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El penúltimo patinazo

English translation: yet another gaffe

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:El penúltimo patinazo
English translation:yet another gaffe
Entered by: Thomas Walker

22:08 Aug 9, 2016
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Government / Politics / Current affairs
Spanish term or phrase: El penúltimo patinazo
This is from an opinion piece in a Spanish newspaper, about - what else, these days? - Trump & his gaffes. The context is:
"El penúltimo patinazo, el pasado martes, ha sido recibir como regalo de un veterano marine esa alta condecoración militar que se llama el corazón púrpura, que efectivamente tiene forma de corazón y es de color púrpura."

I get "patinazo", a skid; a blunder; etc., but I'm not sure how "penúltimo" works here. I can't make sense out of it as "penultimate" or "second-to-last." But I've been unable to track down another meaning for it that works for me here.
Thanks in advance - all assistance greatly appreciated.
Thomas Walker
United States
Local time: 03:04
yet another / the latest gaffe
Explanation:
It's used in a rather flexible and therefore slightly inaccurate way.

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Note added at 11 hrs (2016-08-10 09:19:54 GMT)
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My colleagues comments point to an element of this usage: the implication that there will be more. Which makes me think of another possible way of expressing this:

"the latest in a long line/list of..."

But in this particular case that might be stating the obvious.
Selected response from:

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 12:04
Grading comment
Thanks, Noni - and thanks to all who contributed. I was stuck in a too-literal interpretation of "penultimate" and thanks to Noni, I was able to escape that.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +9yet another / the latest gaffe
Noni Gilbert Riley
3 +4The/His penultimate big blunder
David Hollywood


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


32 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
The/His penultimate big blunder


Explanation:
So many ways to put this ....

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Note added at 34 mins (2016-08-09 22:43:09 GMT)
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agree with Charles on the sloppy use of "penúltimo" so maybe just "his latest big blunder"

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Note added at 37 mins (2016-08-09 22:45:51 GMT)
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would preserve the alliteration but let's see what else comes up

David Hollywood
Local time: 07:04
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 223

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Francois Boye
8 mins
  -> thanks François
agree  Beatriz Ramírez de Haro: his latest big blunder
19 mins
  -> muchas gracias Beatriz
agree  miguelortiz: And most likely, more to come.
7 hrs
  -> indeed and thanks Miguel
agree  María Teresa Taylor Oliver
1 day 19 hrs
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +9
yet another / the latest gaffe


Explanation:
It's used in a rather flexible and therefore slightly inaccurate way.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 hrs (2016-08-10 09:19:54 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

My colleagues comments point to an element of this usage: the implication that there will be more. Which makes me think of another possible way of expressing this:

"the latest in a long line/list of..."

But in this particular case that might be stating the obvious.

Noni Gilbert Riley
Spain
Local time: 12:04
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 40
Grading comment
Thanks, Noni - and thanks to all who contributed. I was stuck in a too-literal interpretation of "penultimate" and thanks to Noni, I was able to escape that.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Charles Davis: Maybe they just like the alliteration. But actually I'm sure I've seen this use of "penúltimo" and I don't think it's literal.
7 mins
  -> Thanks Charles.
agree  David Hollywood: the/his latest (blatant) gaffe would work fine IMO (have to include the "azo" element)
22 mins
  -> Thanks David. Good point about the -azo.
agree  Beatriz Ramírez de Haro: La aliteración es mucho menos apreciada en español que en inglés, y no creo que aquí se haya buscado especialmente. Es más bien una forma irónica de decir que se prevé que habrá más patinazos.
28 mins
  -> Exacto. Gracias Beatriz - he escrito un comentario sobre esto.
agree  Muriel Vasconcellos
32 mins
  -> Gracias Muriel.
agree  franglish
9 hrs
  -> Gracias
agree  neilmac
19 hrs
  -> Thanks Neil.
agree  María Teresa Taylor Oliver: I like MollyRose's and Tom's interpretations (notes) above. If only he'd make just one more and be done... *sigh*
1 day 19 hrs
  -> Ah, yes.
agree  Marcelo González
2 days 20 hrs
  -> Thanks Marcelo.
agree  Robert Carter: Who knows, perhaps that'll be the name of his next reality show, "The Gaffer"?
3 days 1 hr
  -> Aagh, please no, any suggestion that he is "the boss" should be avoided, ha ha!
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