A native speaker of French who has a good command of English should
know the answer to this one straight off the top of the head, so I
don't think any research will be required. That's why I'm pricing it
low.
Is there in French an expression equivalent to "everything but the
kitchen sink," and if so, what is it? I am asking specifically if
there's a "kitchen sink" in the expression and not if there is some
other expression that has about the same meaning. A "yes" answer will
mean that there is a literal equivalent that also has the same
idiomatic meaning.
And would this be in French-French, Canadian French, or both?
Merci beaucoup,
Apteryx |
Request for Question Clarification by
richard-ga
on
01 Jun 2003 17:07 PDT
I offer this as a request for clarification rather than an answer,
because I cannot assert that it's a phrase known among native french
speakers.
But according to
Profile of a Sculptor
http://www.svguide.com/w02/w02renfro.htm
"'Tout Sauf l’Évier' ... in English loosely means “everything but the
kitchen sink.”
And per Google Language Tools, "Évier" = "Sink"
://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en
If a native french speaker will confirm having heard the phrase, I'll
submit this as an answer.
Cheers,
Richard-ga
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Request for Question Clarification by
justaskscott-ga
on
01 Jun 2003 18:09 PDT
Apparently, the French equivalent -- which shows up much more
frequently in search engine results -- is "faire tout sauf le café"
(which I believe means "makes everything but the coffee"). The
English and French versions of this article indicate as such:
"Mozilla : le navigateur qui a tout même l'évier" (19 février 2003)
MozillaZine
http://mozillazine-fr.org/archive.phtml?article=2919
"Mozilla: The Browser with Everything and the Kitchen Sink" (February
19th, 2003)
MozillaZine
http://mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=2919
Since I doubt I would have found this information without richard-ga's
initial posting, I suggest that richard-ga should be awarded the
answer.
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Clarification of Question by
apteryx-ga
on
01 Jun 2003 20:53 PDT
Thanks, Richard and justaskscott both--I don't think I've quite got my
answer yet, though. I am not trying to find a French idiom whose
sense amounts to what we mean when we say "everything but the kitchen
sink." I want to know if there's a French expression that's literally
about the kitchen sink (whatever the French is for that) and means
what our expression means. Coffee is neither here nor there. From
your responses, it sounds as if the answer might be no, but I'd like
to hear from a native speaker of French on this one. Research might
prove a yes by giving us a hit, but absence of a hit does not prove a
no.
If a word-by-word literal translation of 'Tout Sauf l’Évier' gets us
there, excellent, but I'd need the full literal translation and not
just one word to be sure of that, and I'd still need to know if the
French actually say that.
Apteryx
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jumpingjoe-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 08:33 PDT
There's a problem with your question here. You're asking for an
expression that means "everything but the kitchen sink". Well, tout
sauf l'evier means, word for word, 'all but the sink'. However, you're
also asking for something a French person might actually say -
richard's research has turned up that it's really not something the
French would say. Rather, as justaskscott-ga has discovered, the
French are more likely to use "faire tout sauf le café". So must the
phrase contain the word sink? Because, rather inevitably, the
equivalent French idiom doesn't.
You're asking the unanswerable!
I suggest you invite richard-ga to submit his research as an answer.
|
Request for Question Clarification by
jumpingjoe-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 09:51 PDT
I've spoken to a French friend, who says she's never heard of 'tout
sauf l'evier'. Nor can she think (off the top of her head at any rate)
of any French equivalent.
|
Clarification of Question by
apteryx-ga
on
02 Jun 2003 23:53 PDT
Thanks for your comments, jumpingjoe. I'm trying hard to make my
question clear. It is not impossible to answer at all. Does this
help?--it's a yes-and-no question.
"Yes" means the French actually use in common parlance an expression
that's a literal equivalent of "everything but the kitchen sink." I
didn't ask for a translation of the English phrase. I asked, "Do
they?" or, more precisely, I asked, "Is there?" (and if so, what is
it, and whose brand of French?).
"No" means the French don't say anything like that.
I have no doubt that the phrase can be translated into French, but
what I am after is--would that literal translation produce a familiar
French idiom or not? Is there a match?
In anything I write, I am as much of a stickler as possible for
authenticity, or at least good, sound plausibility, with respect to
things that can be verified. I was thinking of developing a little
humorous vignette that builds upon the expression "everything but the
kitchen sink," but the catch was that in my (fictitious) context it
had to have been written originally in French. If the French do not
say this, so I could not represent it as an expression literally
translated from French to English, my little story idea won't work.
That was the reason for my question.
From your information, it seems that "no" is the correct answer. So I
think you can claim the modest reward for this one if you'd like to
take it.
Apteryx
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