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verschenkt

English translation: chance missed/wasted

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:verschenkt
English translation:chance missed/wasted
Entered by: Erik Macki

21:32 Sep 21, 2006
German to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Idioms
German term or phrase: verschenkt
Here is the context (literary): an editor is standing in front of several people, and they are dividing up several articles that have to be written by each member of the group. One of the article subjects turns out to relate to the Nazi family history of one of the group members, and so she is torn about whether she wants to take on that subject or take another one. When it's her turn to pick, she panics and avoids the subject about her family history and picks a different subject. The next person then picks the topic about the Nazi family history. Then this:

Verschenkt, murmelte Matthias in der Bank hinter ihr. Damit ist das Thema verschenkt.

I'm trying to decide what exactly Matthias means here: is he calling her a cop-out, or is he saying you got off easy, or is he saying you lucked out? Thanks in advance for suggestions.
Erik Macki
Local time: 05:47
chance missed
Explanation:
She had the chance to write an excellent article (having all the in-depth knowledge already without much research). By being too embarrassed about her family history she missed this chance.

This assuming that Matthias knows about her family history.
Selected response from:

Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 05:47
Grading comment
Thanks once again to everyone. As it turns out, Nicole's solution is the best fit for my overall context, which isn't to say the other suggestions wouldn't be the right solutions for other contexts. That's why it's important to click into answers in KudoZ to see what other suggestions are.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +7chance missed
Nicole Schnell
3 +5wasted
Ian M-H (X)
3conceded
Kim Metzger
2and so the subject was closed
Jonathan MacKerron


  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
and so the subject was closed


Explanation:
is how I see it

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2006-09-21 21:42:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or perhaps in the sense of her "giving/passing up" the chance to make a statement

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 67
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13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
conceded


Explanation:
I think "das Thema ist verschenkt" might mean the topic has now been conceded to someone else. This means the topic has been conceded. You had an opportunity to do justice to it, but now you don't.

Duden - verschenken: ungewollt, unnötigerweise abgeben, vergeben, nicht nutzen - der Weitspringer hat durch ungenauen Absprung einige Zentimenter verschenkt.

Another idea is assigned. The topic has been assigned.



Kim Metzger
Mexico
Local time: 06:47
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 213
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22 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +7
chance missed


Explanation:
She had the chance to write an excellent article (having all the in-depth knowledge already without much research). By being too embarrassed about her family history she missed this chance.

This assuming that Matthias knows about her family history.

Nicole Schnell
United States
Local time: 05:47
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 32
Grading comment
Thanks once again to everyone. As it turns out, Nicole's solution is the best fit for my overall context, which isn't to say the other suggestions wouldn't be the right solutions for other contexts. That's why it's important to click into answers in KudoZ to see what other suggestions are.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ingeborg Gowans (X): this would have been my impression here; thanks for providing so much context, Erik, that really helps
32 mins
  -> Thank you, Ingeborg!
agree  swisstell
32 mins
  -> Thank you, SwissTell!
agree  Ian M-H (X)
51 mins
  -> Thank you, Ian!
agree  Johanna Timm, PhD
2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Johanna!
agree  Anglo-German (X)
2 hrs
  -> Thank you, Anglo-German!
agree  Tom Funke: (Interesting storyline!)
2 hrs
  -> Indeed. Thank you, Tom!
agree  Annette Urbschat
13 hrs
  -> Thank you, Annette!
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +5
wasted


Explanation:
... was my first reading, not entirely incompatible with Nicole's but sufficiently different to require more explanatory space than would be available with an "agree" (which she'll also get when I've finished typing this)... ;-)

My version would work whether or not Matthias knows that person A would/could have given an interesting account - it merely requires that he believes the person who has now got the topic, person B, will not do justice to it. Perhaps because he/she (B) has nothing to say on the subject, perhaps because he/she is always talking about it.

Either way, I can imagine an English speaking Matthias mumbling "wasted" here.

Ian M-H (X)
United States
Local time: 08:47
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  gipsy: especially since Matthias muttered the comment after the topic was picked by somebody else and not after the the woman refused the subject
12 mins
agree  BirgitBerlin: good additional point from gipsy.
7 hrs
agree  Anne Schulz
8 hrs
agree  mill2: yes, with gipsy too
12 hrs
agree  Diana Loos
2 days 17 hrs
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