Thread: Translate, please (new) - 'tombstones in the eyes'

Relationships venture into the heart.

What does it mean? Are they risky or what?
Thank you.

Yes, I think it means that relationships are risky for the heart, that is whenever you enter into a relationship with someone that you risk being hurt in your heart.

Relationships venture into the heart. A relationship touches the very center of what it means to be human, but when we choose to open ourselves up, we risk being hurt. Loving makes some people feel out of control.

Mapes, James J., Quantum Leap Thinking: An Owner's Guide to the Mind 208 (2003) Link

Thank you, Ken Watts! All I have to do now is to try and express this in less then ten words in Russian. ))

Guys, could you explain this expression?
The majority of people I meet have tombstones in their eyes.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Guys, could you explain this expression?
The majority of people I meet have tombstones in their eyes.

Я могу только предположить, но мне кажется синонимом этого выражения является "стеклянный взгляд". Т.е. обращённый в никуда.

Originally Posted by Scrabus

Я могу только предположить, но мне кажется синонимом этого выражения является "стеклянный взгляд". Т.е. обращённый в никуда.

Знаешь, наверное, ты прав. Спасибо.
Меня немного смутил контекст (люди не умеют быть счастливыми). Учитывая "могильные плиты", я решила, что это что-то более депрессивное. )

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Guys, could you explain this expression?
The majority of people I meet have tombstones in their eyes.

I'm not sure it has one set meaning. Here are quotes from two books giving different meanings:

Fuzzy said the key to tombstone eyes was not to squint or growl, but to look like nothing mattered. "The eyes should just be there."

Dezenhall, Eric, Money Wanders 41 (2002) Link

He gave her the famous tombstone eye, a look that said, Go no further.

Blauner, Peter, The Last Good Day 292 (2004) Link

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

All I have to do now is to try and express this in less then ten words in Russian. ))

gRomoZeka, I'm also curious to learn what you had finally come up with. Anything nice without the ugly words like "который?" Probably anything similar to "опустошающие/всепоглощяющие отношения" even though it's not very accurate? What do you think?

Tombstone eyes = Clint Eastwood in "Spaghetti Westerns"

Ken Watts, thanks, mate! Your links are helpful as always.
It seems 'tombstones' expression can mean whatever the speaker intend it to mean. In the text I was reading it was more like "to be bored, disinterested in life, dissatisfied".
Maybe, it's somewhat close to Clint Eastwood's impassioned/cool stare (ha-ha, thanks you, capecoddah), but not too much.

I translated it as "bored to death" (it was cheating, I know. If anybody has something better in mind, please, post here).

Originally Posted by Crocodile

gRomoZeka, I'm also curious to learn what you had finally come up with. Anything nice without the ugly words like "который?" Probably anything similar to "опустошающие/всепоглощяющие отношения" even though it's not very accurate? What do you think?

Увы, "опустошающие/всепоглощяющие" не подходит. Смысл в том, что рискнув открыть свои чувства кому-то, вы не знаете заранее, повезет вам в этих отношениях или нет.

Я пока перевела как "Отношения - рискованное сердечное предприятие" (предприятие - не в смысле "фабрики/заводы", а типа "начинание". Очень ужасно звучит?

New question.
length of time you have left in this life.

Имеются в виду прожитые годы, или те, что остались перед смертью (будущие)?

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

New question.
length of time you have left in this life.

I came up with this diagram:
G---------------*-----------!-------------------*--------------*---------------*---------------*--------------*---------------| (end of life)
birth-----------16---------28-----------------48-------------64-------------80-------------96------------112------------?
G = gRomoZeka
! = your present age (I think in some post you wrote that you are 28 years old)
So "length of time you have left in this life" = G(end of life) - 28. Of course we don't know when (what year) in the future = G(end of life). For example if G(end of life) = 128, then "length of time you have left in this life" = 128-28 = 100 years. Hopefully you enjoy my diagram!

. . . life has a beginning as well as an end. . .

Mapes, James J., Quantum Leap Thinking: An Owner's Guide to the Mind 219 (2003)(quoting William Hazlitt) http://books.google.com/books?id=CivUle ... #PPA219,M1

Thank you. Nice diagram!

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

Я пока перевела как "Отношения - рискованное сердечное предприятие" (предприятие - не в смысле "фабрики/заводы", а типа "начинание". Очень ужасно звучит?

It sounds not too bad to my ears. The only thing I would rather prefer:

Отношения - рискованное для сердца начинание.

Because "сердечное предприятие" sounds to me more like it's the heart that literary takes on an endeavour, but in reality it's a person who does (and the endeavour is risky for his/her heart). And "начинание" is chosen exactly as you said, to avoid the ambiguity. However, your translation seems quite good to me as well. At least, no adult would interpret it wrong..

Как-то вычурно звучит. Но затягивает.