Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Spanish term or phrase:
rabo pelao
English translation:
naked/hairless butt (see below)
Spanish term
Ireland
rabo pelao
Briefly, this is from an essay about an artist called Ferran Garcia Sevilla. I don't know what 'rabo pelao' means in this sentence. Although there are many instances of this expression on the web, I have not found a translation after many hours of searching. Thanks to anyone who can help. By the way, 'Tata, 13' is the name of the painting in which the phrase appears.
En 1984, en pinturas como las de las serie Tata o Muca, introduce frases que cuestionan, a veces, su trabajo como artista, subrayando la naturaleza conceptual de su pintura, como “El artista es calvo y tiene el rabo pelao, por lo que no tiene un pelo de tonto. Se cree listo y además todo lo que dice eson (sic) mentiras y es un majadero”
| 4 +2 | naked/hairless butt (see below) |
imcven
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| rabo pelado |
Rosina Peixoto
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Mar 17, 2010 14:15: imcven Created KOG entry
PRO (1): Salloz
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Proposed translations
naked/hairless butt (see below)
This expression is frequent in wordplays as in those in your text.
The meaning of the first expression is very hard to translate (in my opinion).
"The artist, being bald and butt-hairless/naked, naturally lacks fool's hair. In the end what is saying is that the artist is not stupid.
The fact that this expression is just part of a sort of view of the artists' world of Garcia Sevilla makes it even harder to translate.
My personal interpretation of what he is saying is that "The artist believes he is truly smart when in fact he just thinks he is smart. All he says are boring lies".
Good luck!
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Note added at 1 hr (2010-03-10 21:49:35 GMT)
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Rabo pelao means literally: peeled tail
| Thanks Ivan for your comments - I agree that it's very hard to translate! But it's such a relief to hear this from a native speaker, I feel much better now! By the way, We have a similar expression in English, but instead of referring to hair on one's head it's bone in one's body, for example, if someone is not foolish at all you would say that they "don't have a foolish bone in their body". I think that this is the equivalent to 'no tiene pelo de tonto' here. So 'rabo pelao' is hairless butt - I see!!! Finally... Thanks again, Jonathan. |
| agree |
Sp-EnTranslator
: algo por el estilo, lo mas importante es la interpretacion del mensaje, y creo que has dado en el clavo
18 mins
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Gracias Claudia. Y a Johnattan: Sí, ambas expresiones vienen a significar lo mismo. Suerte!
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| agree |
Salloz
4 hrs
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Thanks!
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Reference comments
Uruguay
Traductora Pública/Certified Translator
Native in: Spanish (Variant: Latin American) 
Works in: English to Spanish, Spanish, Spanish to English, and 1 more.
rabo pelado
Si no tiene nada que ver, mis disculpas.
Discussion