Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
narrow his eyes
English answer:
skepticism as to humor, knowing look
Added to glossary by
sktrans
Feb 25, 2005 20:11
19 yrs ago
6 viewers *
English term
Russian Federation
Professional interpreting/translation
Native in: Russian 
Works in: English to Russian, Russian to English, Ukrainian to English, and 1 more.
narrow his eyes
English
Art/Literary
Poetry & Literature
Fiction
"... a joke (of the intellectual best man at the wedding)made at least two people laugh and caused W. to narrow his eyes at T."
W. and T. are simple people, their attitude towards intellectuals is ironic, and one of them even suspects the speaker of being gay.
Is it a gesture of irony (could it be translated with something like "exchanged ironic looks"?)
W. and T. are simple people, their attitude towards intellectuals is ironic, and one of them even suspects the speaker of being gay.
Is it a gesture of irony (could it be translated with something like "exchanged ironic looks"?)
Responses
+4
14 mins
Selected
Yes, could be
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Note added at 2005-02-25 20:27:44 (GMT)
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it indicates irony or skepticism as to the humor
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Note added at 2005-02-25 20:27:44 (GMT)
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it indicates irony or skepticism as to the humor
Reference:
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you Sktrans, and Dusty for the idea of 'meaningful look'!"
13 mins
Melanie Nassar
United States
United States
Native in English
&
English
United States
dedicated, prompt, accurate
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, English, English to German, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
28
give someone an angry look
Your eyes get narrow when you frown. W. was mad at T.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Tony M
: Narrowing of the eyes can simply be a 'meaningful look' (a kind of 'double wink'!), and I don't think we have any reason to assume anger here necessarily...
1 hr
|
4 hrs
grimace (partly close his eyes)
I take it as a grimace (to contort the face to indicate a certain mental or emotional state). The text doesn't really indicate what that emotion might be (irony? annoyance? dislike?), except that it isn't positive.
7 hrs
Maria Chmelarova
Native in: Slovak
Works in: English to Slovak, English to Czech, Slovak to English, and 2 more.
doubtful grimace
with apprehention (scepticism about his joke, perhaps his intellect)
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