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I am not sure of how to translate that phrase in spanish. Basically, from what I see, a messed up moment is one that might be consider questionable in term of its morality, something that makes you feel bad about it, that makes you feel insulted and it might be disgusting to see.

Google translates this as momentos desordenados, but this doesn't feel like a correct translation. It would be better to use something like: "momentos amorales", or something like that. How do I translate that phrase in spanish?

For example, let's take an example from a post called: 5 Messed Up Moments In Gravity Falls.

Two of them them says:

1 - Dipper Made sure Tyrone was Dead

It was after Tyrone melted from drinking the pop that Dipper poured his own to make sure he was gone.

2 - Mcgucket's relationship with his son

It is really obvious how much his son dislikes him it could possibly be out embarrassment. Since he is kind of the town fool, but he is your father!

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    Momento bochornoso, embarazoso, humillante, escabroso, escandaloso... No son exactamente sinónimos.
    – aerobiomat
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 19:33
  • @aerobiomat No creo que bochornoso, embarazoso sean buenas traducciones, humillanete, escabroso y escandaloso se acercan mas, pero no estoy del todo conforme
    – Nau
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 19:45
  • messed-up moments. This is not an idiom. It is creative writing.
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 19:51
  • @Lambie What does it mean creative writing?
    – Nau
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 20:00
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    What does creative writing mean? It means it is not a set phrase, it is not something you will find in a dictionary. mess up is in the dictionary. It is not an idiomatic expression.
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 20:04

3 Answers 3

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messed up moments

May be you are talking about scenes for which viewer should be warned about?, or one could be aware of, either in advance or in retrospect? (for their particularly inappropriate content , offensive nature or potentially lasting, troubling, impressions)

escenas perturbadoras

could be used

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  • yeah, but "Escena perturbadora" is not a good translation either, because it can be something really scary from a movie and it would be a "Escena Perturbadora" but doesn't have to be a "messed up moment". A Messed Up moment I think it is more related with a human doing something really bad, like betraying a good friend, or hurting another human being in a emotional way
    – Nau
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 19:52
  • messed-up does not mean scary.
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 19:56
  • I think so, but in spanish, scary might be related with "Perturbadora" .. but I don't know, maybe that is the closest word for a translation. I have seen people using "Messed up" for things like: discrimination and with those examples, I don't feel myself "Perturbado" I feel "Indignado"
    – Nau
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 20:00
  • pertubador still applies for some nefarious (wicked in the extreme; abominable; iniquitous; atrociously villainous; execrable; detestably vile) moral act
    – ipp
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 20:06
  • @DieDauphin You are not an English or Spanish speaker, right? French, maybe? messed up has two meanings: A situation can be messed up in the sense of fucked up or screwed up AND If you mess up a situation, you handle it badly.
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 17, 2020 at 22:01
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mess up means to mishandle, not deal with something well or right.

same as screwed up

messed-up moments with my son = times when I did not handle things well with my son.

Translation: momentos mal manejados o mal llevados o momentos jodidos

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  • Yes, un momento confuso o un momento de confusión are maybe good in this situation.
    – Andrés Chandía
    Commented Aug 18, 2020 at 18:34
  • @AndrésChandía No es confuso o confusión. Es un momento que es un desastre. That's was messed up, man. o "un momento en el cual no llevé o manejé bien un assunto.
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 18, 2020 at 19:30
  • Then "un momento crítico" or simply "un mal momento"
    – Andrés Chandía
    Commented Aug 19, 2020 at 13:06
  • @AndrésChandía No, only jodido really gets the meaning across at the same level.,
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 30, 2020 at 20:16
  • Well, that's in your Spanish variant, I was trying to be more neutral, in Latin America it would be certainly understood, but not in all countries people would use it as their way of expresing it.
    – Andrés Chandía
    Commented Oct 31, 2020 at 16:58
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In Spain we have a powerful expression that I think matches very well the meaning of "messed-up" in this context:

Cinco momentos/escenas de Gravity Falls que te dejan con el culo torcido.

The expression quedarse con el culo torcido is used when someone has witnessed something that has render them speechless, very surprised, thinking about what you have just saw, and sometimes (but not necessarily) with a slightly bad taste.

An example:

El final de El planeta de los simios me dejó con el culo torcido.

Note that this is an expression used in Spain and quite recent, I can find examples of usage only in the last 12 years, but is widely used even in important news webs, as you can see in this example:

La principal candidata a 'serie del verano' te dejará con el culo torcido

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  • A messed-up moment is most definitely not this idea in Spanish. It is an active verb in English 2) To mess up=when a person does something poorly or badly or mishandles something. 2) messed-up moment is a screwed-up moment. Basically, jodido. Un momento jodido....
    – Lambie
    Commented Aug 18, 2020 at 19:32

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