Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Portuguese term or phrase:
do pé para a mão
English translation:
off the top of my head
Added to glossary by
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Feb 17, 2014 15:52
10 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Portuguese term
United States
Laudable Lady Linguist
Native in: English 
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English, English to Spanish, and 3 more.
do pé para a mão
Portuguese to English
Art/Literary
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Fiction Novel
Context:
-Sabe-me dizer onde fica a guest-house Li? perguntou, a determinada altura, a uma rapariga com que se cruzou.
Ela mostrou-se um tanto ou quanto atrapalhada:
-Assim, do pé para a mão, e difícil! Há tantas guest-houses por aqui...
Obrigada,
Barbara
-Sabe-me dizer onde fica a guest-house Li? perguntou, a determinada altura, a uma rapariga com que se cruzou.
Ela mostrou-se um tanto ou quanto atrapalhada:
-Assim, do pé para a mão, e difícil! Há tantas guest-houses por aqui...
Obrigada,
Barbara
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +9 | off the top of my head |
Pablo Julián Davis
|
| 4 +4 | at the drop of a hat |
Marlene Curtis
|
| 4 +1 | It's hard to say |
Muriel Vasconcellos
|
| 3 | Out of the blue |
Silvia Reis
|
Change log
Feb 28, 2014 13:10: Barbara Cochran, MFA Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+9
8 mins
Pablo Julián Davis
Native in English
La palabra justa/The right word
Native in: Spanish , English
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish, Portuguese to Spanish, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
off the top of my head
forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk › ... › Chit chat : Practical Fishkeeping. "I'll have a think about stocking options, off the top of my head it's not easy, as I'm trying to think what the fish will look like from above."
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Catarina Aleixo
39 mins
|
| agree |
Adriana Maciel
1 hr
|
| agree |
John Copestake (X)
1 hr
|
| agree |
Nick Taylor
1 hr
|
| agree |
Richard Purdom
1 hr
|
| agree |
T o b i a s
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Paulinho Fonseca
4 hrs
|
| agree |
Geoffrey Chan
13 hrs
|
| agree |
Lucy Phillips
15 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
10 mins
Silvia Reis
Portugal
Portugal
Native in Portuguese
Specializes in field
Portugal
A translator at your service!
Native in: Portuguese
Works in: Portuguese to English, English to Portuguese, German to Portuguese
Out of the blue
do pé para a mão significa assim de repente - out of the blue
+4
6 mins
Marlene Curtis
United States
United States
Native in Portuguese
&
English
United States
Marlene Curtis
Native in: Portuguese , English
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English
Related KudoZ points
:
254
at the drop of a hat
Assim, de repente, é difícil...
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 mins (2014-02-17 16:11:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
at the drop of a hat
(idiomatic) without any hesitation; instantly
We're expected to just do it at the drop of a hat - no notice or anything. It's disgraceful.
Synonyms[edit]
(instantly): at a moment's notice
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/at_the_drop_of_a_hat
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Jessica Guimaraes
7 mins
|
|
Grata!
|
|
| agree |
Verginia Ophof
21 mins
|
|
Thanks!
|
|
| agree |
Catarina Lopes
46 mins
|
|
Thanks!
|
|
| agree |
Mario Freitas
:
50 mins
|
|
Thanks!
|
|
| neutral |
T o b i a s
: Doesn't fit - precisely because 'at the drop of a hat' means, as noted above, 'without any hesitation'.
3 hrs
|
|
In the Phillipines?
|
+1
5 hrs
Muriel Vasconcellos
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
Each translation a gem!
Native in: English (Variant: US) 
Works in: Spanish to English, Portuguese to English
Related KudoZ points
:
100
Portuguese term (edited):
Do pé para a mão, é difícil
It's hard to say
In this context, I would include the next phrase and turn it into a single statement. I don't think it's as important to understand the idiom as it is to give the dynamic equivalent of what a native speaker would say in the circumstances.
Discussion