by Flore (Nov 29, 2004)

Thanks to a fabulous and really funny book, written by John Wolf Whistle (or Jean-Loup Chiflet), I'll try to introduce you to running idioms, in the aim to prove you that translating isn't so easy as it sometimes seems to be!

The book is called "Sky! Mortimer!" (Ciel! Mortimer!= Heavens! my husband!), and the two main characters are (of course) Blake and Mortimer. I'll put some of the idioms in this article, and if you enjoy it, I advise you to get your finger out ( Sors ton doigt=grouille toi) to go to the bookshop to buy it. Another one has also just gone out : "Name of a pipe" (nom d'une pipe= my god!), from the same writer ! While you’re reading this book, you're going to have the crazy laugh (giggles), discovering that, if you translate word after word, what you’re saying curls the ridiculous (borders the ridiculous). Understanding each other’s idioms is not a pie! (it is not so easy!). Imagine that you're introducing yourself to an English-speaking person, and that you're trying to explain him the meaning of your name. Don't say "I have a name to sleep outside", but "I have an impossible name".

And if you're meeting an English friend by a happy coincidence, don't ask him "Which good wind brings you here?" but "What do we owe here the pleasure of your company to?" Then, if you're offering him something to drink, don't tell him "At the yours, Steve", but "Here is in your eyes" (detail : if you've drunk too much, don't try to say " I am round like a shovel tail", because "I'm very drunk" will be enough!).If your friend asks you, "How are you?", answer that you're not in great form, because he won't understand "I have not the French fried potatoe"! Or if you're tired, don't tell him "I'm in the polish", but "I'm out for the count". In the series of bad mood, the French "I have the cockroach" is translated by "I have the blues". Your friend is always doing crazy things? Don't tell him "Stop making the sausage!" but "Stop acting the fool!" Then if the chat is getting about the driving topic ... and you want to speak about French drivers, don't say to your interlocutor "They drive on the wheels hats", he won't understand anything. Just say that the French drive very fast! and then explain to your friend that , thanks to the new law from the governement, "it's going to heat for them " (or : sparks will fly, if you want to sound English!).

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