Questions for native English speakers

[Primula Foxburr]

Hi there everybody!

I’m a newbie from Italy. I’m translating a short story from English to Italian (“Two Little Clouds by Joseph O’Connor, a contemporary Irish writer), can anybody help me in translating the following words and expressions?
(I’m sorry, I’ve an inkling that some of them must be a bit off-color..)

Thanks

It was him right enough

Bleeding state of you

He was always around, chewing it with some wannabe model

Dublin was lousy with heads wanting to get on the ladder

Guy with a line in bullfeathers could rake in a few sovs

Gave her the rub of the relic m’self

So what are you at yourself?

You’re blinging

Hacking off each other’s knob for having a ride outside of marriage, that’s just not on, man!

Armit of a place, anyway.

I don’t know how you stck the kip. Fair balls to you, man

Do in me gicker

Jesus, these bigshot London bollixes

The traffic was only wojus

 

[classical_hero]

Many of the words are Slang. So it hard even for a native speaker like me to even give you a meaning of these phrases.

 

[Xenocrates]

I used to be an English teacher so I know how hard it is to translate these colloquialisms.

Thanks

This means.......

It was him right enough

I'm sure it was him

Bleeding state of you

You look bad

He was always around, chewing it with some wannabe model

'Chewing it' means chewing the cud. Moving the mouth like a cow. It means chatting. 'Wannabe' means someone who isn't a model but wants to be one.

Dublin was lousy with heads wanting to get on the ladder

The ladder means career ladder I guess. The 'heads' wanted to advance their careers. Guess!

Guy with a line in bullfeathers could rake in a few sovs

'sovs' is soveriegns; money. Meaning Guy could get rich by talking BS.

Gave her the rub of the relic m’self

Maybe sex reference? Not sure.

So what are you at yourself?

I think it means: 'what are you doing?'

You’re blinging

You have a lot of jewelery.

Hacking off each other’s knob for having a ride outside of marriage, that’s just not on, man!

'Ride' is sex. I guess it means castration.

Armit of a place, anyway.

i think that should be 'armpit' meaning a bad smelly place.

I don’t know how you stck the kip. Fair balls to you, man

no idea here.

Do in me gicker

'Do me in' means 'kill me'.

Jesus, these bigshot London bollixes

Maybe he means that some people from London have 'big testicles', although the spelling of bollocks is wrong. Probably means they are 'brave' or 'ruthless'.

The traffic was only wojus

No idea, never heard the word 'wojus' before.

Basically this is a test written as is an unedusated man talks. It's a hard project. Whoever gave you this homework is a monster!

 

[Phlegmak]

Perhaps you should post the original work so the lines you want translated have some context.

EDIT: I guess this is it.
http://www.liffeyproject.net/content/showthread.php?threadid=322

 

[Mathilda]

Maybe he means that some people from London have 'big testicles', although the spelling of bollocks is wrong. Probably means they are 'brave' or 'ruthless'.

I thought that meant:
Jesus, these important men from London.
(sounds weird)
big shot = important, powerful
bo....s = men, guys

disclaimer: not native english speaker

 

[Xenocrates]

I thought that meant:
Jesus, these important men from London.
(sounds weird)
big shot = important, powerful
bo....s = men, guys

disclaimer: not native english speaker

You aren't bad at English Mathilda!

I just think the last word 'Bollixes' comes from Bollox and that comes from..... well you can guess.

 

[Mathilda]

Of course it does.
I just wasn't sure if the correct spelling would pass the autosencor.

 

[Phlegmak]

Judging by the story, here are my answers.

It was him right enough

It was definitely him.

Bleeding state of you

No idea.

He was always around, chewing it with some wannabe model

Here it is from the website I linked:
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]He was just always around, chinwagging with some model
At which point, my answer is "no idea."

Using your quote above, I would have said "he was always present, talking with a would-be model."
[/FONT]

Dublin was lousy with heads wanting to get on the ladder

No idea. It most likely means "Dublin has a tremendous number of people wanting to get in business."

Guy with a line in bullfeathers could rake in a few sovs

A person with a connection in business could stand to make some money.

Gave her the rub of the relic m’self

I had sex with her also.

So what are you at yourself?

What are you doing with your life these days?
or
What job are you doing presently?

You’re blinging

I need context for this one, and I couldn't find it in the text. I'll take a wild guess and say it means "you're joking."

Hacking off each other’s knob for having a ride outside of marriage, that’s just not on, man!

This is what it has in the site I linked:
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica] ‘Well – loppin off each other’s goolies for havin a ride outside of marriage? That’s just not on, man; in all fairness.’
That would be "Well, cutting off each other's genitals for having sex outside of marriage? That's wrong; in all fairness."
[/FONT]

Armit of a place, anyway.

Here's the text from the website:
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica]Armpit of a place anyway.[/FONT]
That means: The place is very bad, ugly, smelly, or repulsive.

I don’t know how you stck the kip. Fair balls to you, man

Stick is misspelled in your sentence. For this one, my best guess is "I don't know how you manage to live in London. If that's what you want, then that's ok."

Do in me gicker

I love the way that sounds. It sounds ridiculous, and I have no idea what it means. Next time my boss asks me to do something, I'm going to say that.

Jesus, these bigshot London bollixes

It's "Jaysus" in the text, meaning "Jesus". That sentence is an exclamation of complaint about "snobby London men" or something like that.

The traffic was only wojus

Judging by the context of the story, the traffic was not very bad right now, compared to other times.

Did I just do your homework for you? Well, at least you still have to translate it to Italian, which I won't be doing.

 

[blackheart]

I'm confused, are these cultural references for Americans or Brits?

 

[Phlegmak]

I'm confused, are these cultural references for Americans or Brits?

The story was written by an Irishman and it takes place in Dublin.

 

[AlanH]

The story was written by an Irishman and it takes place in Dublin.

... but the slang looks more like London's east end than Dublin

 

[Abaddon]

Thanks

This means thank you!

Quote:
Dublin was lousy with heads wanting to get on the ladder

The ladder means career ladder. lots of people (heads)


Quote:
Guy with a line in bullfeathers could rake in a few sovs

'sovs' is soveriegns; money. Meaning Guy could get rich by talking BS.
BS=rubbish


Quote:
Gave her the rub of the relic m’self

relic=penis m'self=himself


Quote:
I don’t know how you stck the kip. Fair balls to you, man

dont know how you to the abuse. congraduations to you.

Quote:
Jesus, these bigshot London bollixes

"bigshot" think a lot of yourself
"bollixes" insult

 

[CruddyLeper]

Maybe he means that some people from London have 'big testicles', although the spelling of bollocks is wrong. Probably means they are 'brave' or 'ruthless'.

Bollix is Irish-English slang. It means bad, rubbish, sub quality. Can be used as a noun, really it's an adjective that's become a noun.

 

[shortguy]

Wow. I have trouble with a few of those. I hope you weren't given that for some sort of class; many of those phrases aren't what I would consider very common at all.

 

[GenMarshall]

Looks more like slang to me thats hardly used in the US .

 

[Primula Foxburr]

Hi!

Thanks a lot for all your replies!! You've all been really helpful, at last I got this work almost done .
I have to translate this text for my thesis, let's hope for the best!

 

[Truronian]

I think "chewing it" is slang for "flirting", although I'm not Irish so it may have a different meaning here.