Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
J'ai une bagnole et ma meuf a sa caisse
English translation:
I've got me motor and my other half's got her own wheels
French term
J'ai une bagnole et ma meuf a sa caisse
Un homme est interviewé pour un reportage concernant la crise économique.
Voici la phrase "J'ai plein d'crédits su'l dos. J'ai une bagnole et ma meuf a sa caisse. On n'a pas fini de payer les traites. On est dans la merde."
Je ne sais pas comment trouver la nuance en anglais entre bagnole et caisse.
Merci pour votre aide.
J'ai classé ça dans la rubrique "art / littérature". ouais..... :-)
Dec 4, 2009 17:20: Xanthippe changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): writeaway, Emma Paulay, Xanthippe
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Proposed translations
I've got my motor and my other half's got her runabout
agree |
Rob Grayson
: Mostly agree, except I would say that "runabout" implies a certain type of car (small and economical), which "caisse" doesn't. Suggest "my other half's got her own wheels as well"?
4 mins
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Good point about the runabout.
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agree |
Carol Gullidge
: yes, meuf = verlan for femme
17 mins
|
neutral |
Jonathan MacKerron
: great for UK, but most of yanks would be left scratching our heads
18 mins
|
agree |
Charles Hawtrey (X)
: or maybe '...her old banger'? Looks as if "bagnole" means a much better quality of car.
2 hrs
|
I've got a car and my 'bird's' got her own wheels
Bird might do instead of 'old lady' again depending on the profile of the speakers.
Hope these ideas help!
agree |
Sandra Petch
: Maybe with "motor" instead of "car" to keep with the slangy tone?
3 mins
|
agree |
Nathalie Elson
: I like the use of bird for meuf (femme in verlan, not an old lady)
6 mins
|
neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: I'm not at all sure that "bird" is really current English - I think it's a bit passé now
4 hrs
|
agree |
Jessica Agullo (X)
: babe?
5 hrs
|
I've got a motor and my bird's got her own wheels.
neutral |
Sandra Petch
: A combination of the two answers that were already given.
3 mins
|
neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: I'm not at all sure that "bird" is really current English - I think it's a bit passé now
4 hrs
|
neutral |
Jenn Mercer
: I agree with Sheila, "bird" is passé
6 hrs
|
I've got a car and my bird's got her motor
'bagnole' - car, wheels, motor
'meuf' - 'chick', 'bird', 'girlfriend', 'woman'
'caisse' - car, wheels, motor
neutral |
Sheila Wilson
: I'm not at all sure that "bird" and "chick" are really current English - I think they're a bit passé now
4 hrs
|
neutral |
Jessica Agullo (X)
: I thhink bird and chick are 60's slang and sound dated
5 hrs
|
I got wheels and my baby's got a ride
for meuf: girl, babe, baby, squeeze, chick, bitch
"they got a souped up jitney, was a cherry red '53" chuck berry
"my baby's got a ride"
agree |
wordgirl
: love this one - very American, it's true, but it rings so true!
2 hrs
|
thanks ;)
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agree |
molteni
14 hrs
|
thanks
|
|
agree |
Yolanda Broad
: Works for this American
2 days 12 hrs
|
I've got my own ride and my old lady's got her heap.
agree |
sueaberwoman
: Yup
1 hr
|
Thank you!
|
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agree |
Yolanda Broad
: Yup. Works for these US ears
2 days 12 hrs
|
Thank you!
|
I've got my sorry excuse for a car and my old lady's got her jalopy
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Note added at 18 mins (2009-02-18 13:33:29 GMT)
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my sorry-ass piece a crap
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Note added at 43 mins (2009-02-18 13:58:12 GMT)
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I like Emma's suggestion of "the misses", then again there's "the little lady"
agree |
Trudy Peters
: Great for US!
3 mins
|
thx, was happy to remind myself of the word "clunker"
|
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agree |
Jean-Louis S.
: Jalopy might be a little bit old...
49 mins
|
I've got my wheels and my babe has her junker.
I got my piece of junk for a car, and my woman has her own, too.
I think the most of the translations above are bit "overdone".
bagnole = old junker (mauvaise voiture
caisse = bagnole
meuf = "woman"(wife), a bit more sexist and slangish,
I hope this helps.
I've got my own car and the missus has hers
agree |
Irene Chalmers Preire
: The point of the sentence seems to me to emphasize that they both have loans to pay off (for their cars) NOT that their cars are crappy...
14 hrs
|
Thank you. I agree with your comment.
|
|
agree |
David Sirett
: agree completely with C-P's comment!
1 day 20 hrs
|
Thanks.
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Discussion
"Bird" has the drawback that some birds don't like it, altho it is still widely used, especially by geezers who get a kick out of winding birds up.
"My woman" or "my lady" would be a popular choice in the UK (as is "missus"), less liable to cause offence than, say, "bitch".
I have long found it interesting that we (UK anyway) don't really have a universal slang word for car that matches "bagnole". We have words for rubbish cars (natch!). The only people who talk about motors and wheels are people who think they are in an episode of The Sweeney. To make it slangy, I'd leave car but call it "me car".
"I've got me car and me woman's/bird's got hers" would work OK for the UK IMVHO.