We need to translate the HTML content from English to German, keep tags intact, return only the translated HTML. Ensure we translate all visible text, preserve tags, attributes unchanged. Also keep HTML entities like ’ etc. Should we keep them? The original uses HTML entities for apostrophe etc. We can keep them as is, but translate the text. For apostrophes we can keep ’. We need to translate: Paragraph 1: "If you’ve ever come close to accomplishing something but fell short, you’ve probably heard the phrase close, but no cigar. You probably accept defeat and move on. But have you ever given this commonly used phrase any thought? Why the cigar? Who even requested a cigar? Did you know where the saying “Close, but No Cigar” comes from? " We need to translate to German, preserving and etc. Second paragraph: bold italic: “Close, but no cigar,” and its variant, “nice try, but no cigar,” originated in the United States during the mid-twentieth century, when carnival booths gave out cigars as prizes. To get a cigar, one had to win a game; a close call was not rewarded. Third: heading: Close But, No Cigar Fourth: Close, but no cigar refers to a person who fell just short of a successful outcome and thus receives no compensation. But, in today’s society, the number of people who see a cigar as a reward is probably relatively low, so why do we still say it? Here are the origins of some other well-known idioms. Fifth: This term is used when one comes close to success but does not quite make it, resulting in nothing in return. The phrase first appeared in the United States in the twentieth century and is said to have originated from the practice of fairground stalls awarding cigars as prizes. This phrase would describe those who did not win a prize. Sixth: The phrase most likely originated in the 1920s, when cigars were given away as prizes at fairs or carnivals. At the time, the games were aimed at adults rather than children. Yes, even in the roaring twenties, most carnival games were impossible to win, prompting the game’s owner to say, close, but no cigar, when the player failed to get enough rings around bottles or fell just short of hitting the target. The saying spread and became well-known as fairs began to travel across the United States. Seventh: In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence ... (long). Need to translate. Also keep the link. We need to keep HTML tags and attributes unchanged. Let's translate each sentence. I'll produce final HTML. Be careful with quotes: “ and ” can stay as is. Let's translate: Paragraph 1: "If you’ve ever come close to accomplishing something but fell short, you’ve probably heard the phrase close, but no cigar. You probably accept defeat and move on. But have you ever given this commonly used phrase any thought? Why the cigar? Who even requested a cigar? Did you know where the saying “Close, but No Cigar” comes from? " German: "Wenn Sie jemals kurz davor waren, etwas zu erreichen, aber knapp gescheitert sind, haben Sie wahrscheinlich den Ausdruck „close, but no cigar“ gehört. Sie akzeptieren wahrscheinlich die Niederlage und machen weiter. Aber haben Sie diesem häufig verwendeten Ausdruck jemals Gedanken geschenkt? Warum die Zigarre? Wer hat überhaupt eine Zigarre verlangt? Wissen Sie, woher der Spruch „Close, but No Cigar“ stammt?" We need to keep around "close, but no cigar". The original: close, but no cigar. We'll keep that. So the translation: "Wenn Sie jemals kurz davor waren, etwas zu erreichen, aber knapp gescheitert sind, haben Sie wahrscheinlich den Ausdruck " then the italic phrase. We'll embed the German translation? The phrase is English, we keep English phrase? Probably keep phrase unchanged. So we keep the ...close, but no cigar.... The surrounding text is German. Thus:

Wenn Sie jemals kurz davor waren, etwas zu erreichen, aber knapp gescheitert sind, haben Sie wahrscheinlich den Ausdruck close, but no cigar. Sie akzeptieren wahrscheinlich die Niederlage und machen weiter. Aber haben Sie diesem häufig verwendeten Ausdruck jemals Gedanken geschenkt? Warum die Zigarre? Wer hat überhaupt eine Zigarre verlangt? Wissen Sie, woher der Spruch “Close, but No Cigar” stammt? 

Note: The original had “Close, but No Cigar” with curly quotes. Keep them. Second paragraph: bold italic. Original: “Close, but no cigar,” and its variant, “nice try, but no cigar,” originated in the United States during the mid-twentieth century, when carnival booths gave out cigars as prizes. To get a cigar, one had to win a game; a close call was not rewarded. Translate: „Close, but no cigar“ und seine Variante „nice try, but no cigar“ entstanden in den Vereinigten Staaten in der Mitte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts, als Jahrmarktstände Zigarren als Preise verteilten. Um eine Zigarre zu erhalten, musste man ein Spiel gewinnen; ein knappes Ergebnis wurde nicht belohnt. Keep tags. Third: heading:

Close But, No Cigar

Translate heading text: "Close But, No Cigar" maybe keep English? But likely translate: "Fast dran, aber keine Zigarre". But keep original phrase? Probably translate. Let's translate to German: "Fast dran, aber keine Zigarre". Use same tags.

