Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
copains et coquins
English translation:
crooks and cronies
Added to glossary by
Charles Davis
Dec 2, 2016 07:28
7 yrs ago
French term
copains et coquins
French to English
Social Sciences
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
Writing to a friend in the UK
As in: "La république des copains et des coquins", ces mots prononcés par Michel Poniatowski, éminence grise de Valéry Giscard d' Estaing, visait l'UDF lors du scandale de la Garantie foncière qui éclata en 1971 .
How would you translate 'copains et coquins' into UK English? I've seen what R+C has to say but I'd like to hear from UK natives, please.
Note there is no need to give it a political, or even historical, slant - it's a general letter.
(An answer before Sunday night - if I may - would be helpful: I'd like my letter to get to Surrey before Christmas and you know what Christmas mail is like...).
Thank you!
(PS - I've no idea whether this is PRO or Non-PRO, so feel free to change)
How would you translate 'copains et coquins' into UK English? I've seen what R+C has to say but I'd like to hear from UK natives, please.
Note there is no need to give it a political, or even historical, slant - it's a general letter.
(An answer before Sunday night - if I may - would be helpful: I'd like my letter to get to Surrey before Christmas and you know what Christmas mail is like...).
Thank you!
(PS - I've no idea whether this is PRO or Non-PRO, so feel free to change)
Proposed translations
(English)
| 3 +11 | cronies and crooks |
Charles Davis
|
| 3 +2 | sycophants and scroungers |
polyglot45
|
Change log
Dec 2, 2016 10:49: writeaway changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Social Sciences"
Dec 3, 2016 09:00: Charles Davis Created KOG entry
Dec 6, 2016 15:12: Charles Davis changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1321043">Charles Davis's</a> old entry - "copains et coquins"" to ""crooks and cronies""
Proposed translations
+11
21 mins
Selected
cronies and crooks
Just to start the ball rolling. I feel that a gesture must be made towards emulating the effect of the rime riche, which has a real ring to it. The best I can do on that at the moment is an "allitération riche". The vital question is how pejorative to be; my suggestion is really quite negative and you may want to be less so, depending on how you're using it.
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Note added at 31 mins (2016-12-02 07:59:34 GMT)
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As I say it to myself, I feel the rhythm is much better if you reverse the terms: "crooks and cronies". So if we can take the liberty, that would be my revised suggestion.
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Note added at 31 mins (2016-12-02 07:59:34 GMT)
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As I say it to myself, I feel the rhythm is much better if you reverse the terms: "crooks and cronies". So if we can take the liberty, that would be my revised suggestion.
Note from asker:
| Excellent! Thank you, Charles |
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Merci Charles, polyglot45 et toutes et tous."
+2
5 hrs
polyglot45
Native in French
&
English
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: English to French, French to English, German to French, and 4 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
227
sycophants and scroungers
Maybe another possibility in addition to the good idea above ?
Note from asker:
| Merci, polyglot45. |
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