no estaba completamente de mente / no estaba completamente demente

Question

In this recording, it appears that the person is saying, "... no estaba completamente de mente ...." The negative here, and the statement that follows, give me that idea. I'll give you some context, and you tell me what you think.

Person 1: Pero tú sabías que ella no estaba ... completamente de mente/demente. Tú sabías eso, que está un poco loquita.

Person 2: Sí, sí, estaba loca; sí, está loca.

Person 1: Pues así, tener [relaciones] con una persona media loquita, que no puede hacer ella sola, es un crimen.

1. Which do you think he is saying?

2. How would you translate the entire sentence'

Answer 1

"Completamente de mente" makes no sense to me -- it sounds like "completely of mind". "Demente" on the other hand makes perfect sense, especially given the context.

Person 1: But you knew she wasn't... completely insane. You knew that, that she is a bit crazy.

Person 2: Yes, yes, she was crazy. Yes, she is crazy.

Answer 2

In this recording, it appears that the person is saying, "... no estaba completamente de mente ...." The negative here, and the statement that follows, give me that idea. I'll give you some context, and you tell me what you think.

Person 1: Pero tú sabías que ella no estaba ... completamente de mente/demente. Tú sabías eso, que está un poco loquita.

Person 2: Sí, sí, estaba loca; sí, está loca.

1. Which do you think he is saying?

2. How would you translate the entire sentence?

I agree with Heitor. The only thing I have heard in the past similar to this is "completamente de la mente" as in "se le fue completamente de la mente" - It completely slipped his mind.

Answer 3

Based on the context of the whole conversation, what they have been talking about is about the fact that she "is not all there," and the word "loquita" keeps coming up, as a noun and an adjective.

Another thing is that Person 1's "Spanish" is really ... sloppy, and I have to convey that in my English translation. I'm thinking maybe he meant to say something like, "... ella no estaba completa de la mente" (she's not all there, in the mind), but he used the adverb instead. He is telling Person 2 that because he knew that she was "a little bit off" that it was a crime to have relations with her. He is not trying to establish that she is only a little bit crazy instead of totally crazy. I think I'll add some more context to bring that out.

Thanks for your help, northern neighbor.

Answer 4

I updated my original post. Here is a little more of the conversation:

Person 1: Pero tú sabías que ella no estaba ... completamente de mente/demente. Tú sabías eso, que está un poco loquita.

Person 2: Sí, sí, estaba loca; sí, está loca.

Person 1: Pues así, tener [relaciones] con una persona media loquita, que no puede hacer ella sola [sic], es un crimen.

Answer 5

I don't understanddd your problem. As Heitor pointed out "demente" (a perfectly good adjective) makes complete sense here. I don't know what the register of "demente" is (certainly "demented" [the English cognate] is not the sort of word often used by the semi-illiterate) but even people whose language is, on the whole substandard, occasionally come out with "high class" words.

Answer 6

I updated my original post. Here is a little more of the conversation:

Person 1: Pero tú sabías que ella no estaba ... completamente de mente/demente. Tú sabías eso, que está un poco loquita.

Person 2: Sí, sí, estaba loca; sí, está loca.

Person 1: Pues así, tener [relaciones] con una persona media loquita, que no puede hacer ella sola [sic], es un crimen.

I suspect Person 1 is thinking something along the lines of "wholesome of mind" in English and translating it literally to Spanish. Whatever the case, the Spanish is bad enough that the dialogue as a whole doesn't make much sense.

Answer 7

Thank you for your empathy. I have an hour and a half of this to transcribe/translate, and I have to convey in English all the errors, awkwardness, bad syntax, etc. I think "[sic]" is used in my transcript more than any other single word!

Answer 8

Another thing is that Person 1's "Spanish" is really ... sloppy, and I have to convey that in my English translation. I'm thinking maybe he meant to say something like, "... ella no estaba completa de la mente" (she's not all there, in the mind), but he used the adverb instead.

I don't understanddd your problem. As Heitor pointed out "demente" (a perfectly good adjective) makes complete sense here. I don't know what the register of "demente" is (certainly "demented" [the English cognate] is not the sort of word often used by the semi-illiterate) but even people whose language is, on the whole substandard, occasionally come out with "high class" words.

I don't think you get what I am saying, samdie. I know that demente is "a perfectly good adjective," and that people with poor grammar/syntax aren't excluded from saying it. The point is that I don't think it makes complete sense here.

If he is saying "ella no estaba completamete demente," it sounds like he is trying to convince Person 2 of the degree of her "disability," that she is only half crazy and not completely crazy. That is why it doesn't make sense to me. Follow this logic:

P1: You knew that she was not totally crazy; you knew that she is a little bit crazy.

P2: Yes, she was crazy.

P1: Therefore, to have relations with a person that is half crazy is a crime. [As in, if she had been totally crazy, it wouldn't have been a crime.]

Do you see what I am getting at? Why would Person 1 use the negative in the first sentence if "demente" is what he said? What does her degree of "disability" have to do with whether having relations with her was a crime or not, especially if he were saying that it was a lesser degree of "disability"?

That is why I think he was trying to say something to the effect of "sabías que no estaba completa de la mente, que está un poco loquita. Así que, tener relaciones con una persona media loquita es un crimen." That logic carries out.

So my question is, then, how do you translate this "no estaba completamente de mente" business, unless I have just totally missed it and "no estaba completamente demente" is the better logic of the conversation here.

Answer 9

You are right rocco, under the circumstances he is sure saying:** no estaba completa de la mente**. the negative makes no sense if he is saying demente. Very poor Spanish.

And yes, very unlikely that he used the word demente, too elegant for this guy.

que no puede hacer ella sola
Are you sure about this? Makes no sense.

Answer 10

que no puede hacer ella sola

Are you sure about this? Makes no sense.
Yes, that is what he said. That is what is meant by the word/notation [sic]. That is used in quoted material to denote that it was, in fact, written/spoken that way, regardless of any error/apparent error.

See this RAE definition: sic

Another "winner" from this guy that I have to translate. He has at least one in every sentence.

**Still, nobody has suggested how to "translate" this Spanish rubbish into English rubbish:

"no estaba completamente de mente"**

Answer 11

**Still, nobody has suggested how to "translate" this Spanish rubbish into English rubbish:

"no estaba completamente de mente"**

Alright. How about "She wasn't all in her head." Is that sufficiently weird'