Glossary entry (derived from question below)
English term or phrase:
... to be rejected like a girl at a dance sitting alone near the punch bowl?
English answer:
No one is interested in her
Added to glossary by
Omid Moinfar
Dec 2, 2022 10:20
1 yr ago
64 viewers *
English term
Iran
Native in: Persian (Farsi) 
... to be rejected like a girl at a dance sitting alone near the punch bowl?
English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
the author-editor relationship
I cannot grasp the imagery provided in the last sentence of the text below.
Please elaborate on it.
If you want to put it in a non-simile style, how would you phrase it?
Another writer weighed in that she couldn’t stand it when rejection letters said “I just didn’t love it,” “I didn’t fall in love,” or “Alas, I wanted to love this . . .” The woman looked wounded and irritated at the same time: “Why can’t they just say no instead of bringing love into it?” What’s love got to do with it? I saw her point. To the writer it sounds disingenuous and weirdly upbeat. More, wouldn’t it be better to be rejected on practical terms than to be rejected like a girl at a dance sitting alone near the punch bowl?
Please elaborate on it.
If you want to put it in a non-simile style, how would you phrase it?
Another writer weighed in that she couldn’t stand it when rejection letters said “I just didn’t love it,” “I didn’t fall in love,” or “Alas, I wanted to love this . . .” The woman looked wounded and irritated at the same time: “Why can’t they just say no instead of bringing love into it?” What’s love got to do with it? I saw her point. To the writer it sounds disingenuous and weirdly upbeat. More, wouldn’t it be better to be rejected on practical terms than to be rejected like a girl at a dance sitting alone near the punch bowl?
Responses
+4
26 mins
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Ireland
Native in English
&
English
Specializes in field
Ireland
right word, right place. everytime
Native in: English (Variants: US, Canadian, Irish, UK) 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
659
Selected
No one is interested in her
Or in asking her to dance. So all she can do is drink punch...maybe she hopes that's a good place to sit as many people will come over to fill their glasses there. Or maybe she is drowning her Sorrows by drinking.
However, it seems no one is interested in her so she is what is metaphorically called a wallflower,, left to sit alone and no one interested in heri.
Probably looking rather unhappy about it. And maybe the reason no one is asking her to dance. Or maybe she just isn't very attractive or good looking in the first place...
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Note added at 10 days (2022-12-12 10:57:26 GMT) Post-grading
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glad to have helped
However, it seems no one is interested in her so she is what is metaphorically called a wallflower,, left to sit alone and no one interested in heri.
Probably looking rather unhappy about it. And maybe the reason no one is asking her to dance. Or maybe she just isn't very attractive or good looking in the first place...
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Note added at 10 days (2022-12-12 10:57:26 GMT) Post-grading
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glad to have helped
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Tony M
: Yes... despite finding a prime plae to sit, where she is bound to be seen by everyone. Makes the rejection all the more personal, than say if she were sitting in a dark corner hidden behind a pillar.
2 hrs
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Thanks Tony. Indeed! She's making her rejection blatantly obvious... Poor girl!
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| agree |
writeaway
: Typical wallflower story
4 hrs
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Many thanks:-)
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| agree |
AllegroTrans
: per TM
7 hrs
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Many thanks
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| agree |
Lisa Hayden
8 hrs
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Many thanks
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank you for being so helpful!"
1 hr
Kauê Oliveira
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil
Master in Linguistics (USP)
Native in: Portuguese
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, French to Portuguese, and 1 more.
... to be pitifully rejected?
The last sentence evokes the imagery of a pitiful rejection (which brings "love" or feelings to the scene) against more practical ways of doing so. I think that "pitifully" or something similar is fitting.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Gabriel Lins e Silva Dutra
: It keeps style and intention, but doesn't convey the same meaning
2 hrs
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| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: You haven't really explained the phrase asked
22 hrs
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3 hrs
Gabriel Lins e Silva Dutra
Brazil
Brazil
Brazil
Bilingual Translator PTEN
Native in: Portuguese (Variants: European/Portugal, Brazilian)
Works in: English to Portuguese, Portuguese to English, Portuguese, and 1 more.
to be rejected by default.
The expression 'by default' conveys the meaning 'caused by lack of action or opposing force', so one could say it's a 100% equivalence
Example sentence:
to be rejected by default.
Reference:
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/by-default
https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/by-default
Note from asker:
| Thanks for your input. |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
writeaway
: 100% sure this is the right explanation? I'm not so sure
1 hr
|
| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: I cannot see what "default" has to do with this
4 hrs
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| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: Really a disagree. Nothing to do with "default"
20 hrs
|
3 hrs
Mihaela C N Plamadeala
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Works in field
United Kingdom
Ro native,BA Eng,translator,proofreader
Native in: Romanian (Variants: Romania, Transylvanian, Moldovan)
Works in: English to Romanian, Romanian to English, Romanian, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
16
To be rejected out of lack of love
I googled this book to read more, and the way I see it is: an editor must feel something for a book, he must fall in love with it because the readers will fall in love ,too. The metaphor of the lonely girl is for the writer being rejected not for practical reasons , but for the impractical reasons of having failed to evoke emotion and make the editor fall in love with the book
Note from asker:
| Thanks for your input. |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
AllegroTrans
: I think you're overinterpreting this
4 hrs
|
| neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: You haven't explained the phrase asked
20 hrs
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Ok, let ne rephrase: to be rejected over and over again without reason
|
1 day 1 hr
Mihaela C N Plamadeala
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Works in field
United Kingdom
Ro native,BA Eng,translator,proofreader
Native in: Romanian (Variants: Romania, Transylvanian, Moldovan)
Works in: English to Romanian, Romanian to English, Romanian, and 1 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
16
to be rejected over and over again without reason
Thank you all for your comments, they made me think and this might be the right interpretation.
Discussion
a shy person, especially a girl or woman, who is frightened to involve herself in social activities and does not attract much interest or attention:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/punch bowl
Basically your excerpt is saying that the writer agrees it's better to be upfront in rejection letters and give the real reasons why in practical terms rather than bringing love into it
because then it becomes more like the situation of the poor girl being rejected/ignored at the dance, where love possibly DOES come into it!