Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

lúmpenes

English translation:

lumpen

Added to glossary by Lorena Zuniga
Mar 6, 2017 15:00
7 yrs ago
Spanish term

lúmpenes

Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature
Y los anónimos: personalidades sin porvenir, modelos amnésicas, sementales de una sola noche, lúmpenes encantadores, profesionales de la impostura, rentistas de la fotogenia…
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (1): Charles Davis

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Proposed translations

+3
44 mins
Selected

lumpen

lumpen
Short for lumpenproletariat. A catch-all term used primarily by self-styled Marxists to describe people "below" the proletariat. The lumpen include all people who might belong to the working class, if they worked. The unemployed, disabled, prisoners, and homeless are all part of the lumpen.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lumpen

The Black Panther Solidarity Committees and the Voice of the Lumpen
https://www.jstor.org/stable/27668453?seq=1#page_scan_tab_co...
Peer comment(s):

agree Robert Carter : I thought about instead changing it to an adjective: "lumpen charmers", or something like that.
17 mins
Thanks Robert! I think you could say "charming lumpens". As a matter of fact, here's an example!: http://www.huffingtonpost.in/manash-bhattacharjee-/the-lumpe...
agree neilmac : I use the term occasionally in conversation...
44 mins
Thanks Neilmac!
agree franglish
4 hrs
Thanks franglish!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+2
5 mins

members of the underclass

lumpen2 masculino (plural lumpen or lúmpenes)

1 (individuo) underprivileged member of society, lumpen (lenguaje técnico)

2 (grupo social) lumpenproletariat (lenguaje técnico), underclass
Peer comment(s):

agree MPGS : :-)
1 min
agree philgoddard
17 mins
Something went wrong...
+3
17 mins

lowlifes/riffraff

These are two more options. Lowlife or low-life. Riffraff or riff-raff.

Dickens Refigured: Bodies, Desires, and Other Histories
https://books.google.es/books?isbn=071904247X
John Schad - 1996 - ‎Literary Criticism
... includes paradigms for protagonists from the lumpen but not for successful working-class ... A protagonist from the lower orders can be represented only if he is denied ... of history, and the contaminated riff-raff known as the lumpenproletariat. ... refers to as 'lower life'.
Peer comment(s):

agree Charles Davis
21 mins
Thanks, Charles.
agree Robert Carter : Pejorative seems to be the way to go here. For the UK, it's "riff-raff", I think.
35 mins
Thank you, Robert.
agree neilmac : Very few hits for "charming riff-raff", but who's counting... :)
1 hr
Thanks, Neil. It has a nice ring to it anyway.
Something went wrong...
+1
1 hr

the dregs of society

an offensive expression used to describe the people that you consider are the least important or useful in society
http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/the-dregs-of-society-h...
Peer comment(s):

agree neilmac
32 mins
Many thanks, Neil!
Something went wrong...
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