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I'm searching for a good translation of:

"auf falsche Gedanken kommen"

or translated:

to get ethically/socially wrong thoughts, or planning/not rejecting the idea to do something illegal

is there a lean few word representation of that ?

Specifically in the sentence:

"They shouldn't air guys like that on television. Kids will get the wrong ideas."

Is this fitting and would be understood corretly?

Btw: Another way of expressing "morally wrong" ideas doesn't apply here, as it is more asking for "grey areas"

Community
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HopefullyHelpful
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    I suspect that most of the idioms in this area will have religious overtones. – Hot Licks Nov 27 '16 at 01:26
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    Orwell suggested "ungoodthink", or "plus-ungoodthink" or even "double-plus-ungoodthink". – Michael Lorton Nov 27 '16 at 02:37
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    @HotLicks - No, this German idiom is intended in a joking manner. Nothing religious about it. Source: N. German spouse. – aparente001 Nov 27 '16 at 14:23
  • @aparente001 - But American and, to a lesser extent, British thought about morality is greatly influenced by Puritanism. – Hot Licks Nov 27 '16 at 14:45
  • @HotLicks - You are welcome to write a Puritanical character with which you may attempt to sum up North American culture. But don't give him the line "auf falsche Gedanken kommen" to say, because it wouldn't fit. – aparente001 Nov 27 '16 at 14:56
  • @aparente001 - I'm trying to explain why the idioms would tend toward the religious. – Hot Licks Nov 27 '16 at 15:12
  • @HotLicks - Sorry, I'm not getting your idea. You're trying to explain why which idioms would tend toward the religious? (My point of view about this is that the original German idiom doesn't have a moralistic or religious undertone, and therefore we should match it up with an English idiom that doesn't have any of those undertones either.) – aparente001 Nov 27 '16 at 17:47
  • The problem is finding one. – Hot Licks Nov 27 '16 at 20:01
  • @HotLicks - sorry, finding one what? An idiom that expresses OP's phrase, in English? I proposed two. – aparente001 Nov 30 '16 at 05:32

3 Answers3

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You should consider "getting corrupted" (in the moral sense).

"They shouldn't air guys like that on television. Kids may get corrupted."

ODO:

corrupt VERB [WITH OBJECT]. 1.1 Cause to become morally depraved:

‘he has corrupted the boy’

‘Ostensibly, we are protecting minors from being morally corrupted by adults?’

‘Outside forces like the press and media could corrupt the young boy, and John wished his son to have the most normal of childhoods, in light of the circumstances.’

Spoil may work too.

ODO:

spoil VERB

2 Harm the character of (a child) by being too lenient or indulgent:

‘the last thing I want to do is spoil Thomas’

‘a spoilt child’

’‘They are spoiled rotten rich brats led by an attorney's son.’

alwayslearning
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1

Your proposal "Kids will get the wrong ideas" is pretty close. Two improvements will help. (1) There is an idiom in English:

get the wrong idea (about someone or something): To develop a belief or impression (about someone or something) that is untrue, incorrect, or has been misinterpreted or misunderstood. Examples: I feel like I need to explain my actions, or you'll end up getting the wrong idea about me. Now don't get the wrong idea or anything, but I think we should spend a little bit of time apart. Whoa, I think you've gotten the wrong idea about tonight—this wasn't supposed to be a date or anything like that!

(freedictionary.com)

(If you add the S as you did, you're not in the idiom anymore.)

  1. Since, according to my German spouse, the original is intended in a joking way, might or could in place of would could help soften the expression and avoid a scolding tone. So:

"They shouldn't put people like that on a children's program. Kids could get the wrong idea."

Another possibility:

Well, okay, you can watch that program this once. But don't go getting any bright ideas.

If you really need the third person, okay, but the following is a little less effective:

"I'd rather they didn't put people like that on television. I wouldn't want my kids to get any bright ideas."

Here, bright ideas is fondly sarcastic; it might reflect the joking tone of the original a little better. I couldn't find a source for this one, though. It's kind of like using schlaue in a fondly sarcastic way in "Du bist so ein schlaue Bursche."

(Note, corrupt and spoil, which were proposed in another answer, are too judgmental.)

aparente001
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How about bad influence?

M-W:

influence: one that exerts influence; the power to direct the thinking or behavior of others usually indirectly

Your example:

"They shouldn't air guys like that on television. Kids will get the wrong ideas. He's a bad influence."

Richard Kayser
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