okay, I know this is a weird one: Eng -> Fr

[Anthony Bryant]

Okay, I know this is weird. And I know that some (most?
all?) French folk would have a problem with the phrase, but...

I have a friend who is of French ancestry, and he speaks
less French than I do. He wants to make "Cheese-eating
surrender monkey" his personal motto, but the attempt to
render the phrase into French eludes us both.

So how *would* one say, in French, "cheese-eating surrender
monkey"?


Tony

[Harlan Messinger]

Okay, I know this is weird. And I know that some (most? all?) French
folk would have a problem with the phrase, but...
I have a friend who is of French ancestry, and he speaks less French
than I do. He wants to make "Cheese-eating surrender monkey" his
personal motto, but the attempt to render the phrase into French eludes
us both.
So how *would* one say, in French, "cheese-eating surrender monkey"?

Singe-capituleur tyrophage?

[Albert ARIBAUD]

Post by Harlan Messinger

Okay, I know this is weird. And I know that some (most? all?) French
folk would have a problem with the phrase, but...
I have a friend who is of French ancestry, and he speaks less French
than I do. He wants to make "Cheese-eating surrender monkey" his
personal motto, but the attempt to render the phrase into French eludes
us both.
So how *would* one say, in French, "cheese-eating surrender monkey"?

Singe-capituleur tyrophage?

Wouldn't put the hyphen (after all, this is simply a substantive followed
by two adjectives).

Also, here I sense that the monkey we're talking about is rather someone
who continuously does something (here, surrender) rather than an ape of
some sort. As a computer scientist, I've seen "code monkey" a couple of
time and it seems to mean, excuse my French, "pisseur de code".

So I would translate less literally and, if I caught the meaning right,
suggest something like "Capitulateur professionnel élevé au fromage".

If this is aimed at french people (as opposed to franch-reading persons",
it could be "Capitulateur professionnel élevé au fromage qui pue", since
"les fromages qui puent" was (and possibly still is) a gimmick in a
well-known french TV show (les Guignols) used by the archetypal American
to mean "the French".

As a side note, this looks to me more like a signature, a description to
be put after one's name, than a motto (devise, in French), which is
supposed to be a whole sentence.

Amicalement,

[Albert ARIBAUD]

Post by Harlan Messinger

Okay, I know this is weird. And I know that some (most? all?) French
folk would have a problem with the phrase, but...
I have a friend who is of French ancestry, and he speaks less French
than I do. He wants to make "Cheese-eating surrender monkey" his
personal motto, but the attempt to render the phrase into French eludes
us both.
So how *would* one say, in French, "cheese-eating surrender monkey"?

Singe-capituleur tyrophage?

Wouldn't put the hyphen (after all, this is simply a substantive followed
by two adjectives).

Also, here I sense that the monkey we're talking about is someone who
continuously does something (here, surrender) rather than an ape of some
sort. As a computer scientist, I've seen "code monkey" a couple of times
and it seems to mean, excuse my French, "pisseur de code".

So I would translate less literally and, if I caught the meaning right,
suggest something like "Capitulateur professionnel élevé au fromage".

If this is aimed at french people (as opposed to french-reading persons",
it could be "Capitulateur professionnel élevé au fromage qui pue", since
"les fromages qui puent" was (and possibly still is) a gimmick in a
well-known french TV show (les Guignols) used by the archetypal American
to mean "the French", and it has somehow gone into (sub-)common use.

As a side note, this looks to me more like a signature, a description to
be put after one's name, than a motto (devise, in French), which is
supposed to be a whole sentence.

Amicalement,

[Peter Wells]

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 21:36:23 -0400, Harlan Messinger

Post by Harlan Messinger

Okay, I know this is weird. And I know that some (most? all?) French
folk would have a problem with the phrase, but...
I have a friend who is of French ancestry, and he speaks less French
than I do. He wants to make "Cheese-eating surrender monkey" his
personal motto, but the attempt to render the phrase into French eludes
us both.
So how *would* one say, in French, "cheese-eating surrender monkey"?

Singe-capituleur tyrophage?

How about capitulard simien tyrophage ? (capitulard does exist,
created in 1871)


only one p in my real address / un seul p dans ma véritable adresse

[Lanarcam]

Post by Anthony Bryant
Okay, I know this is weird. And I know that some (most?
all?) French folk would have a problem with the phrase, but...
I have a friend who is of French ancestry, and he speaks
less French than I do. He wants to make "Cheese-eating
surrender monkey" his personal motto, but the attempt to
render the phrase into French eludes us both.
So how *would* one say, in French, "cheese-eating surrender
monkey"?

Another modest proposition:

"primate soumis, bouffeur de claquos"

Bouffer means to eat but is used originaly for animals.
Claquos is slang for camembert. Soumis is more general
than capitulard.

HTH

[Albert ARIBAUD]

Post by Lanarcam

Post by Anthony Bryant
Okay, I know this is weird. And I know that some (most?
all?) French folk would have a problem with the phrase, but...
I have a friend who is of French ancestry, and he speaks
less French than I do. He wants to make "Cheese-eating
surrender monkey" his personal motto, but the attempt to
render the phrase into French eludes us both.
So how *would* one say, in French, "cheese-eating surrender
monkey"?

"primate soumis, bouffeur de claquos"
Bouffer means to eat but is used originaly for animals.
Claquos is slang for camembert. Soumis is more general
than capitulard.

Dunno... Looks like we French are specifically accused of *surrending*
(in times of war) rather than being submissive (i.e., in situations other
than warfare). Less of a good pupil and more of a coward.

Amicalement,

[Nigel Greenwood]

Post by Albert ARIBAUD
Dunno... Looks like we French are specifically accused of *surrending*
(in times of war) rather than being submissive (i.e., in situations other
than warfare).

Doesn't the current usage simply refer to an unwillingness to toe the
US line?

Nigel

--
ScriptMaster language resources (Chinese/Modern & Classical
Greek/IPA/Persian/Russian/Turkish):
http://www.elgin.free-online.co.uk

[Albert ARIBAUD]

Post by Nigel Greenwood

Post by Albert ARIBAUD
Dunno... Looks like we French are specifically accused of *surrending*
(in times of war) rather than being submissive (i.e., in situations other
than warfare).

Doesn't the current usage simply refer to an unwillingness to toe the
US line?

Well, the current usage is due to this unwillingness, but it does not
stem from it: "surrendering" in this context would have no meaning (whom
are we suppoed to have surrendered to ?). It rather goes back to WWII, I
believe, when France did surrender to Germany.

Amicalement,

[Anthony Bryant]

Thanks to everyone who put in their deux centimes on the
translation.

I've found the "official one" here
http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000335.php

"Primates capitulards et toujours en quête de fromages"

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. It's an interesting look at the
travails of translation.

Tony