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Glossary entry

русский term or phrase:

мух считать/клювом щелкать/ерундой заниматься/

английский translation:

twiddle [your] thumbs

Added to glossary by Eng-Rus/Rus-Eng
Oct 1, 2010 04:01
13 yrs ago
1 viewer *
русский term

мух считать

русский => английский Прочее Жаргон
пока ты тут мух считаешь, дела быстро продвигаются вперед
Proposed translations (английский)
3 +5 while you are twiddling your thumbs over here
4 While you are kicking you heels [here]
4 while you're killing your time
4 while you're screwing off here/doing bugger-all here

Discussion

Alexandra Taggart Oct 1, 2010:
"мух считать"-заниматься ерундой - to pass time without doing relevant things.Who couldbe occupied with killing flies buzzing on the window glass? In Russian fairy tales it was Ivan ( before he performed great feats).
Kiwiland Bear Oct 1, 2010:
Time flies Guess you could build a pun on that: Time flies while you count them.

A bit too obscure to use in a saying tho'

Proposed translations

+5
58 мин
Selected

while you are twiddling your thumbs over here

Something like that

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2010-10-01 05:06:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

twiddle your thumbs: to do nothing
Dan spent a whole day twiddling his thumbs, waiting for a package to be delivered. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/twiddle thumbs

Есть еще одно выражение, которое мне очень нравится (но оно может быть слишком красочным для ваших целей): winkle-fishing ("в носу ковыряться" в смысле "бездельничать, ничего не делать")
Peer comment(s):
agree Mark Berelekhis : No rest for the wicked :D
18 мин
а спать когда будем? :-) Спасибо!
agree Jack Doughty
1 час
Thanks, Jack!
neutral Michael Korovkin : To my (sleepy) mind, "twiddling one's thums" always hels a shade of meaning referring not only, and not even as much, to idleness as to undecisiveness. N'est pas?
1 час
nah, I don't think so. But who am I to pronounce judgments?
agree Jim Tucker (X) : "while you're sitting here twiddling your thumbs" (cruder variant: "while you're over here picking your nose....")
2 час
Thank you, Jim.
agree Rachel Douglas : Or, maybe more often, just "here," "there," "over there," while "over here" sounds unusual.
6 час
Thanks, Rachel. Good point.
agree Judith Hehir
18 час
Thank you, Judith!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
11 мин

While you are kicking you heels [here]

.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Rachel Douglas : This is BE. In AE, it's "cooling your heels," while "kicking up your heels" means frisking about and having a good time (comes from description of a horse), and I don't think "kicking your heels" is used. / Probably too close to the other ("kicking up").
7 час
Hmm, well ok, can't argue with regional flavors. Here it means to relax back on the sofa/armchair with your feet up in the air kicking (or cooling as you say) your heels. Our US friends might relate to having your feet up on the desktop too perhaps?
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1 час

while you're killing your time

Time flies, while you're wasting it.
Something went wrong...
2 час

while you're screwing off here/doing bugger-all here

...or, quite close in meaning, but old–time–ishly in style (and VERY Brithish!): "woolgathering"
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