Translating the word "bullshit"

[emk]

Last night, I reread a very short book titled On Bullshit, in which the philosopher Harry G. Frankfurt tries to explain the difference between lies and bullshit:

Telling a lie is an act with a sharp focus. It is designed to insert a particular falsehood at a particular point in a set or system of beliefs, in order to have that point occupied by the truth. This requires a degree of craftsmanship, in which the teller of the lie submits to objective constraints imposed by what he takes to be the truth. The liar is inescapably concerned with truth-values. In order to invent a lie at all, he must think he knows what is true. And in order to invent an effective lie, he must design his falsehood under the guidance of that truth.

On the other hand, a person who takes to bullshit his way through has much more freedom. His focus is panoramic rather than particular. He does not limit himself to inserting a certain falsehood at a specific point, and thus he is not constrained by the truths surrounding that point or intersecting it. He is prepared, so far as is required, to fake the context as well. This freedom from the constraints to which the liar must submit does not necessarily mean, of course, that his task is easier than the task of the liar. But the mode of creativity upon which it relies is less analytical and less deliberative than that which is mobilized in lying. It is more expansive and independent, with more spacious opportunities for improvisation, color and imaginative play. This is less a matter of craft than of art. Hence the familiar notion of the 'bullshit artist'.

It's a pretty interesting book, really more of a hard-cover essay. The author argues that bullshit has little to do with actual truth or falsehood, and that instead, bullshit uses words almost without regard for their meaning, in an effort to make an impression on the listener.

Reading this book always makes me realize what a marvelously flexible work "bullshit" really is English. It has so many uses and nuances! But that can make it very hard to translate into another language.

I remember seeing a very memorable translation of "bullshit" into sign language in one of Benny Lewis's videos, I think courtesy of a student at Gallaudet, but I can't find it again at the moment.

French is more difficult. There's no direct translation. In some contexts, n'importe quoi "anything, whatever" can carry a similar meaning. For example, Tout ca, c'est n'importe quoi could potentially be used to refer to a bunch of stupid BS. But it's not a great translation, and I can think of other possibilities that would work better in different circumstances. There's a good list at WordReference.com.

How would you translate "bullshit" into either your native language or a language you're learning?

[daegga]

Austrian German: Topfen, Schmarrn
more vulgar: Schaß (this is dialect with no direct standard equivalent in this meaning I think - it actually means "fart", even though it is obviously the same word as Standard German "Scheiße" meaning "shit")

[tujurikkuja]

I guess there would be a lot of options in Russian. Ерунда basically means "nonsense" and is neutral in terms of register. Вздор is a synonym of ерунда but is more bookish, as far as I know. Чушь more or less means something that is blatantly untrue or illogical; бред literally means "craziness" but is basically a synonym of чушь. Some other words I've seen are ахинея, чепуха, хренотень, лабуда, etc. Фигня is more vulgar but very common and acceptable in informal speech between young people; херня is a step up on the vulgar scale, and хуйня is very vulgar and is derived from "хуй," one of the two most common Russian swear words which could be rendered in English as f*ck, c*ck, etc. Wow, swearing is fun

Also interesting to me is that in Russian you don't say or tell bullshit, you "carry" (нести) it. So, Перестань нести всякую чушь! would translate literally as "Stop carrying such bullshit!"

I don't know much Estonian but I do know that "jama" means something nonsensical or pointless.

Editing again because I keep remembering Russian words: лажа, фуфло, маразм.

[Arnaud]

deleted

[NIKOLIĆ]

Serbian:

lie = laž
bullshit = lovačka priča; pl. lovačke priče (hunting tale(s))

Well, I read your quote and the first thing that came to my mind was "lovačke priče". I'm gonna translate a couple of entries from the Serbian slang dictionary, and you tell me if it fits the bill.

#1
Lovačke priče

Prava lovačka priča je kad kreneš u lov i sa kilometra daljine upucaš jelena koji padne na divlju svinju i probode je rogom,a kad im se približiš vidiš da divlja svinja u ustima drži zeca.

#1
Hunting tales

A real hunting tale is when you go hunting, and you shoot a dear from a mile away, the dear falls on a wild boar and stabs it with its antlers, and when you get near them, you see that the boar is holding a rabbit in its mouth.

#2
Lovačke priče

Laž kojom se veliča onaj koji je priča. Uglavnom providna k'o rudarske čarape, ali zato ima majstorski zaplet. Jedan od žanrova u književnosti.
Uglavnom svako selo ima po jednog zvaničnog lažova.

#2
Hunting tales

A lie by which the person telling it glorifies himself. It's almost always see-through like miner's socks(never heard this one before), but it has a majestic plot. It's one of the literary genres. Almost every village has one official liar.

Of course, this is not used just for "hunting tales" it can be used every time someone is telling a far-fetched story.

If you want to say "Stop bullshiting" you can say "Nemoj da sereš"(don't shit).

Using "lovačke priče" in that context doesn't have the same ring to it as "bullshit", mostly because it doesn't contain the word shit. lol
But, you could also say something like "Mani me tih lovačkih priča"(Stop with those hunting tales already).

[tastyonions]

"Conneries" would definitely be my go-to option for French. In Spanish all the words I can think of (tonterías, chorradas, estupideces) basically mean "stupidities" or "foolish talk."

I was once speaking with a francophone who also spoke English well and he said, "C'est du bullshit" (pronounced like "boulechite"). I doubt that's common, though. :-)

Apparently "bullshit" is feminine in Quebec (maybe taking after "merde"?), but this guy was just using it as a one-off loan.

[rdearman]

In English-English it would translate to Bollocks.

[garyb]

Closest equivalent I can think of in Italian is cazzata and its plural cazzate: "questa è una cazzata" ("this is bullshit, that's bullshit"), "lui dice un sacco di cazzate" ("he talks a load of bullshit" or in Scotland we'd say "he talks a load of shite"), etc. It's also used to talk about doing something stupid: "ho fatto una cazzata!" is like "I've really f**cked up!".

[aabram]

In Estonian most common translation would be jama or jamps. Incidentally both work as nouns as well as verbs: see on jama (this is bullshit) vs ta ajab sulle jama (he's bullshitting you).
Though English bullshit is a bit more flexible and covers wider array of meanings, so at times you have to translate it differently. Jama also covers different stuff (mess, for example, as in "making a mess") that you can't translate as bullshit so you have to be creative.

[Speakeasy]

I found emk's post both informative and entertaining and I forwarded a link to the post to a Québécoise friend of the family who happens to hold a Master's Degree in Translation.

As to the French equivalent, she advises that the appropriate Québecism for "to bullshit" would be "péter de la broue", whereas one who engages in Bullshitting would be qualified as a "péteux de la broue".

I immediately recognised the expression, as I had heard it so many times before; it simply didn't come to mind when I read emk's post. My wife, who is also a Québécoise, believes that, while most native-French-speakers outside of Québec might not be familiar with the expression, they would probably be able to infer its meaning.