Talk:pozdě bycha honit

Proposed translation: "Too late to chase Mr. If"

I hesitantly propose the translation "Too late to chase Mr. If". The reason is that

1. Sentences "I should have (done something)" and "If I had (known/done something), the bad thing would not have happened" both well describe the situation where the proverb is applicable.
2. The world "bych" (note that kdybych = kdyby + bych) is a particle (or: auxiliary verb) needed to create the sentence "If I had...(done something)".
3. This proverb's creator uses a non-existent world "bycha", which would be a singular accusative of "bych" if "bych" were a masculine animate noun; I see no better way to express the "animate" property than to insert "Mr." and capitalize the world.
4. If you accept this, then "Too late to chase Mr. Had" (or "Mr. Should" or "Mr. Would" or "Mr. If") is a very literal translation.
5. The choice from these four words should be done by a native English speaker or simply someone better than me, who will choose a world that will make at least some sense to a person who has not read this explanaition (what "bych(a)" means in Czech). I think that "If" will be most clear.

Btw. there is an interesting question why the author of the proverb "animatized" the word "bych". My hypothesis is: Either because it makes the point sharper (the proverb more "live"), or because no neutral noun in Czech can end with "ch" and if "bych" were gramatically feminine or masculine inanimate, then the proverb would be very unintelligble: no one would understand that "bych" is a noun (and more importantly, that it is an object of the verb "chase").

I'll be glad for a feedback (what you think about my proposal and reasoning). To email me is safer than to hope that I happen to stumble upon your answer, but I'll try. --Pavel Jelínek (talk) 13:26, 15 December 2019 (UTC)