(no subject)

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

Can you say that a person is дословный to mean literal, in the sense that people sometimes take things too literally? --> "Ты очень дословный человек".

Comments

[pzrk.livejournal.com]

No - the person can be "прямолинейный" (direct) or "занудный" (boring), but "дословный" may be used for "дословный перевод" (word-by-word translation) etc.

[pzrk.livejournal.com]

If you want to say that someone accepts all literally, use something like "почему ты все воспринимаешь буквально?" (yes, "буквально" is more exact translation for "literal").

[superbad.livejournal.com]

you might even say it's a more "literal" translation for "literal" HA HA HA HA i am hilarious.

[scolar.livejournal.com]

That's true. But "Ты очень прямолинейный человек" sounds offensive. I'd better say "Ты воспринимаешь всё [слишком] буквально".

[1-randomplay.livejournal.com]

such kind of person often called "буквоед" (word-eater)

[pzrk.livejournal.com]

Good word, but it is not widely used.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

A good word indeed, but its meaning is quite different :)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Not exactly. Буквоед (such as I, for example) is a person who really cares about precision of speech, exactness of meanings, and correctness of spellings. But not somebody who takes everything literally -- that'll be "ты все воспринимаешь слишком буквально".

[1-randomplay.livejournal.com]

agreed

[oryx_and_crake]

No, you cannot use дословный that way.
There is дотошный (thorough) but it has a slightly different meaning. The best way to say what you want to say will be descriptive: Ты все воспринимаешь слишком буквально.

[shutov-sparkle.livejournal.com]

буквальный

[alon_68]

Дословный may be something (перевод, смысл) but not somebody!

[dancing-firefly.livejournal.com]

It is also impossible to say Вы буквальный человек! Дотошный, занудный sound offensive but there is nothing offensive in прямолинейный, it can even serve as compliment because it has completely different meaning, something like честный, прямодушный.