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Pregnant but not married

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on May 31, 2009 at 12:34

In Reply to: Pregnant but not married posted by Franziska on May 31, 2009 at 09:54:

: I'm currently translating a play from Spanish into English. At one point the author uses an idiomatic phrase that refers to a young woman who is pregnant but not married, is there such a phrase or saying in English? I'd appreciate any suggestions!

There are many phrases for this in English. Some are specifically regional, others have distinct overtones - jocular, slangy, censorious, and so on; so in order to decide which might be appropriate for your translation, a lot depends on the attitude and social standing of the character who is speaking. The setting of the play will also make a difference - is it contemporary or set in the past? For example, in England at any time between say 1900 and 1970, if you said of an unmarried girl that she "was in trouble", "had got herself into trouble", or that "her young man had got her into trouble", people would understand you to mean that she was pregnant. Now of course attitudes to unmarried pregnancy have changed so much that we no longer use this euphemism. (VSD)

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