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Comment by thebear | Hacker News Reader

I am not sure why this post begins with the header "Translation:". It is not a translation of the article.

If your comment is not a whoosh, gp is not using "translation" as "language X to language Y" but in the sense of "said vs unsaid". This usage of "translation" is a rhetorical device often to express satire or cynicism.

Example: "The department will thoroughly investigate the police officers' fatal shooting of the unarmed teenager to ensure justice is upheld."

TRANSLATION: "The police officers will get paid leave, possibly a vacation to Hawaii to escape the media spotlight, and then get a promotion in rank."

That said, whether gp's "translation" adds any insight is questionable.

But it is quite confusing to use that idiom when the original article is in a language most HNers don't speak.

An actual translation from German to English is what's expected, and would have been a lot more useful.

And indeed, I suspect that many of the comment's upvoters did so on the assumption it was a non-editorialized German -> English translation of the article.

>But it is quite confusing to use that idiom when the original article is in a language

I agree. I was simply explaining to thebear why Htsthbjig used the word "translation" in a non-language-mapping sense in case he might be unaware of "translate" as a cynical idiom. Apparently, the downvote shows my explanation was not helpful. :-)

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