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Glossary entry

Portuguese term or phrase:

calculismo

English translation:

(electoral) opportunism

Added to glossary by Douglas Bissell
Mar 5, 2016 13:07
8 yrs ago
Portuguese term

calculismo

Portuguese to English Social Sciences Government / Politics
A dificuldade em alterar a situação deve-se, no entender do exministro,
ao calculismo eleitoral dos governos, que evitam afrontar
os milhões de pessoas que dependem do Orçamento do Estado.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 (electoral) opportunism
3 +3 calculation
4 +1 premeditation / deliberateness
5 electoral sleight of hand
5 Machiavellianism
3 +1 cold calculism
4 canniness; political canniness
3 electoral considerations / calculations / gains / calculism

Discussion

Nick Taylor Mar 7, 2016:
unscrupulousness unprincipled
Richard Purdom Mar 7, 2016:
'Calculating' in this sense means doing just about anything to get elected, at the expense of any ideals, long-terms plans or anything else. Culprits in this are the ignorant, disenfranchised and disinterested electorate who, in turn, only think about their short-term interests.
In Dutch, 'calculerende burgers' (calculating citizens) is a really common term (http://www.linguee.nl/nederlands-engels/search?source=auto&q... it's about citizens manipulating the system to get what they can out of this.

So I leave you with that Douglas: manipulation, betrayal of ideals and populism, three great ways to ruin any country!!
Mario Freitas Mar 5, 2016:
Exato, Ana Muito boa explicação de back stabbing vs. calculismo.
Ana Vozone Mar 5, 2016:
What about "political number crunching". Would that work?
Ana Vozone Mar 5, 2016:
Back stabbing would be "apunhalar pelas costas" which does not mean the same as "calculismo". Calculismo is a lighter shade of cheating / betrayal. Back stabbing is a really strong word. Number counting, on the other hand, seems like a great solution. Btw, do you know the expression "favas contadas", I think the equivalent would be "done deal" ,
Douglas Bissell (asker) Mar 5, 2016:
I have the terms 'number counting' and 'back-stabbing' as other possibilities. Any comments on the differences between these EN terms and the superb Portuguese "calculismo", which sums it all up for me,would be great, but perhaps the anglos keep their 'calcuismos' more under their bushels!
Mario Freitas Mar 5, 2016:
Politicagem We should bear in mind that this "calculismo" refers to questionable acts of government members thinking of re-election, and not on the public interests. The term does not refer to any type of planning or calculation, yet to what is best to ensure more votes. Who gives a shit about benefits to the people? I just want to be re-elected. So "cold calculism" would be a great choice, and that's why I agreed with Gilmar's suggestion. However, if the word is not commonly used in English, I would use "premeditation" or "deliberateness", as I suggested, as these reflect exactly what these SOBs do when they make decisions.
Abraços 4 all.
Gilmar Fernandes Mar 5, 2016:
Quite true, Luciano. Perhaps Douglas could use "cold calculation" ?
Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira Mar 5, 2016:
Tenho minhas dúvidas quanto a calculism. Não encontro o termo em dicionário nenhum de inglês e os dois textos fornecidos, apesar de bem escritos, são da autoria de falantes não nativos de inglês, um italiano e um de sobrenome Silva. Estes gráficos mostram como calculism não aparece na base de dados do Google Livros: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=calculism, cal...

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=calculism,calc...

Proposed translations

+3
1 hr
Selected

(electoral) opportunism

Another suggestion.

Don't both terms (calculismo/oportunismo) boil down to the same 'thing'?

https://www.google.pt/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&es...

Peer comment(s):
agree Bett : in this context, in this country, yeahhhh
20 mins
Obrigada, Bett!
agree Teresa Freixinho
31 mins
Obrigada, Teresa!
agree Diana Coada (X)
1 hr
Obrigada, Diana!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This sounded best in contexto, though the other answers were good too"
+1
36 mins

cold calculism

https://westphalianpost.wordpress.com/tag/niccolo-machiavell...

‘Il Principe’ was meant for a statesman, it taught the natural need for pragmatism and cold calculism in politics but Strauss’s interpretation of Machiavellian deception is erroneous in its assumption that deception can be equated to myth.

https://publicadministration.un.org/paconnect/Blogs/ID/38/Di...

Fanaticism, radicalization and extremism can be either religious or ideological and even if they have different practices, both sides can cause almost the same damages in trying to justify their atrocities, using cold mechanical rational calculism and mass manipulation control over salvationism, radicalization and upgrowth of fear.
Peer comment(s):
agree Mario Freitas :
8 mins
Valeu, Mário. Um bom FDS!
Something went wrong...
+3
4 mins

calculation

2. Careful, often cunning estimation and planning of likely outcomes, especially to advance one's own interests.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/calculation


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 42 mins (2016-03-05 13:49:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Tenho minhas dúvidas quanto a calculism. Não encontro o termo em dicionário nenhum de inglês e os dois textos fornecidos, apesar de bem escritos, são da autoria de falantes não nativos de inglês, um italiano e um de sobrenome Silva. Estes gráficos mostram como calculism não aparece na base de dados do Google Livros: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=calculism, cal...

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=calculism,calc...
Peer comment(s):
agree Paulinho Fonseca
16 mins
agree Hermano Melo : That's correct!
1 hr
agree T o b i a s : e.g., http://tinyurl.com/h3dfk9w
2 days 3 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
43 mins

premeditation / deliberateness

The government's deliberateness or premeditation, basing all decisions in their effects over the potential results of elections
Peer comment(s):
agree Muriel Vasconcellos : premeditation - nice!
2 hrs
Thank you, Muriel!
Something went wrong...
1 hr

electoral considerations / calculations / gains / calculism

Some suggestions, all of them would convey the desired meaning :-)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2016-03-05 14:33:46 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Although "calculism" doesn't appear at least on Merriam-Webster
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

electoral sleight of hand

electoral sleight of hand
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

canniness; political canniness

calculismo
Previsão ou procedimento baseados na satisfação dos próprios interesses.

Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa - http://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/calculismo


canniness
showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others

(WordNet)



Google Books

https://books.google.com.br/books?id=3s-NAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA60&lp...

These moves were carefully calculated with political canniness, indeed cunning, in a province regarded as...



Reuters

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-scotland-salmond-in...

But those close to him say such theatre is merely part of his political canniness...
Something went wrong...
3 days 2 hrs

Machiavellianism

the Machiavellian approach to elections
Something went wrong...
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