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Can anyone give the feeling behind "Das, äh, sieht sehr übersichtlich aus"?

It's from the movie Ödipussi with Loriot.

My source:

Die Szene ist auf jeden Fall von Loriot. Wie das Stück heißt weiß ich nicht. Er lädt jedenfalls seine Angebetete zum Essen ein und hat ein billiges Restaurant ausgesucht. Ihr gefällt das aber nicht und drängt darauf, lieber in ein nobles zu gehen. Dort wird auf eher großen Tellern serviert, die Mengen sind aber sehr bescheiden. Loriot kommentiert das dann als "sehr übersichtlich".

Deepl translation:

The scene is definitely by Loriot. I don't know the name of the play. Anyway, he invites his beloved to dinner and has chosen a cheap restaurant. But she doesn't like it and insists on going to a fancy one. There, the food is served on rather large plates, but the quantities are very modest. Loriot then comments on this as "very clear".

Of course, "very clear" is not really the best translation; see the accepted answer.

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    Actually, a dictionary has the right translation for übersichtlich which is "clearly arranged". Still hungry ? :-)
    – user41853
    Commented Jun 29, 2021 at 8:03
  • I might say “well organised” or “very neatly arranged”. Just think of what positive sounding things you would say about one cherry tomato, one slice of cucumber and one mushroom on a large plate. When your stomach is empty.
    – gnasher729
    Commented Jun 29, 2021 at 20:12
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    Regarding the statement update although the question is closed: actually editing a closed question is no contradiction, on the contrary closing is supposed to encourage adding the missing information. Now, the question is a candidate for reopening.
    – amadeusamadeus
    Commented Jul 1, 2021 at 18:17
  • Yes (+1), that's the same across all sites. In fact, the "closed" box above says "Add details and clarify the problem you’re solving. This will help others answer the question" . I would ask for it to be re-opened (do you think I should?), but I have already accepted the only answer. I still can't think of a single English word that conveys the same idea, though :-/
    – Mawg
    Commented Jul 2, 2021 at 5:57

3 Answers 3

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Übersichtlich most likely is a euphemism for tiny, small, negligible. One would need to know more about the context.

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  • See the updated question for context
    – Mawg
    Commented Jun 30, 2021 at 6:25
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The literal meaning of "übersichtlich" is something like "it is very feasible to look at everything of it at once". This can be because it is very well layed out, but this can also be because there is very little of it. The connotation of the word is usually positive; but it can be (as in this quote) used as a euphemism.

Translating it with "very clear" makes no sense to me at all. The best I can think of right now is to use "manageable", which captures most of the meaning, except for the visual aspects of "übersichtlich". Going with "looks manageable" would reintroduce a bit of that (and make clear that it is not about taste).

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    Your explanation perfectly explains the humour (and, also, why word for word translations don't always work). Upvote
    – Mawg
    Commented Jul 12, 2021 at 10:49
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The scene is in a Nouvelle Cuisine restaurant, and the guests get served tiny portions.

How does a gentleman diplomatically say that portions are tiny without saying that portions are tiny? Loriot's character, after short hesitation, comes up with "übersichtlich", which normally means that something is well-ordered and thus easy to grasp. This is Loriot's humour for you: the after-war era bourgeois German clashes with reality, always trying to keep posture.

A more standard use of "übersichtlich" would be:

eine übersichtliche Grafik (a comprehensible diagram)

Wenn man die Tabelle nach Umsatz sortiert, wird sie übersichtlicher. (When the table is sorted by sales, it becomes more comprehensible/manageable.)

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