English to Indonesian Other Folklore Superstition

Hi

"Unlucky" in the sense of "having bad luck" seems to be "untung" or "beruntung". But what do you call a person (or thing) who allegedly brings bad luck? Such a person may, of course, be very lucky in terms of his personal happiness and the things that happen to him in his life, but is bad news for other people. It is said that the Devil looks after his own! Not that I believe in all this superstitious stuff, but it is a fact of life that many people do believe in it, and it is therefore a fact of language.

When I was living in Turkey, I remember being shocked to hear that an "unlucky" man had been thrown off the bus he was travelling on by the driver. I'm still not pleased about that action of the driver's, but my displeasure was slightly mitigated when I realized that the Turkish word "uğursuz", which was used of the passenger, refers to someone who supposedly brings bad luck, not to some poor wretch who has bad luck. The ignorant bus driver may have had a genuine, though misguided, concern for his own safety and that of his passengers.

This is the basic ambiguity in the English word "unlucky" and, as I am trying to demonstrate, it is a potential minefield for mistranslations and misunderstandings.

Best Wishes, and many thanks,

Simon