Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
Allez savoir pourquoi
English translation:
For some reason; Surprisingly enough
Added to glossary by
Carol Gullidge
Mar 10, 2008 11:08
16 yrs ago
French term
United Kingdom
poetically precise prose with... panache
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English
Allez savoir pourquoi
Non-PRO
French to English
Other
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
linguistics (explanation of phrase in cookery book)
C’est l’un des plats que je fais le plus souvent. *****___Allez savoir pourquoi___*****, mais ces crostini, qui sont au fond un mélange Nord-Sud (gorgonzola-figues), plaisent toujours. C’est peut-être grâce au caractère du gorgonzola, gentiment mitigé par la douceur du mascarpone… Essayez-le aussi avec des minitartelettes de pâte brisée à la place du pain.
_______
Can't think what this means, exactly! My current interim solution is "Heaven knows why", but this doesn't really fit, imo.
There are masses of g-hits for this phrase - mainly due to it being a song title. Perhaps the author is alluding to the song title, but I assume it must have a set meaning in its own right...
Any suggestions would be most welcome - many thanks!
_______
Can't think what this means, exactly! My current interim solution is "Heaven knows why", but this doesn't really fit, imo.
There are masses of g-hits for this phrase - mainly due to it being a song title. Perhaps the author is alluding to the song title, but I assume it must have a set meaning in its own right...
Any suggestions would be most welcome - many thanks!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +5 | For some reason |
CMJ_Trans (X)
|
| 4 +1 | God knows why |
emiledgar
|
| 5 | who knows why! |
Nadia Ayoub
|
| 4 +1 | goodness knows why, but |
Tony M
|
| 4 | inexplicably/I can't think why |
Valerie Scaletta
|
| 4 | I don't know why |
jokie
|
| 3 | Surprisingly |
Lori Cirefice
|
| 3 | Go figure |
rkillings
|
Change log
Mar 10, 2008 12:35: Tony M changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Proposed translations
+5
2 mins
Selected
For some reason
still a bit bizarre but this is the idea
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Note added at 4 mins (2008-03-10 11:13:22 GMT)
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Perhaps surprisingly, given their nature....
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Note added at 4 mins (2008-03-10 11:13:22 GMT)
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Perhaps surprisingly, given their nature....
Note from asker:
| BRILLIANT! (I was so close, yet so far away!) Thanks for the super-quick suggestions! |
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
swanda
4 mins
|
| agree |
Rob Grayson
10 mins
|
| agree |
Martin Cassell
: Or perhaps, sticking to the well-trodden paths of cliché, "For some unknown reason, these ... "
25 mins
|
| agree |
Tony M
1 hr
|
| agree |
Steve Melling
: Agree with Martin about adding the word "unkown" into the phrase.
5 hrs
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "thanks so much for getting me out of my mental rut! Your suggestions helped me to come up with the simple "Surprisingly enough", which fits the light-hearted colloquial register of the book"
+1
8 mins
God knows why
Another possibility.
Note from asker:
| thanks, Emil! This is fairly similar to my original idea, but I agree with Tony's comment |
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Tony M
: I think invoking the Almighty would be out of keeping with the register here / In SPOKEN language, yes of course — so would I! But in EN, this would be inappropriate in lots of WRITTEN contexts
13 mins
|
|
Don't be silly, I would say this anytime, especially about cooking.
|
|
| agree |
askell
19 mins
|
|
Thank you.
|
|
| neutral |
writeaway
: agree with Tony. this isn't the right register and is out of place in the context
5 hrs
|
|
See my response to Tony.
|
8 mins
Surprisingly
The mix of ingredients here wouldn't seem to be big hit, but suprisingly, people actually like it.
Note from asker:
| thanks, lori! Very similar to my eventual choice, but I hit upon this as soon as CMJ posted his/her answer, so thought it only fair to award the points there! |
9 mins
Valerie Scaletta
Italy
Italy
Native in English
Italy
language is my key
Native in: English (Variant: UK) 
, Italian (Variant: Standard-Italy)
Works in: Italian to English, French to English, English to Italian, and 3 more.
inexplicably/I can't think why
inexplicably/I can't think why
Note from asker:
| thanks, Valerie - any of these would also have done! |
9 mins
I don't know why
Other form option of Heaven....
The meaning is the same: doing something without know why, but pleasant.
Italian crostini with gorgonzola cheese.........wonderful!!!!
The meaning is the same: doing something without know why, but pleasant.
Italian crostini with gorgonzola cheese.........wonderful!!!!
Note from asker:
| many thanks, jokie! I must admit, the recipes are quite mouthwatering! |
16 mins
Nadia Ayoub
Egypt
Egypt
Egypt
Never lost for words!
Native in: Arabic
Works in: English to Arabic, Arabic to English, Italian to Arabic, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
4
who knows why!
also possible.
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Note added at 22 mins (2008-03-10 11:31:04 GMT)
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or you could say: for some obscure reason
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Note added at 22 mins (2008-03-10 11:31:04 GMT)
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or you could say: for some obscure reason
Note from asker:
| thanks nadia! As I said, all of these answers are great. I'm spoilt for choice, which is why it seems fairest to choose the first one. |
5 hrs
Go figure
Never before occurred to me that we could have got this expression from French.:-)
+1
1 hr
goodness knows why, but
Another one for the melting pot — slightly softer than the 'God' variant, and possibly more appropriate for an informal cookery sort of register.
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Note added at 4 hrs (2008-03-10 15:18:32 GMT) Post-grading
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OK, Carol I only added it post-closure, as I saw that no-one had yet suggested this.
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Note added at 31 days (2008-04-10 15:59:18 GMT) Post-grading
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Carol, it's the sort of thing that a "normally bilingual person" might be reasonably expected to know, and doesn't require any speciliast technical knowledge in a particular field, nor in-depth linguistic knowledge. In my book, that makes it "non-pro".
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Note added at 4 hrs (2008-03-10 15:18:32 GMT) Post-grading
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OK, Carol I only added it post-closure, as I saw that no-one had yet suggested this.
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Note added at 31 days (2008-04-10 15:59:18 GMT) Post-grading
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Carol, it's the sort of thing that a "normally bilingual person" might be reasonably expected to know, and doesn't require any speciliast technical knowledge in a particular field, nor in-depth linguistic knowledge. In my book, that makes it "non-pro".
Note from asker:
| many thanks, Tony! Sorry, I didn't see this one before! |
| PS, you're right about the register |
| Hi tony, I just noticed that you voted this Non-Pro, and wonder why. It wasn't at all obvious to me, especially as it's one of those idiomatic phrases that doesn't feature in my trusty Collins Robert... |
Discussion