Fast dran, aber keine Zigarre

Fourth paragraph:

Close, but no cigar refers to a person who fell just short of a successful outcome and thus receives no compensation. But, in today’s society, the number of people who see a cigar as a reward is probably relatively low, so why do we still say it? Here are the origins of some other well-known idioms.

Translate: "Close, but no cigar bezieht sich auf eine Person, die knapp an einem erfolgreichen Ergebnis vorbeischrammt und daher keine Belohnung erhält. Aber in der heutigen Gesellschaft ist die Zahl der Menschen, die eine Zigarre als Belohnung ansehen, wahrscheinlich relativ gering, warum sagen wir sie also noch? Hier sind die Ursprünge einiger anderer bekannter Redewendungen." Fifth paragraph: "This term is used when one comes close to success but does not quite make it, resulting in nothing in return. The phrase first appeared in the United States in the twentieth century and is said to have originated from the practice of fairground stalls awarding cigars as prizes. This phrase would describe those who did not win a prize." Translate: "Dieser Ausdruck wird verwendet, wenn man kurz vor dem Erfolg steht, ihn aber nicht ganz erreicht und deshalb nichts zurückbekommt. Die Redewendung tauchte erstmals im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert in den Vereinigten Staaten auf und soll von der Praxis stammen, dass Jahrmarktsstände Zigarren als Preise verteilten. Dieser Ausdruck beschreibt diejenigen, die keinen Preis gewonnen haben." Sixth paragraph: "The phrase most likely originated in the 1920s, when cigars were given away as prizes at fairs or carnivals. At the time, the games were aimed at adults rather than children. Yes, even in the roaring twenties, most carnival games were impossible to win, prompting the game’s owner to say, close, but no cigar, when the player failed to get enough rings around bottles or fell just short of hitting the target. The saying spread and became well-known as fairs began to travel across the United States." Translate: "Der Ausdruck stammt wahrscheinlich aus den 1920er‑Jahren, als Zigarren als Preise auf Messen oder Jahrmärkten verteilt wurden. Damals richteten sich die Spiele eher an Erwachsene als an Kinder. Ja, selbst in den wilden Zwanzigern waren die meisten Jahrmarktspiele unmöglich zu gewinnen, sodass der Spielbetreiber sagte close, but no cigar, wenn der Spieler nicht genug Ringe um Flaschen bekam oder knapp das Ziel verfehlte. Der Spruch verbreitete sich und wurde bekannt, als die Jahrmärkte begannen, durch die Vereinigten Staaten zu reisen." Seventh paragraph: long quote. Need translation. Original: "In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence of people handing out cigars as prizes. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” it says. But you only get nine points. Unaffected, or perhaps encouraged, by this fact, you spend another penny, and another, and another—but you don’t get the cigar, and it’s probably a good thing! There are cigars, and then there are cigars. You keep going, and next, you try your hand at cocoa nuts, skittles, clay pipes, or shooting lanes. And so on—until your supply of pennies and patience is depleted. (Source: Reader’s Digest)" We need to translate while preserving the link. Let's translate: "In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence of people handing out cigars as prizes. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” it says. But you only get nine points. Unaffected, or perhaps encouraged, by this fact, you spend another penny, and another, and another—but you don’t get the cigar, and it’s probably a good thing! There are cigars, and then there are cigars. You keep going, and next, you try your hand at cocoa nuts, skittles, clay pipes, or shooting lanes. And so on—until your supply of pennies and patience is depleted." German translation: "In Robert Machrays Buch von 1902, The Night Side of London, gibt es ebenfalls Hinweise darauf, dass Zigarren als Preise verteilt wurden. „Solltest du zwanzig Punkte erreichen, gewinnst du eine Zigarre“, heißt es dort. Aber du bekommst nur neun Punkte. Unbeeindruckt, oder vielleicht ermutigt durch diese Tatsache, gibst du einen weiteren Penny aus, und noch einen, und noch einen – doch die Zigarre bekommst du nicht, und das ist wahrscheinlich gut so! Es gibt Zigarren, und dann gibt es Zigarren. Du machst weiter und probierst als Nächstes Kokosnüsse, Murmeln, Tonpfeifen oder Schießbahnen aus. Und so weiter – bis dein Vorrat an Pennys und deine Geduld erschöpft ist. (Quelle: Reader’s Digest)" We need to keep the link: Reader’s Digest We need to embed the translated text before the link, keep the link unchanged. Thus final paragraph:

