Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
nah am Wasser gebaut sein/haben
English translation:
to cry easily, to readily turn on the waterworks
German term
Germany
Quality Translations since 1986
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, English, German, and 6 more.
nah am Wasser gebaut sein
Is there a more colourful way of saying this in English than the plain "someone who cries easily" (e.g. when watching a soppy film)?
This is just general interest, I don't have an actual text.
TIA
Jan 25, 2009 17:37: Cilian O'Tuama Created KOG entry
Non-PRO (1): Ingeborg Gowans (X)
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
United Kingdom
Arts/Academic translator - Art historian
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
[someone] who easily turns the waterworks on
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 mins (2009-01-22 13:19:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
or 'readily turns on the waterworks' might be better
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 3 days4 hrs (2009-01-25 17:53:48 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------
Thanks for the points, Cilian
| agree |
Jonathan MacKerron
: also thought of waterworks, but couldn't remember the exact saying
2 mins
|
|
Thanks, Jonathan
|
|
| agree |
Nandini Vivek
31 mins
|
|
Thanks, Nandini
|
|
| agree |
Lancashireman
: This is the one, Cilian.
52 mins
|
|
Well, thank you, Professor Swift!
|
|
| neutral |
Stephen Gobin
: Could be ambiguous. "Turning the waterworks on" can be used to get an advantage over someone. A cry baby is ambiguous too as it can mean someone who makes a fuss because they can't get their own way.
1 hr
|
|
To be fair, Stephen, you could say that of all the suggestions, and I suspect the GER term could be used in that way given the right sentence construction. Not so much ambiguous as can be used in a perjorative way, IMO.
|
|
| agree |
franglish
1 hr
|
|
Thanks, franglish
|
|
| agree |
Inge Meinzer
2 hrs
|
|
Thanks, Inge, and greetings
|
|
| agree |
jccantrell
: My first thought.
2 hrs
|
|
Thanks, jccantrell
|
|
| neutral |
Lonnie Legg
: w. Stephen: Nice phrase. What bothers me is the connotation of purposefulness in "turns on". It wouldn't bother me though in those special instances where "am Wasser gebaut" also involves a deliberate (or subconscious) manipulative) aspect./Exactly.
5 hrs
|
|
I do see what you mean, Lonnie. We don't have a sentence to go on, so will have to leave it Cilian to decide how he plans to use the term selected!
|
United States
Award winning Advertising/Marketing
Native in: German 
Works in: English to German, German to English
prone to tears
| agree |
Ryan Saxon Montcalm
: Exactly what we hear in the US.
10 mins
|
|
Thanks, Ryan!
|
|
| agree |
Sibylle Gray
: I like this one the best since IMO, it is more common/widely used than the other suggestions (the German suggestion is also very widely used and accepted).
30 mins
|
|
Thanks, Sibylle!
|
|
| agree |
Alison Schwitzgebel
39 mins
|
|
Thanks, Alison!
|
|
| neutral |
Helen Shiner
: With the greatest of respect, Cilian did ask for a 'colourful' expression, though 'prone to tears' is not wrong by any means as a prosaic translation, of course!/He did not need to, the idiomatic quality is in the German phrase. Not slang.
42 mins
|
|
Hi Helen, Cilian asked for a more colorful expression than his own suggestion. I do not recall that he specifically asked for slang.//I am often amazed how idiomatic phrases are perceived by non-native speakers :-)
|
|
| agree |
pme
53 mins
|
|
Thanks, pme!
|
|
| neutral |
Lancashireman
: As my old German teacher used to say: “Always read the question.” (Actually, I have to admit, I was that ‘old German teacher’…) // It seems that we not only differ in our spelling of the word 'colourful' but also in our perception of its meaning.
1 hr
|
|
Dear Andrew, Cilian asked for a more colorful phrase [quote] "than the plain 'someone who cries easily'". Happy rereading of the question! :-)
|
|
| agree |
KARIN ISBELL
: 'prone to tears' is exactly wht I would have answered
2 hrs
|
|
Thanks, Karin!
|
Retired as of Jan 2019!
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
weeps at the drop of a hat
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2009-01-22 13:20:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
gets choked up easily
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2009-01-22 13:23:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
blubberer
| agree |
Paul Cohen
: Where's my hat? ... oh ... (sob!) ...
4 mins
|
|
get out your hanky...
|
|
| agree |
Helen Shiner
: That's a nice solution, too!/No relation to 'choke up chicken!' if you cough!
9 mins
|
|
thx, or "chokes up easily"
|
|
| agree |
Claire Cox
35 mins
|
| agree |
Inge Meinzer
2 hrs
|
| agree |
Lonnie Legg
: weeps at the d. o. a hat
6 hrs
|
| agree |
Harald Moelzer (medical-translator)
17 hrs
|
United Kingdom
ITI Associate with 20+ years experience
Native in: German (Variants: Austrian, Swiss, Germany)
Works in: English to German, Dutch to German, German to English, and 1 more.
Cry easily
| agree |
Ingeborg Gowans (X)
1 hr
|
Austria
art translations
Native in: German 
Works in: English to German, German to English, French to German
to be prone to tears
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 Min. (2009-01-22 13:26:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Sorry, somebody must have posted the same suggestion as I was busy writing mine
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 Min. (2009-01-22 13:30:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
sorry, Nicole, I wasn't trying to steal yours :)
Ireland
Translator, journalist, audio producer
Native in: English
Works in: German to English
weepy
duct ape
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2009-01-22 17:17:02 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
@ Cilian: A fearsome word for sure, but can a feller not expect context from http://www.contextinc.com/ ? ;-)
| See, you've used the dreaded "C" word - twas only a matter of time |
| neutral |
Paul Cohen
: not to be confused with 'duct tape'...
10 mins
|
|
Ah! I think you have enlightened me. Thanks.
|
|
| neutral |
Lancashireman
: Don't try this at home: I googled 'duct ape' and was directed to urbandictionary.com; when I clicked on the link, Kaspersky anti-virus alerted me to a Trojan attack. You have been warned!
30 mins
|
|
Prof. Google gets electronic knuckle-rapping? Thanks for the warning.
|
Discussion
Here is an interesting, if inconclusive, discussion:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=157610
[that's why I suggest to enter both German versions in the glossary]