How do you suck?

[Gongonhama]

OK, I admit I lead you on. I'm not looking for any oral techniques.

I'm trying to help out my much dedicated translator with a bit of a problem: in my original portuguese stories I used at least three different verbs (chupar, sugar, mamar) for what I can only translate as "suck". But each of the portuguese words means a subtle difference in the act of sucking.

So far I leaned "suckle" and "nurse on", apart from the suck itself. But they don't sound so good in some parts of the text.

In short, it sucks.

So, can you, english speaking writers, please help me out with some other english words for sucking?

 

[damppanties]

Translating!!

I've recently translated a story from English to Hindi - and believe me - its real tough. I really feel for your translator. When I started out I thought it would be real easy but I just couldn't find equivalent words for some words like 'clit'. There just isn't anything for 'clit' in Hindi!!

Gongonhama, explain whats the difference between "chupar, sugar and mamar." Perhaps you can use some other word with 'suck' to convey what you want to in English - like 'sucks lightly', etc. Or use a phrase instead. Translation will never come out quite exact so sometimes you have to settle for what works best for the story.

-DP.

 

[NoJo]

Sucking, Brazilian style

Does the famous factlet "Eskimos have 100 words for 'snow'", due presumably to snow being such a major part of their lives, have a parallel in "The Brazilians/Portugese have three words for 'suck'"?

Although I'm not a linguist, I'd guess "Chupar" is related to "sup" or "sip", "Sugar" is related to "suck", and "Mamar" is pretty clearly etymologically derived from the same root as "mammaries", so I guess the equivalent would be "suckle".

The section in Roget's Thesaurus that includes "suck" reads like a nice bit of erotica:

To admit, receive, intromit, import, ingest, absorb, resorb, imbibe, inhale, let in, take in, readmit, reabsorb, snuff up, sop up, suck, swallow, take down, ingurgitate, engulf.

Joe

 

[crysede]

Sorry, no specific advice on sucking here - but you might want to pm Lauren.Hynde, she's Portuguese and a darn good erotic writer (though she hasn't submitted any stories to lit yet - lazy girl!). She might be able to give you hand with some of the hard to translate terms.

I think in English you might have to actually describe the act in detail, I'm rather partial to writing about giving head, and it's nearly impossible to use English verbs to convey the things I want to describe. Clearly, English needs a lot more 'sucking' verbs! Perhaps a few Portuguese introductions are in order?

 

[Lauren Hynde]

Crys, ya byatch!

Não te armes em carapau de corrida! You knew I'd follow you here! I think I'm gonna cry, you actually said I'm "a darn good erotic writer" (even though I haven't submitted any stories to lit yet - I'm lazy)! I never knew you cared...


Gongonhama, J-

Olha que se calhar até há muito mais que 3 palavras! Se calhar tem tudo mais a ver com o contexto do que com a palavra em si, as vezes nem é preciso usar o verbo, ou podemos encontrar uma imagem diferente ou uma metáfora qualquer. Eu tento não usar muitas vezes a mesma palavra, mas o meu estilo de escrita é um bocado alternativo. Quando a minha história estiver pronta (o primeiro capítulo, pelo menos) eu aviso-te.

De qualquer forma, o que eu te aconselho, ou ao teu tradutor, é arranjar um bom léxico (thesaurus), podes encontrar alguns porreiros online. As sugestões do Sub Joe são interessantes, acho que correspondem mais ou menos aos verbos portugueses. Mas não te prendas demasiado ao texto original, se for necessário alterar algumas frases para tornar a tradução melhor, não hesites. Há coisas que não resultam bem nas duas linguas.

Se quiseres que eu dê uma vista de olhos à versão final antes de a publicares aqui, está à vontade para me escrever. No que eu puder ajudar...

Beijinhos

 

[Gongonhama]

Thank you, damppanties,

Yes I know I'm very lucky to have found people willing to go through all that work. I didn't even wanted to try and do it myself, I know I'd go insane or just settle for a poor translation.

No clit in India? You poor women!

And yes, it may be done by slight sucking for "mamar", hungrily sucking for "sugar", suck for "chupar", but still it don't gets to be a perfect translation, and in a couple of paragraphs on oral sex it gets tiresome to read. I've seen here many stories that only used suck and I thought it sounds and reads much better.

I wanted, though, to have a couple more words to choose from, such as suckle and nurse on. They're also not the perfect translation, but may mean what I was thinking when I wrote the story.

Damn, this is even hard to explain. Thank you so much, my translator, for all the trouble you've been getting into.


SubJoe, you are right at some point, I just have to also take in the context. Thing is, I was hoping for alternatives. But I love your way of thinking that portuguese and brazilian people have different words for sucking for a good reason.

Lauren, help me out here. What do you think? (thank you, crys, for bringing her here)


Now just for Lauren and portuguese readers:

Estás a escrever um conto e não me disseste nada? Eu sei que tenho estado afastado, mas sabes que mal posso esperar para ver o que vai sair daí. A propósito, a nova autora brasileira de que te tinha falado não era a Aimée, isso foi só uma estranha e agradável coincidência. Eu depois mando novo mail quando sair o conto da outra autora brasileira.

Ah, e eu ainda não disse que és uma boa autora de erótica, só que gostei do erotismo dos teus poemas - eu estava um pouquinho obcecado e só liguei ao erotismo, acho que já te admiti que me custa ler poesia.

Beijinhos e muito obrigado pela querida oferta de ajuda. Eu tenho muita confiança na minha tradutora mas posso muito bem vir a aproveitar. Mas pode ainda demorar algum tempo.

Jorge

 

[Gongonhama]

Joe,

Sorry, I guess I was a bit sleepy in the last post - it was past 5 am.

Sup, sip and

To admit, receive, intromit, import, ingest, absorb, resorb, imbibe, inhale, let in, take in, readmit, reabsorb, snuff up, sop up, suck, swallow, take down, ingurgitate, engulf.
Joe [/B]

Excellent suggestions. Particularly enjoyed "sup". Is it a common word in english? Or is it like "zaftig"?

Thank you so much. I'll try to find a thesaurus online.

 

[damppanties]

Thank you, damppanties,

Yes I know I'm very lucky to have found people willing to go through all that work. I didn't even wanted to try and do it myself, I know I'd go insane or just settle for a poor translation.

No clit in India? You poor women!

And yes, it may be done by slight sucking for "mamar", hungrily sucking for "sugar", suck for "chupar", but still it don't gets to be a perfect translation, and in a couple of paragraphs on oral sex it gets tiresome to read. I've seen here many stories that only used suck and I thought it sounds and reads much better.

You're welcome.

It's not really a case of 'no clit in India' but more like 'no word for clit in India'. No clit in India would really have been a disaster.

-DP.