Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Nov 7, 2011 11:00
12 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Dutch term
botte bijlen
Dutch to English
Art/Literary
Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting
Context: Zowat overal op het oude continent staat onze sector (kunst) onder toenemende druk en worden kaasschaven of botte bijlen boven gehaald
Proposed translations
(English)
References
botte bijl hanteren | Isabelle Barth-O'Neill |
References | Josephine Isaacs (X) |
Proposed translations
5 hrs
Selected
vicious cuts
In this context I would say something like,
...threatened by vicious cuts or the total withdrawal of funding.
...threatened by vicious cuts or the total withdrawal of funding.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
6 mins
blunt axes
is what it means
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
writeaway
: if a literal/dictionary-based translation is all that's needed
5 mins
|
agree |
Josephine Isaacs (X)
: more often the singular from: use a blunt axe
45 mins
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thank you, and one blunt axe is more than enough(-;
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36 mins
finely tuned cost-cutting or draconian measures
and finely tuned cost-cutting or draconian measures are being weighed/considered
3 hrs
the chop
I don't think that the true extent of "kaasschaaf" and "botte bijl" has been appreciated here. They are both terms which are used in cost-cutting contexts and that reflect a particular way of applying cost-cutting by governments and companies.
"Kaasschaafmethode" meaning linear cuts, or cuts across the board, so every department x%. In the arts that would be the whole of the culture sector receives less and so galleries, museums etc. receive also x% less money each, without regard to any of their uses/needs/etc.
"Botte bijl" refers to 'the chop' or synonymous in Dutch: de stekker eruit trekken. So no longer any financing at all. No linear cuts, but just eradication of any financing for x activities, say musicals for example.
Neither of them are finely tuned, and both are draconian, or have the tendency to be.
If think though that you can better paraphrase as you can't make nouns of both methods in cost reduction like you can in Dutch.
"Zowat overal op het oude continent staat onze sector (kunst) onder toenemende druk en worden kaasschaven of botte bijlen boven gehaald."
"Our sector (the arts) is finding it increasingly difficult on the old continent and nearly everywhere it has been subject to linear cuts or it has got the chop altogether."
"Kaasschaafmethode" meaning linear cuts, or cuts across the board, so every department x%. In the arts that would be the whole of the culture sector receives less and so galleries, museums etc. receive also x% less money each, without regard to any of their uses/needs/etc.
"Botte bijl" refers to 'the chop' or synonymous in Dutch: de stekker eruit trekken. So no longer any financing at all. No linear cuts, but just eradication of any financing for x activities, say musicals for example.
Neither of them are finely tuned, and both are draconian, or have the tendency to be.
If think though that you can better paraphrase as you can't make nouns of both methods in cost reduction like you can in Dutch.
"Zowat overal op het oude continent staat onze sector (kunst) onder toenemende druk en worden kaasschaven of botte bijlen boven gehaald."
"Our sector (the arts) is finding it increasingly difficult on the old continent and nearly everywhere it has been subject to linear cuts or it has got the chop altogether."
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Jack den Haan
: 'Botte bijl' synonomous with 'de stekker eruit trekken'? That's a bridge too far, Kirsten. Grote Van Dale: ruw te werk gaan, niets of niemand ontzien; harde, ongenuanceerde maatregelen nemen.
5 hrs
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There is an expression 'met de botte bijl' which Van Dale lists rightly and then there is the financial expression. I think it is quite safe to say that in combination with kaasschaaf, there is a clear financial meaning here.
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+3
29 mins
draconian measures
Zie bijv. Grote Van Dale N-E.
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Note added at 8 hrs (2011-11-07 19:54:47 GMT)
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I think you could use 'indiscriminate measures' as an alternative.
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Note added at 8 hrs (2011-11-07 19:54:47 GMT)
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I think you could use 'indiscriminate measures' as an alternative.
Example sentence:
draconian measures are being taken
Peer comment(s):
agree |
writeaway
9 mins
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Thank you, writeaway.
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agree |
David Walker (X)
13 mins
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Thank you, David.
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agree |
Kate Hudson (X)
55 mins
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Thank you, Kate.
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neutral |
Kirsten Bodart
: Van Dale seems to be slightly off-topic there... Both are actually cost-cutting methods. Both can be draconian. (If I cut my budget across by 50% that is kaasschaaf and draconian too)./ Off-topic in accounting terms. Kaasschaa is a specific strategy.
2 hrs
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I don't think Van Dale is off-topic at all, Kirsten. IMHO the gist is that the author is making a contradistinction between finely-tuned cutbacks (as ntshanz suggests) and indiscriminant cutbacks.
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8 hrs
indiscriminant measures
Please see my previous answer and my response to Kirsten in particular.
Reference comments
15 mins
Reference:
botte bijl hanteren
I do not know whether it can help. Here is a definition of the phrase :
http://www.muiswerk.nl/WRDNBOEK/LTR_B/W347.HTM
http://www.muiswerk.nl/WRDNBOEK/LTR_B/W347.HTM
10 hrs
Reference:
References
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10110173
The case of the downsizing decision....To cut across the board is to take a blunt axe to the company when a surgeon's scalpel is called for....
http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/eco/2006/h.c.van.de...
... organisations with a dismal performance fall apart through economic necrosis (the blunt ax) or economic apoptosis (the surgeon's scalpel). ...Volgens hem valt in de markt een onvoldoende functionerende organisatie uiteen door economische necrose (de botte bijl) of door economische apoptose (het fileermes).
The case of the downsizing decision....To cut across the board is to take a blunt axe to the company when a surgeon's scalpel is called for....
http://dissertations.ub.rug.nl/faculties/eco/2006/h.c.van.de...
... organisations with a dismal performance fall apart through economic necrosis (the blunt ax) or economic apoptosis (the surgeon's scalpel). ...Volgens hem valt in de markt een onvoldoende functionerende organisatie uiteen door economische necrose (de botte bijl) of door economische apoptose (het fileermes).
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