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Jan 23, 2015 12:55
9 yrs ago
German term

geht nicht nur durch Butter wie Butter

German to English Marketing Advertising / Public Relations
Die bewährte Klinge in Hechtform geht nicht nur durch Butter wie Butter.

It's a description of a pocket knife.
Proposed translations (English)
3 will make you think you're cutting butter
4 +3 cuts through everything as if it were butter
3 will cut through everything like a hot knife through butter
3 slices everything like butter
3 cuts better than the proverbial knife through butter

Discussion

Kat Gawor (asker) Jan 24, 2015:
Thank you all for the creative brainstorming!
I have to say I really like the suggestion of the Ghostwriter :) I also like the translations of Berit Kostka. I have to confess I already submitted the translation and took a bit of a different turn, but since I'll need to choose the most helpful suggestion, perhaps you'd like to add yours to the answers?
Thanks again and have a great weekend!
Berit Kostka, PhD Jan 23, 2015:
My two cents Could this be the context of the phrase? http://www.dmax-shop.de/buck-knives-taschenmesser-ranger-mod...

Then my suggestion would be something along the lines of:

"The popular pike blade will make you think you're cutting butter!" or

"So sharp you'll think you're cutting butter" or

"...will make you feel like (you're) cutting butter" (just need to find a place for the pike blade)

Replacing popular with reliable or tried and tested or similar would also still work imo. I just found that with regard to blade shape "popular" was used a lot on English sites for those bush knives.

Btw I think the German sentence is already ultra-awkward...
EK Yokohama Jan 23, 2015:
Big Brother is watching us... But his or her proposal isn't bad, what do you think?
Lancashireman Jan 23, 2015:
Or two Chinese characters that failed to show up?
TonyTK Jan 23, 2015:
Is it just me, or is the entry below this one nameless? A ghostwriter? Someone from Anonymous? A nobody? The NSA?
TonyTK Jan 23, 2015:
Could you maybe just say: "(The proven pike blade) - like cutting through butter"
philgoddard Jan 23, 2015:
The problem is that the German is much more concise than anything we've come up with so far. Maybe it would be better to come up with a different idea involving butter.
philgoddard Jan 23, 2015:
Nicola I feel your suggestion is the only one that accurately reflects the meaning of the German. If you said "like" rather than "as if it were", it would be less inelegant.
Nicola Wood Jan 23, 2015:
Andrew's is definitely the best solution if you want to keep the word order as is. i.e. blade cuts through.....

If you want to keep the not just butter then I think you have to change the order to something along the lines of "Butter is not the only thing this blade cuts through as if it were butter" which is IMHO nowhere near as elegant.
Lancashireman Jan 23, 2015:
like Having the same characteristics or qualities as; similar to:
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/like
like butter = similar to butter (but not including butter itself)

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/950111/brand-heal...
EK Yokohama Jan 23, 2015:
Or more literally: "does not only go through butter like butter"
EK Yokohama Jan 23, 2015:
How about: "will not only cut through butter like a hot knife through butter"?
Kat Gawor (asker) Jan 23, 2015:
The thing is, it won't cut through "everything" like through butter. This would be an inconsistency with the company add, as they never directly promise that much... They simply say it will cut through more than just butter like through butter. I'd like to keep that meaning and pun, but without a pleonasm. Thank you all!

Proposed translations

1 day 3 hrs
Selected

will make you think you're cutting butter

or something along those lines...

"The popular pike blade will make you think you're cutting butter!" or

"So sharp you'll think you're cutting butter" or

"...will make you feel like (you're) cutting butter" (just need to find a place for the pike blade)
Something went wrong...
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Like I said, I did take a different approach in my translation, but I think yours was the most creative and closest to what I was looking for. Thanks! :)"
+3
12 mins

cuts through everything as if it were butter

This thin fragile tile of ceramic material conducts the heat from your hand efficiently enough to cut through ice as if it were butter.
http://www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/materials-library/materi...

everything like butter = substances similar to butter

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 mins (2015-01-23 13:11:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

They glide, those sharp knives, working with ease and with the rhythm of the cook, cutting through meat as if it were butter.
http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/cookware/kitchen_knives.html

The chef sliced through the ham as if it were butter.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/slice through

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Note added at 17 mins (2015-01-23 13:13:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The idiom which includes 'like' is: "like a knife through butter"
Peer comment(s):
agree Nicola Wood
49 mins
Thanks, Nicola. I think Kat will take some convincing ;-)
agree Ramey Rieger (X) : I'm convinced
1 day 1 hr
agree Lucas Zimmerman
2 days 6 hrs
Something went wrong...
19 mins

will cut through everything like a hot knife through butter

will cut through everything like a hot knife through butter i

like a (hot) knife through butter - very easily; without any resistance or difficulty

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 21 mins (2015-01-23 13:16:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Correction:
cuts through everything like a hot knife through butter :)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 24 mins (2015-01-23 13:20:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/like-a-...

cut/go through something like a (hot) knife through butter
to cut something very easily
A laser beam can cut through metal like a hot knife through butter.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cut through like a knife...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 36 mins (2015-01-23 13:32:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or:
"will not only cut through butter like a hot knife through butter"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 39 mins (2015-01-23 13:35:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or more literally:
"does not only go through butter like butter"

(Much too long:
"does not only go through butter like a hot knife through butter")
Peer comment(s):
neutral philgoddard : You can't say "this knife is like a knife".
2 hrs
Something went wrong...
10 mins

slices everything like butter

or "..nothing it won’t slice like butter.."


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 mins (2015-01-23 13:11:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or "turns everything into butter.."

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Note added at 56 mins (2015-01-23 13:52:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Fair enough, Kat. How about..

"handles/slices more than butter with ease.." ?

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Note added at 1 hr (2015-01-23 14:51:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Nope. Still don't sound right..;- Here are some variations on the theme:

goes through most things as it goes through butter

handles most things with the same ease as (it handles) butter

slices through most things with the same ease as (it slices through) butter

slices through most things as it slices through butter
Something went wrong...
1 day 5 hrs

cuts better than the proverbial knife through butter

...would be one more way of saying it.
Something went wrong...
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