Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

envió la metrópoli (británico) 145 féretros

English translation:

145 Britons were returned to their homeland in caskets

Added to glossary by Jenni Lukac (X)
Sep 12, 2009 20:15
15 yrs ago
Spanish term

envió la metrópoli 145 féretros

Spanish to English Other Journalism War
In an article about the war on Iraq there is the following sentence: "Los británicos han enviado la metrópoli 145 féretros". I'm having trouble translating "metrópoli" because it doesn't seem to refer to a city since the only references before this sentence are as general as Iraq and the U.S. Does it just mean 'country' in this context? Does the overall phrase simply mean that 145 British troops have died in Iraq or does anyone know of an equivalent way we might say it that involves coffins? Thank you very much!
Change log

Sep 15, 2009 07:36: Jenni Lukac (X) Created KOG entry

Proposed translations

1 hr
Selected

145 Britons were returned to their homeland in caskets

Looking at an interactive graphic of British war deaths in Iraq in the Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/43... as of September 2009 the number stands at 179, so I assume the figure was 145 at the time this article was written. I've chosen "homeland" but the use of "metrópoli" in the original text was used to imply a colonialist attitude on the part of the British. (for example, see word reference definition of metrópoli: Estado,respecto de sus colonias: se estableció un comercio fluido con la metrópoli. http://www.wordreference.com/definicion/metrópoli. More prosaically, There have been 145 British combat casualities in Iraq as of the writing of the article.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2009-09-12 22:51:37 GMT)
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Coffin could be used as well as casket.
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you so much, an excellent translation!"
7 mins

145 British troops have been sent back home / back to the capital

This is what immediately jumped out at me when I read the question. As for a phrasing involving coffins, I'm not sure, you could say "the bodies of 145 British dead", for instance.

Or I could just have the wrong end of the stick :-)
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+1
36 mins

145 caskets were sent to the city

I don´t see any possibility other than "city". (BTW, the word is "metrópolis")

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Note added at 1 hr (2009-09-12 21:24:51 GMT)
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Sorry, I meant coffins, not caskets
Peer comment(s):

agree Lydia De Jorge
53 mins
Thx
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