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réeuté
clavardage numérique
May 28, 2012 16:13
12 yrs ago
French term

anonyme

Non-PRO French to English Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Would a good translation of "anonyme" be "generic" in this context? I think the person is trying to explain why it is safe for a hotel guest to leave their room key (which is a card) at the reception desk: because the card is generic - has no personal information on it - and no one can show up at the desk and say any old room number to get someone's room key, because the hotel (somehow) knows who everybody is (chaque personne résidant chez nous est parfaitement identifiée).

Nous souhaitons que les clés des chambres soient déposées à la réception ,pour des questions de sécurité.Les cartes sont parfaitement *** anonymes *** ,et personne ne peut rentrer dans l'hôtel en donnant un numéro de chambre au hasard,puisque chaque personne résidant chez nous est parfaitement identifiée
Proposed translations (English)
1 +3 anonymous
3 +1 unlabelled
Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (2): Tristan Jimenez, Yolanda Broad

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Discussion

Letredenoblesse May 28, 2012:
Work experience My work experience tells me that the card looks all the same to but they have room number electronically punched in, computer coordinated. I´d stick to "anonymous".
polyglot45 May 28, 2012:
well I would probably say that they all look the same...
katsy May 28, 2012:
with Tristan I was thinking along the same lines - unidentifiable. Though the claim of the hotel seems rather strange (and magical)!! When I've had key cards like that at hotels, I certainly didn't have to hand it in... because they all look the same and have no room identifcation number on them!
Tristan Jimenez May 28, 2012:
'de-identified key cards' or 'unidentifiable'? I am not sure you can say a key is 'de-identified' or 'unidentifiable', but that's kind of the sense of it.. Though the key were never identified, so it could be wrong to call them 'de-identified', I don't know..

I don't think 'generic' would be the sense here cause a generic card would work everywhere in that hotel...
Tony M May 28, 2012:
I think it means... ...in fact that the keys are not identified in any way — i.e. it is they themselves that are 'anonymous'. In other words, there is no room number on them, and hence, if someone finds your key, they'd have to try all the rooms to see which one it fits.

It could even go further, such that the key is 'unassigned' until such time as the guest reclaims it from reception, at which point it is 'validated' with their identity, and hence, their room number.

I'm not personally familiar with such systems, but I can certainly see that they could exist.

Proposed translations

+3
32 mins
Selected

anonymous

I just found an exemple of someone using that term (hotel related):

"I also appreciated the anonymous key card, rather than a key with the room number stamped on. "
http://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q="anonymous key card"&s...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 52 mins (2012-05-28 17:06:31 GMT)
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or "unidentifiable key cards" as I suggested in the discussion entries.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 54 mins (2012-05-28 17:08:18 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

An example with "unidentifiable keys":

"All that remains of the clandestine love affair is a set of nearly unidentifiable keys which neither Vivien nor Edward knows what they belong to."
http://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q="unidentifiable keys"&...
Peer comment(s):
agree katsy : why not? I have tried lots of combinations and found nothing. But I'm not sure I'd trust the hotel!!
30 mins
you're right :) Thanks Katsy!
agree Nikki Scott-Despaigne
49 mins
thank you Nikki !
neutral writeaway : an anonymous card sounds odd somehow /closer. at least a card can be unidentifiable.
1 hr
what about 'unidentifiable'?
agree Letredenoblesse
2 hrs
merci Agnes !
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
+1
1 hr

unlabelled

* maybe no double l for some countries?
Example sentence:

Somewhere along the way I lost my hotel key. The hotel is so organized!!! They had a bucket with about 50 unlabelled keys in them.

Peer comment(s):
neutral Nikki Scott-Despaigne : Just because it is conceivable that a card be anonymous yet still have a label on it....
8 mins
neutral writeaway : unmarked may work
49 mins
agree Yolanda Broad : Sure. Phrase it as "the cards are unlabeled" (note my US spelling, courtesy of my spellchecker)
22 hrs
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