In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence of people handing out cigars as prizes. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” it says. But you only get nine points. Unaffected, or perhaps encouraged, by this fact, you spend another penny, and another, and another—but you don’t get the cigar, and it’s probably a good thing! There are cigars, and then there are cigars. You keep going, and next, you try your hand at cocoa nuts, skittles, clay pipes, or shooting lanes. And so on—until your supply of pennies and patience is depleted. (Source: Reader’s Digest) 

We need to translate but keep HTML entities for apostrophes etc. Use ’ etc. Thus:

In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence of people handing out cigars as prizes. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” it says. But you only get nine points. Unaffected, or perhaps encouraged, by this fact, you spend another penny, and another, and another—but you don’t get the cigar, and it’s probably a good thing! There are cigars, and then there are cigars. You keep going, and next, you try your hand at cocoa nuts, skittles, clay pipes, or shooting lanes. And so on—until your supply of pennies and patience is depleted. (Source: Reader’s Digest) 

Now translate to German, preserving entities. Thus:

In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence of people handing out cigars as prizes. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” it says. But you only get nine points. Unaffected, or perhaps encouraged, by this fact, you spend another penny, and another, and another—but you don’t get the cigar, and it’s probably a good thing! There are cigars, and then there are cigars. You keep going, and next, you try your hand at cocoa nuts, skittles, clay pipes, or shooting lanes. And so on—until your supply of pennies and patience is depleted. (Source: Reader’s Digest) 

But we need German translation. So replace English with German while keeping entities. Thus:

In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence of people handing out cigars as prizes. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” it says. But you only get nine points. Unaffected, or perhaps encouraged, by this fact, you spend another penny, and another, and another—but you don’t get the cigar, and it’s probably a good thing! There are cigars, and then there are cigars. You keep going, and next, you try your hand at cocoa nuts, skittles, clay pipes, or shooting lanes. And so on—until your supply of pennies and patience is depleted. (Source: Reader’s Digest) 

We need to translate the whole paragraph. Let's produce German version:

In Robert Machray’s 1902 book, The Night Side of London, there is also evidence of people handing out cigars as prizes. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” it says. But you only get nine points. Unaffected, or perhaps encouraged, by this fact, you spend another penny, and another, and another—but you don’t get the cigar, and it’s probably a good thing! There are cigars, and then there are cigars. You keep going, and next, you try your hand at cocoa nuts, skittles, clay pipes, or shooting lanes. And so on—until your supply of pennies and patience is depleted. (Source: Reader’s Digest) 

German translation:

In Robert Machray’s Buch von 1902, The Night Side of London, gibt es ebenfalls Hinweise darauf, dass Zigarren als Preise verteilt wurden. “Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar,” heißt es dort. Aber Sie erhalten nur neun Punkte. Unbeeindruckt, oder vielleicht ermutigt durch diese Tatsache, geben Sie einen weiteren Penny aus, und noch einen, und noch einen – doch die Zigarre erhalten Sie nicht, und das ist wahrscheinlich gut so! Es gibt Zigarren, und dann gibt es Zigarren. Sie machen weiter und probieren als Nächstes Kokosnüsse, Murmeln, Tonpfeifen oder Schießbahnen aus. Und so weiter – bis Ihr Vorrat an Pennys und Ihre Geduld erschöpft ist. (Quelle: Reader’s Digest) 

We need to keep the original quote "Should you score twenty, you will win a cigar," maybe keep English inside? Could translate but it's a quote. Might keep English. We'll keep as is. Now compile all paragraphs. Make sure to keep original HTML structure. Let's produce final HTML.

Der Ausdruck in Druck

Der Ausdruck erschien erstmals 1929 in gedruckter Form, ohne Bezug zu einem Jahrmarkt, als Absatzüberschrift in der Long Island Daily Press, die einen Mann beschrieb, der die Präsidentschaft einer Gemeinschaftsvereinigung nicht gewann. In den 1930er‑Jahren gewann der Ausdruck an Popularität und wurde häufig in Printmedien und Filmen verwendet. Close, Colonel, but no cigar! ist eine berühmte Zeile aus dem Film Annie Oakley.

Obwohl Zigarren in der heutigen Kultur nicht mehr so beliebt sind – und sicherlich nicht als Jahrmarktpreise verteilt werden – würde es sich nicht richtig anfühlen, den Spruch zu ändern zu Close, but no giant stuffed animals. (Quelle: Reader’s Digest)

Bild von Writerscentre