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from John Bayley's "Iris: a memoir of Iris Murdoch":
[Iris] herself was devoted at that time to the adventures of Tintin, the perky young Belgian 'boy reporter' invented by Herge … I have learnt a lot of French from the Tintin books, mostly idioms now outdated, which we used to repeat to each other on suitable occasions. There was a moment when the villains had hired a diver to go down and attach a limpet mine to the good characters' ship. Just as he is fixing it the anchor happens to be released from up above, banging him on the head and knocking him and his mine down into the depths. 'Fichu metier!' he remarks philosophically into his diving helmet. A comment whose pithiness is as intranslatable as poetry.
Rough translation, anybody?
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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fichu: damn!
métier: job; occupation
Sounds as if the diver is muttering about what a lousy job he has.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Rough job = Tu fais un fichu métier. ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Bill,
Thanks for the rough job application. So, if you have to do something disagreeable--say you're sittin' up there on the horns of a dilemma and don't know which way to go--this "rough job" application would work, right?
Best regards,
WordWrestling
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Dear WW: I just entered "fichu métier" into Yahoo search box and up came dozens of sentences using it. I couldn't get exact translation, but could get a sort of common denominator.
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And why is it, when I look at the word fichu I see an old-fashioned woman with a large white collar? Is there a word that looks like fichu that is an article of clothing?
Best regards,
WordWrecked
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fich[u 7fi*41; Fr fc *=$8
n.
5Fr < pp. of ficher, to thrust in, attach < VL *figicare, for L figere, FIX6 a three-cornered lace or muslin cape for women, worn with the ends fastened or crossed in front
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Dear Bill,
Well, it's good to know there's still some things floating around in my brain that have their relation to reality. Thanks for your research. Now: what's the connection between the article of clothing and the expletive, I wonder?
Best regards,
DubDub
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Dear belMarduk: we need you badly.
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Can't sub for Bel, but can tell you of a colloquial French expression: Je m'en fiche. Meaning, more politely, "the hell with it"; less politely, "f..k it."
Then you get creative with this expression. One character in a book I read got so frustrated over a situation he shouted, "Je m'en fiche. Je m'en refiche, et je m'en contrefiche." (The same expression with intensifiers.)
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