According to PONS it means "to get one's knickers in a twist (get confused)". So for a sentence like "Ich kriege mein Leben nicht auf die Reihe", how would that translate? The translation given by PONS sounds odd because nobody in the USA says "knickers", so what would be a more natural sounding translation in American-English?
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"auf die Reihe kriegen" ~~ "to get it straight" maybe? – Ingo Jan 3 '14 at 15:05
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3I think that “to get one's knickers in a twist”, “to get confused”, and „nichts auf die Reihe bekommen“ have three very different meanings. – Carsten S Jan 3 '14 at 15:22
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And it seems to me that the knickers-in-a-twitch image is also used in America, albeit with different words. It seems that the most common version there is “to get one's panties in a bunch”. Also compare the text titled “Distracted”: And so now like, now it's so funny, like [...] a couple of them that, you know, they've got their little panties on a little too tight. They're like all in a twitch, um, because [...] they're like "Oh well, you know, now [...] you're just writin' about, like, love and shit, [...] What happened to your politics?[...]" – Carsten S Jan 3 '14 at 15:43
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Interestingly, I thought "panties in a bunch" was the translation, but PONS' translation (de.pons.eu/dict/search/results/…) is one I'd agree with. I like @Ingo's comment; it seems to fit. – riqitang Jan 3 '14 at 16:02
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This isn't a translation service, and the adequate translation of colloquial expressions isn't always easy or even possible. But I think I can help you understand the term.
"Etwas auf die Reihe kriegen" is a colloquial way of saying "to succeed at something".
"Brauchst Du Hilfe bei den Hausaufgaben, oder kriegst Du's alleine auf die Reihe?"
"Do you need help with your homework, or can you do it alone?"
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"Ich kriege mein Leben nicht auf die Reihe"
"I can't get my act together." / "I suck at life."
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"Kriegst Du das Passwort für den Server noch auf die Reihe?"
"Can you remember the password for the server?"
I think the most straight forward translation would be
Can't get my life together.
(see here for example: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130614001705AAqTfUJ)
Other possibilities would be:
Can't get my life in order
or less precise
Can't get my act together
„Nichts auf die Reihe kriegen“ means something like not being able to get anything done, not being able to achieve anything. To me it seems to indicate that this is more the person's fault than because of the task at hand.
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+1 Definitiv, es liegt an dem, der nichts auf die Reihe kriegt. Wenn jemand aufgrund von unglücklichen Zufällen sein Ziel nicht erreicht hat, verwendet man "nichts auf die Reihe kriegen" nicht. – Ingo Jan 3 '14 at 16:44
