Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

But the old Gallic machismo dies hard

French translation:

mais le bon vieux machisme gaulois a la vie dure

    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2013-03-01 19:54:08 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)
Feb 26, 2013 17:26
11 yrs ago
English term

But the old Gallic machismo dies hard

English to French Marketing Government / Politics
But the old Gallic machismo dies hard. Veteran left-liberal French journalist Jean-Francois Kahn originally dismissed the DSK case as a "troussage de domestique" – literally, skirt-lifting with a servant

Discussion

jmleger Feb 26, 2013:
Oui, je sais que c'est J.F. Kahn qui a employé l'expression. Comme je sais que BHL est aussi monté au créneau pour le défendre (un accès de botulisme sans doute).
Isabelle Cluzel Feb 26, 2013:
c'est Kahn qui a employé l'expression... (il a d'ailleurs fini par s'excuser)
jmleger Feb 26, 2013:
Isn't it great that a leftist politician would thus dismiss the abuse of an hourly hotel worker? The fact that DSK was going to be president and that there would have been government plum jobs for all oh his buddies may have had something to do w/it. You gotta love variable-geometry ethics.
Andrew Bramhall Feb 26, 2013:
Skirt-lifting with a servant Well, someone with the surname Kahn is probably well qualified to speak on such an issue!

Proposed translations

+5
3 mins
Selected

mais le bon vieux machisme gaulois a la vie dure

*
Peer comment(s):

neutral Tony M : 'Gallic' here means 'French', is it still OK to translate that as 'gaulois'? (It doesn't mean 'of ancient Gaul' / 'Gaulish') / Yes, it does in EN, but I wasn't so sure the FR use gaulois in the same way... cf. the expression 'Gallic charm'
2 mins
I think "Gallic" means symbolic of the French nation.
agree FX Fraipont (X)
2 mins
Thanks, FX, Gallic minds...
neutral Isabelle Cluzel : je ne suis pas sûre de "bon vieux", utilisé normalement dans un contexte positif. on ne dirait pas par exemple "le bon vieux racisme", sauf si celui qui en parle l'approuve
8 mins
merci. D'accord avec Victor.
agree Victor Santos : @Isabelle: "bon vieux" est souvent écrit avec ironie/distance, justement quand on dit "bon vieux raciste"
13 mins
merci !
neutral Andrew Bramhall : Actually Tony, by translating it as 'gaulois' you're hitting on an old image of the French race which is supported by the context and after which a similarly long-established brand of cigarettes was named!
14 mins
merci !
agree Pierre Souris
16 mins
merci !
agree Jenny Dequick
56 mins
agree sktrans
2 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "merci"
+2
5 mins

mais le bon vieux machisme gaulois a la vie dure

..
Peer comment(s):

agree Jenny Dequick
55 mins
merci!
agree sktrans
2 hrs
merci!
Something went wrong...
8 mins

Mais l'ancien machisme gaulois ne meurt pas aussi facilement

Il se peut qu'on aura besoin de quelque chose qui précède à laquelle on peut le comparer;
Peer comment(s):

neutral Pierre Souris : Comme le grec ancien "lancien machisme" voudrait dire qu'il n'est plus qu'un souvenir, sauf si l'on disait "déjà ancien", mais ce serait en l'occurrence trop lourd.
15 mins
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13 mins

mais le machisme à la gauloise a laissé des traces

-
Peer comment(s):

neutral Andrew Bramhall : Too much of a circumscription of the true English meaning IMHO;
7 mins
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