Talk:brush one's teeth

RFD discussion

See here: Talk:comb one's hair. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 05:01, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

RFD discussion: February–June 2018

The following information passed a request for deletion (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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Undeletion of brush one's teeth

The deletion discussion for this was really in comb one's hair, but not many comments were made on this entry specifically. The reason I disagree with this particular entry's deletion is because "brush one's teeth" always implies the use of both a toothbrush and toothpaste, without it saying either of these things in the idiom. Besides just its idiomaticity, the amount of usefulness of this verb-phrase for translation purposes is quite massive. If you pick apart brush + one's + teeth, you could guess that that could mean brushing it with anything, such as a hairbrush, and there's not even an implication of using any antiseptic either, which would be the toothpaste, so you're left assuming that to brush your teeth, you use a hairbrush and nothing else. PseudoSkull (talk) 22:20, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

No, some people brush their teeth with water only, or with a chewstick. Equinox ◑ 22:24, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

@Equinox Then maybe I'm just too used to the Western world. PseudoSkull (talk) 22:28, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

Could an entry say "especially with a toothbrush and toothpaste."? PseudoSkull (talk) 22:30, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

I think we should have it as a translation target at least. Very important to learners of foreign languages IMO, where the phrase is not always translated literally. Wyang (talk) 22:36, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

Restore. --Anatoli T. ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 23:04, 25 February 2018 (UTC)

The translation target reasoning seems applicable here (for once!). For example, Persian مسواک زدن (mesvâk zadan, “to brush one's teeth”, literally “to hit the toothbrush”). —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 00:51, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Well, in Vietnamese you hit your teeth instead: đánh răng (literally “to beat the teeth”). :) Wyang (talk) 04:31, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Μετάknowledge has provided a link to the deletion in Talk:brush one's teeth. Should comb one's hair also be used as a "translation target"? I have restored and edited brush one's teeth with some translations for now and added to Category:English non-idiomatic translation targets. --Anatoli T. ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 05:12, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

• Restore as a translation hub (translation target), per Persian example of Metaknowledge, per Vietnamese example of Wyang, and per Czech "čistit zuby" (clean teeth) and Russian "чи́стить зу́бы". The entry could be more palatable to some if it contained a label "translation hub"; I prefer translation hubs to have normal definitions. --Dan Polansky (talk) 10:12, 3 March 2018 (UTC)

@Dan Polansky I don't think this particular term is fully SOP in English though, since it as a term implies a lot in many cultures. The methods Equinox mentioned for brushing one's teeth are ones I've never heard of, as a person living in the US. My dentist would kill me (metaphorical) if I told him I only brushed my teeth with water. I think it's one of those borderline SOP cases, but still, I think it should be fully kept, and not specifically designated a translation hub. Normal entries get translations anyway. PseudoSkull (talk) 19:27, 3 March 2018 (UTC)

• Keep, I believe this is idiomatic, although it's a little weak because clean one's teeth is also used. Ƿidsiþ 18:27, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

Keep for the translations. But the definition is right to say "especially using..." because brushing one's teeth without toothpaste (or even, with something other than a toothbrush) is still, on a lexical level, brushing one's teeth. See google books:"brushed my teeth with a" and Kesha for some creative possibilities... - -sche (discuss) 19:38, 17 March 2018 (UTC)

• Restore Purplebackpack89 18:22, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Restored and kept. --Anatoli T. ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 00:22, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

Undeletion of comb one's hair

Can this have a similar translation target treatment to the above? It may be even more idiomatic in some languages, cf Russian, расчёсываться impf (rasčósyvatʹsja), расчеса́ться pf (rasčesátʹsja), German sich kämmen but this can possibly go to comb#Verb. --Anatoli T. ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 05:28, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

This seems to be a fit translation for Czech učesat se; and Russian is mentioned above. But I am not sure. Can you say "I have to comb" and mean "I have to comb my hair" by it? Does at least "I have to comb my hair" sound idiomatic, something one would say once in a while? --Dan Polansky (talk) 18:41, 10 March 2018 (UTC)

• Restore Purplebackpack89 18:22, 30 May 2018 (UTC)

Going to restore this entry and make a translation target, scream if you object. --Anatoli T. ^{(обсудить}/^вклад) 00:26, 18 June 2018 (UTC)