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Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

frei gegriffen

English translation:

pulled out of thin air

Added to glossary by Chris Rowson (X)
Nov 10, 2003 15:06
20 yrs ago
2 viewers *
German term

frei gegriffen

German to English Bus/Financial Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
'Es ist zudem vermieden worden, den Mandanten über das Unterbleiben einer Prüfung und Fundierung des Unternehmenswertes aufzuklären. Die Beklagten haben die Werte für die Beteiligungen "frei gegriffen" und eine Prüfung, Fundierung und Aufklärung hierüber systematisch vermieden.'

I guess that means they made the numbers up. But what would be an equivalent phrasing that the lawyer would use in this formal document?

(Wondering if I should put this under the category Art/Literary :-)
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 "pulled the out of thin air"
5 +1 assigned arbitrary values
4 allowed themselves a great deal of latitude in concocting the figures
4 another idea

Discussion

Non-ProZ.com Nov 10, 2003:
Sorry, I�m afraid I�ve rather confused this with my unserious approach. What is going on here is that "die Beklagten" basically convinced "der Kl�ger" to lose his grip on a large amount of money, partly on the basis of their "frei gegriffene" figures. The question is, in the end, what they were saying about these figures. I�m not sure what the exact significance of "frei gegriffen" is.
Non-ProZ.com Nov 10, 2003:
Sorry,
Non-ProZ.com Nov 10, 2003:
Errr, Alison�s useful answer makes me realise that the mouth I really I have to put an English phrase into is not that of the lawyer, but that of the creative artists providing these figures.

Proposed translations

+1
5 mins
Selected

"pulled the out of thin air"

I think the fact that the phrase is in inverted commas in German means that you can be a bit liberal in your translation.

HTH

Alison

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Note added at 5 mins (2003-11-10 15:11:56 GMT)
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\"pulled the figures out of thin air\" - is what I meant to write.....

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Note added at 30 mins (2003-11-10 15:36:02 GMT)
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If you want to make it sound like it\'s a creative person making up the figures, then why not say that they the figures used in the assessment were \"creative\" .....
Peer comment(s):
agree Mario Marcolin
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Yes, I think the quote marks are determinative - it is what the Defendants themselves said at the time. I actually used "freely estimated" because it worked well in my document, but I would think that in general the "out of thin air" idea would be more precise. Thanks everyone!"
30 mins

allowed themselves a great deal of latitude in concocting the figures

Hint of sarcasm, perhaps, but it might cover what is required.
Something went wrong...
32 mins

another idea

figures were invented or chosen at random
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

assigned arbitrary values

x
Peer comment(s):
agree Ellen Zittinger
14 hrs
Something went wrong...
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