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Joined: Feb 2004
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Quote:

>You lie like a dentist at a fair.

This expression is used by one of the characters in the English translation of "The Age of Reason" (1945) by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Eric Sutton (1962).

It gets zero Google-hits.

Maybe it's a literal translation of a French idiom. Any ideas as to why French dentists at fairs might embody the quiddity of dishonesty?





Something that is interesting to me is that the book, when looked up in French the book is listed as:
Quote:

Les Chemins de la Liberte I: L'Age de Raison


which when translated into the English language becomes:
Quote:

WAYS OF FREEDOM/1. The AGE OF REASON




In light of this mistake on something as simple as the title of the book, it stands to prove, to me at least, that the book contents are misquoted as well. Thus in my mind, the only way to truly know what the actual saying or proverb truly is and the implied meaning there of, is to get the original work, read it or have some one who can read French peruse it and explain the exact word usage, then go from there. (I know, bad run on sentence, but I do not care today.)

Just a thought.


Rev. Alimae
#164811 01/08/07 07:58 PM
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The literalness of a translaton is no measure of its accuracy. Huge numbers of book (and movie) titles have been translated into something completely different and thus, generally more apt. Anyone like to post some good examples?

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The third book of Sartre's The Roads to Freedom trilogy is "La mort dans l'âme" which my one semester of French tells me is something like "The death in the heart". English language editions are usually titled "Troubled Sleep" or sometimes "Iron in the Soul".

#164813 01/09/07 02:55 AM
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I was going to tell us all about Cinderella's glass slipper originally being a fur slipper in French.

glass = verre
fur = vair

Only it appears that the mistranslation info is no longer accepted. Or the problem goes back to when the story was transmitted orally. Or ...

#164814 01/11/07 04:07 PM
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I always thought it was a GRASS slipper!
(or is that a Grass Skirt?)

#164815 01/11/07 06:12 PM
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As the prince grabs and pulls fists full, shouting, "She loves me, she loves me not."


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#164816 01/13/07 09:45 AM
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The literalness of a translation is no measure of its accuracy - You have my emphatic agreement here. The "tooth drawer" example is a graphic illustration of this fact. I would have opted for "fairground dentist".

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Hydra, can you tell me what chapter and where about in the chapter the "lie like a dentist at a fair" phrase was? I have a French reading co-worker who might have access to the French original this weekend and we might find out what it was translated from.

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Quote:

>You lie like a dentist at a fair.

This expression is used by one of the characters in the English translation of "The Age of Reason" (1945) by Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Eric Sutton (1962).

It gets zero Google-hits.

Maybe it's a literal translation of a French idiom. Any ideas as to why French dentists at fairs might embody the quiddity of dishonesty?




Hydra,I consulted a French online Dictionnaire on this, asking:
mentir comme un dentiste a la foire on which they gave:
To lie like a dentist with (!) the fair
(but anyway the dictionnaire accepted the question as a standing expression.)

Obviously is it poorly translated , but quite directly from the idiom and it sure has to do with the charlatans and demi- charlatans in the old days performing operations and teeth pulling at fairs as seen in 16 th and 17 th century paintings- Breughel and Jan Steen a.s.
The dishonesty was international. As was, is and will be.

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Quote:

Hydra, can you tell me what chapter and where about in the chapter the "lie like a dentist at a fair" phrase was?




In the Penguin edition translated by Eric Sutton (1962) it's found in Chapter 9, at the bottom of page 134. Chapter 9 has 12 pages. Page 134 is the 10th page.

Does that help?

Oh, and for context, it's said by Daniel (who is prowling a "Fair" on the Boulevard de Sebastopol where male prostitutes hang out) to Bobby, a male prostitute. Daniel says it when Bobby tells him a sob-story and begs for money.

Quote:

Hydra,I consulted a French online Dictionnaire on this, asking:
mentir comme un dentiste a la foire on which they gave:
To lie like a dentist with (!) the fair
(but anyway the dictionnaire accepted the question as a standing expression.)

Obviously is it poorly translated , but quite directly from the idiom and it sure has to do with the charlatans and demi- charlatans in the old days performing operations and teeth pulling at fairs as seen in 16 th and 17 th century paintings- Breughel and Jan Steen a.s.
The dishonesty was international. As was, is and will be.




Thanks BranShea. The evidence is stacking up.

Maybe amateur dentists were in the past what used car salesmen are today.

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