Reputation and rumour

A reputation is what is said about somebody who is not in the room, and Spanish has several words for it: el renombre is the name one has in the trade, la fama is what people tell one another, el descrédito is the loss of both. That middle word is where English parts company. Fama is neutral and waits for an adjective: la buena fama is a good reputation, la mala fama is a bad one, and either is an ordinary thing to say. The English word that looks like it, « fame », has one meaning left — being widely known — and it is a good thing by default. So buena fama is not « good fame » but « a good name », and mala fama comes out as « notoriety » or « a bad name »: two unrelated English words for one Spanish noun with two adjectives.