English to French translation

To call a spade a spade and To rain cats and dogs

October 13, 2004

You know the expression "to call a spade a spade"? Well, in French, it's "appeler un chat un chat" (To call a cat a cat). And here, it's raining cats and dogs, but in France it would be raining halberds (il pleut/tombe des hallebardes). I do love idioms, although one of them is giving me problems at the moment: "to stay ahead of the power curve". I've got until Friday to work that one out. Also, I was kindly advised to "get a life" by a reader recently; I still haven't managed to find a French equivalent for that expression and it's driving me UP THE WALL.

Still more problematic idioms : "Is the pope a catholic ?". I think I'll translate it as "Quelle question !" (what a question!) or "Bien entendu !" (or course!) or "D'après toi ?" (what do you think ?), for now, as I can't think of anything better.

Comments

Hi Celine! :) I just asked my French husband what his thoughts were. By way of example, I took the liberty to tack on a similar phrase so he'd get the idea: "You're a loser; get a life!" I asked him what a French equivalent would be, and he said, "Nothing, we don't have the concept of a 'loser' in France!"

I got the biggest kick out of that and had to share.

I'm enjoying reading your blog! :)

Hi ViVi, thanks for enrolling your oh-so-French husband to try and help me, I look forward to reading your blog when work slows down a bit.

You should take care with 'to call a spade a spade'; it means 'to speak bluntly and without euphemism', but it also means 'to be openly and unashamedly racist', in the sense of using the offensive word _spade_ where any civilized person would say _black person_. Because of this connotation, some people object to the phrase at all. Though clearly this isn't going to be a problem for a French audience.

I think you might be wrong about this one (courtesy of yaelf.com); interestingly enough, "to call a spade a spade" is a result of a mistranslation predating slavery in the States:

"to call a spade a spade"
(Phrase Origins)

is NOT an ethnic slur.
It derives from an ancient Greek expression: _ta syka syka, te:n skaphe:n de skaphe:n onomasein_ = "to call a fig a fig, a trough a
trough". This is first recorded in Aristophanes' play _The Clouds_(423 B.C.), was used by Menander and Plutarch, and is still current in modern Greek. There has been a slight shift in meaning: in ancient times the phrase was often used pejoratively, to denote a rude person who spoke his mind tactlessly; but it now, like the
English phrase, has an exclusively positive connotation. It is possible that both the fig and the trough were originally sexual symbols.
In the Renaissance, Erasmus confused Plutarch's "trough" (_skaphe:_) with the Greek word for "digging tool" (_skapheion_; the two words are etymologically connected, a trough being
something that is hollowed out) and rendered it in Latin as _ligo_.
Thence it was translated into English in 1542 by Nicholas Udall in his translation of Erasmus's version as "to call a spade [...] a spade". (_Bartlett's Familiar Quotations_ perpetuates Erasmus' error by mistranslating _skaphe:_ as "spade" three times under Menander.)
"To call a spade a bloody shovel" is not recorded until 1919.
"Spade" in the sense of "Negro" is not recorded until 1928. (It comes from the colour of the playing card symbol, via the phrase "black as the ace of spades".)

Whew! Glad you did the research on that... I have used this phrase in my life and I'd hate to think I was unintentionally making racist comments!

Here's the most logical of all the offerings on the Internet. There is truth to the "raining fish" during storm from the sea. It is possible that a single, simple storm and the falling of one cat and one dog, could inspire such a saying. Humans are repeative and herdistic. :)

from http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Answered/Question6691-12.asp?Page=1

"Hasn't it got something to do with tornadoes? Cats and dogs were swept into the tornado and when it had passed they rained down on the unsuspecting people. just a guess (it worked with fish and frogs)
gb Wed 13/02/02"

"Ah, the world of Forteana! Its possible as a derivation. Herodotus recorded rains of fish, and certainly Charles Fort recorded rains of Cats, Dogs and Pitchforks. The mechanism for these is unclear, though.
As a source for the phrase , well, maybe. I wondered if it might have to do with the noise the rain made on a roof?
incitatus Fri 15/02/02 "

Dear Celine,

What a great blog you have! I am so glad I stumbled upon it! Not that I am in the same business, I am an Innovation Consultant, but my tryst with the French language is something I always fret about!

You see, when I was in school, I studied elementary French for four years. But till today, I have not moved beyond elementary. I want to learn the language, I want to speak it, but I do not know how or where to start. How do I get the right pronunciations, there are so many issues that bother me that I give up trying!

Now I have your blog and I am going to learn whatever I can! Great work!

Best Regards,
Naina

Well, thanks for the compliments Naina. "How do I go about learning French?" is a question I'm often asked through this site. Unfortunately, it's impossible to answer as it depends entirely on what sort of person/learner you are. It's probably best to sample the different methods out there and see which one suits you best. Good luck!

Hello again! I just noticed that you added "Is the pope Catholic?" I love this way to answer a question with an ironic, sarcastic question in return as a way of affirmation:

"Do you think it will rain today?"

"Does a bear sh!t in the woods?" (a less refined yet more popular answer; pardon the vulgarity)

It seems sarcasm doesn't have the same reverence here as it does in the states; I've often replied to my husband with a witty sarcastic phrase and on more than one occassion was given a blank stare!

IN RE the "blank stare": I know exactly what you mean. Just when you think you have graced him with the grand jewel of all original tid-bits of sarcastic word-play and while you stand there, grinning like the provebial "cat that ate the canary" about to "bust a button" and ready to yell "top of of the world Ma!", it's "ZOOM - right over his head"! I mean, "Hey! he just ain't got a clue" - "dead air" - "lights are one but nobody's home" - "space cadet"; "air head"; "right address; vacant lot"...

Ok, ok, I'll quite for now. :O)

Warren

my friend always combines these two phrases, saying 'does the pope shit in the woods?'

Thanks for all that fascinating etymological detail, Céline! I knew that the thing about the phrase being racist wasn't entirely historically accurate, but the fact that some people think of it as racist and might take offence can still be a problem even if those people are incorrect.

As far as I know, "pleuvoir des hallebarde" is an old expression that is fairly deprecated. Modern French usually uses "pleuvoir des clous" or "des cordes" (to rain nails/ropes) AFAIK. In Quebec, you can also hear "pleuvoir à boire debout".

As for "is the pope a catholic", you can use just about any question. That device has been used before, but doesn't have a "standardized" question. I've read "Est-ce qu'un chien aboie?" (Do dogs bark?) among others.

I'm afraid I can't help for "Get a Life", though.

How about "il faut sortir le dimanche" for "get a life"?

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October 11, 2004

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