentira a medias. **Es patear la pelota a un costado, mirar a otro lado**.

http://www.elindependiente.com.ar/papel/hoy/imprimir.asp?id=...
Charles Davis Aug 30, 2014:
Kick into touch Hi Jane. This is not a translation proposal, but just a comment on the expression. It immediately made me think of the British English expression "kick the ball into touch", which refers to when you kick the ball out of play, over the touch (side) line. This is done when you're under pressure, to give you time to reorganise. It's a common set phrase as a metaphor. You can omit "ball" and just talk about "kicking an issue into touch", meaning to evade it:

"kick something into touch
British
to stop discussing an idea, suggestion, problem etc because it is clear that you cannot achieve or solve it"
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/kick

If it were for a British audience this might work well, but American readers probably wouldn't understand it.

The origin is much more rugby than football, but then rugby is very big in Argentina (in fact the national team is world class). In soccer people rarely kick the ball into touch deliberately, but in rugby it happens all the time and can gain you an advantage if you do it right in certain circumstances (I'll spare you a detailed explanation!).
Judith Armele Aug 30, 2014:
Yes, it is kind of a soccer football reference: when you kick the ball to a side it's because you don't dare to try to go forward and make a goal; either you leave the responsibility to someone else, or to nobody, but you certainly don't take it. But it's just in a figurative way, not that any football player would do that :).
JaneTranslates (asker) Aug 30, 2014:
Yes, I see your point. I was thinking of him as being "tough" because he chose to bear his pain rather than cause pain to another. But perhaps he was just choosing the easy way. Is "patear la pelota" a soccer (futbol) reference? I don't understand the point of kicking it "para un costado."
Judith Armele Aug 30, 2014:
Sorry! I misunderstood you mainly because of this definition.

tough it out
to be strong while experiencing difficulties Should we tough it out, or should we close the store and go out of business now?
See also: out, tough
Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2003. Reproduced with permission.
JaneTranslates (asker) Aug 30, 2014:
That's actually what I meant! I meant that he decided that even though he wanted to ask questions, he would let it go, "biting the bullet" rather than doing what he longed to do. Thank you, this comment is helpful.
Judith Armele Aug 30, 2014:
No, patear la pelota para un costado es exactamente lo opuesto. Es decidir no encarar algo, dejar pasar algo, 'quitarle el cuerpo a las balas', no hacerse reponsable de algo. Entonces, lo que aqui quiere decir es que decidió no preguntar nada, sacarse la idea de la cabeza y seguir adelante como si nada hubiera ocurrido.

Proposed translations

1 hora
Selected

Let life continue without having a hand in it.

Perhaps you could say something like this.

So i decided to let life continue without having a hand in it. I moved forward.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I don't know if this is cricket (another sports metaphor!) but I'm choosing this answer more on the basis of the discussion entries than on the actual answer. Your explanation of the expression was exactly what I needed! Thank you so much for the timely rescue."
2 horas

let it go, let it slide

...some suggetions
Note from asker:
I like both of your options, Blanca! Thank you very much.
Something went wrong...
7 horas

take life in its stride

talvez
Note from asker:
Good option, telefpro, though I would omit "its." Thanks so much for your answer.
Something went wrong...
8 horas

let sleeping dogs lie

I've mentioned "kick the issue into touch", almost a literal translation of the original, in the discussion area, and although it's a real option for British English I suspect that American readers would not understand it. But this Spanish expression, though clearly much less common than its English equivalent, does have the air of a proverbial set phrase, and I think it would be nice to find a suitable one in English that would work for US readers. "Let sleeping dogs lie" seems to me a good candidate.

The idea is that this person decides that it would be better not to pursue the subject. You might even say he/she decides to shelve it. I think there is a clear implication that this decision is based on the thought that to pursue it would cause trouble or pain: "Me dolía pensar que podía hacerla sufrir con mi pregunta." That's really the sense of "let sleeping dogs lie": better to let it go than to stir things up further:

"The idiom let sleeping dogs lie means not to stir up old conflicts or provoke an argument over unresolved issues."
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-let-sleeping-dogs-lie-mean...

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Note added at 8 hrs (2014-08-30 12:36:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I think the basic sense of the Spanish expression is to avoid the issue, but as I say, in this case it also seems to have that implication of avoiding the trouble that could be caused by tackling the issue.

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Note added at 12 hrs (2014-08-30 15:56:12 GMT)
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You might also consider "look the other way" or possibly "turn a blind eye", which seem to fit Taña's example, though I'm not sure they fit your context so well.
Note from asker:
I've never heard the phrase "into touch." How interesting! To continue the sports metaphors, I thought of "ice the puck" and "punt" (ice hockey and "American football," respectively) but I don't think any of the above quite fits, do you? You've given some very good suggestions here, as always. Thanks, Charles!
Something went wrong...
2 días 9 horas

keep/maintain the status quo/current state of affairs

more options
or
let it go and
...not let the genie out of the bottle
...open up a can of worms
...open up Pandora's box
stir up a hornet's nest

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days22 hrs (2014-09-02 02:00:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

oops! let it go and NOT
...let the genie etc...
Note from asker:
I got it, Gallagy...the "not" part! I think the hornet's nest image might be very appropriate here. Thank you for some excellent suggestions.
Something went wrong...
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