How could the Hungarian idiom "cataract-smith" be best translated into English?

Solution 1:

There is a fairly well-known fable about a centipede who was asked how he could keep his hundred legs moving in the correct order when he walked - and as soon as he thought about it, quite lost the ability to walk. This blog post is one of many retellings of the story I found on a quick internet search. That's a close parallel to the Hungarian story about the smith.

So you could refer to "the centipede who forgot how to walk when someone asked him how he did it". However the centipede story is not so famous that it has given rise to an idiom of its own in the way that "cataract-smith" has become an idiom in Hungarian. I can't think of a one or two word translation for "cataract-smith"; you would have to explain a little more.

After writing the above I did another internet search and found out that there is a quick way of referring to this story: according to this Wikipedia entry it is known as "The Centipede's Dilemma", and the story originated with a particular poem published in the 1870s rather than being an old folk tale as I had thought. But I must say that I had not heard the specific phrase "The Centipede's Dilemma" before today.

Solution 2:

It sounds like the smith was a natural:

(Of a person) born with a particular skill, quality, or ability; A person regarded as having an innate gift or talent for a particular task or activity. - OED

I don't think there's a counterpart on the ability lost.

Solution 3:

There is no direct translation of this idiom into English.

A close analogy might be Savant (previously 'Idiot Savant', now correctly deemed offensive to people with the condition.) This refers to someone who has keen skills, usually untrained, in one specific area but is otherwise not academically accomplished. It is part of the autism spectrum. (Savant syndrome, on Wikipedia)

Taking the example rather than the strict definition for guidance, the Cataract Smith was suffering from what we might call 'Stage Fright' - that is to say, nervousness and self-doubt caused by performing in front of a shrewd audience.

Solution 4:

It doesn't exactly match but you could call it getting the yips which is usually associated with golfers who, having once been very proficient putters, develop an involuntary wrist spasm causing them to badly lose form.

Wikipedia describes it as a loss of fine motor skills in athletes. The condition occurs most often in sports which athletes are required to perform a single precise and well-timed action such as golf and darts. Some can recover but many are forced to abandon their sport at the highest level.

But I think outside of sport it can be used as a general term for performance anxiety, particularly where it causes a loss of fine motor skills and potentially, as per the question, from some dawning realisation of the consequences of one's actions.

"It was easy juggling with eggs but when I found out they were priceless Faberge eggs I got the yips and dropped them all" - best example I could think of I'm afraid.