Candid photographs

[Conchita]

Here’s a new discovery for me, which, at the same time, is a new ‘false friend’. It’s the word ‘candid’ (frank/open). In Spanish it means innocent, pure and, in figurative sense, na?ve, ingenuous, gullible.

Now, one word of the day I’ve just read is ‘paparazzo’: a freelance photographer who aggressively pursues celebrities for the purpose of taking candid photographs. The term ‘candid photographs’ had me puzzled: surely this kind of photographs is far from innocent and pure? Of course, thanks to the dictionary, I now understand it has nothing to do with my first interpretation:

candid – adj. not posed or rehearsed: a candid snapshot; informal or natural; especially caught off guard or unprepared: a candid photograph; a candid interview.
n. an unposed informal photograph.

Candidly, I’m sure that some of you will also benefit from my little ‘morning puzzle’.

[Alan]

Hi Conchita,

On the candid front immediately comes to my mind a tv series called Candid Camera. This is a series where people are filmed watching something which they really can't believe. An example: a driver coming into a car park is asked to hand over his keys because the car will be parked by one of the attendants. The hapless driver sees one of the 'attendants' parking a car nearby and he is seen frequently hitting other cars in the process. Naturally the car driver doesn't want the same to happen to his car. It turns out that the whole event is stagemanaged and the cars being hit are old bangers and the idea is that each potential parker is filmed as he sees the same thing happening. And we all fall about laughing as we watch the horror on the faces of the car owners. Ho Ho

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/hold

[Jamie (K)]

I generally give my candid opinion here, but it's almost never innocent or pure.

Now, never confuse the word candid with the word candied.

[Yankee]

Hi Conchita

That reminds me of a TV series....

There used to be a TV show in the US called "Candid Camera". I think it began in the 1950s. It was hugely popular. (I'm not sure whether there's a current version of this show or not.)
There's a similar TV show in Germany.

What this show did was to place an unsuspecting person in a very unusual situation. There was a hidden camera recording everything that happened and reactions of the "victims" were usually really hilarious.

Is/was this type of show also on TV in Spain?

Amy

EDIT: Oops! Alan was faster ... Sorry about the Candid Camera "rerun"

[Jamie (K)]

One of the funniest scenes from Candid Camera involved filming teenagers combing their hair in the 1950s.

Another good one showed a class of small children singing the national anthem. It sounded great. Then they separated the kids and had them sing it individually, and half of them were singing complete nonsense.

In the US, somebody tries to resurrect Candid Camera about once every decade in syndication. It usually stars the founder's son and some beautiful babe. It's always good, but it only seems to last a short time. Generally it's been replaced by those shows like America's Funniest Home Videos, which usually shows candid home shots of people falling down.

Wait a minute, I guess Candid Camera still exists. Here is its website: http://www.candidcamera.com/index.php

On the CBC there is a Canadian variant of the show, called Just for Laughs. This one is a little different, because it's shot with no sound, which tells me they must do it in Qu?bec and don't want to have to worry about language issues. Nonetheless, the gags are imaginative and very funny. In one of them, people on the street were asked to watch someone's car for a couple of minutes. Once the driver has gone inside the building, a kid comes by, tears the side-view mirror off the car, and either hands it to the "guard" or puts it at his feet. You can imagine the hubbub when the driver comes back out.

[Conchita]

The French “La cam?ra invisible” is the first programme of this kind I watched as a child. Here they have “Inocente, inocente” (gullible), which is what you call someone who has been fooled. We can also watch similar programmes on the Nick channel (where they show the French Canadian variant Jamie mentioned).

[Tere]

[Jamie (K)]

[Yankee]

"Whoa!" is right!
The direct translation does sound scary!

Amy

[Conchita]

[Jamie (K)]

What names do they have in Spanish for those candid video shows where the footage is shot by amateurs and sent in? In a typical half hour, there are generally two really funny clips, and the rest just show people falling down. Our version of the show is called "America's Funniest Home Videos". Of course, we have so many TV channels that we have to fill them with something, so we also have other shows of this type, but they are specialized, including "America's Greatest Pets".

[Conchita]

[Jamie (K)]

[Tere]

Hi Jamie!

It is tricky, isn?t it? "occult camera"...hum...I?d rather say "hidden camera" to avoid misunderstanding , as it was suggested above.

Those funny home.made video clips were shown here as ?show de bloopers" As you can see, mostly English.
Those situations are called that way and as you commented, some of them are rather cruel...and many are not so "candidly" recorded (I?m using my new adquisition here! Tks people!)

[Tere]