Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
herbier
English translation:
A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb
Added to glossary by
Mari O'Keefe
Jun 13, 2007 10:52
16 yrs ago
2 viewers *
French term
United Kingdom
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herbier
French to English
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Games / Video Games / Gaming / Casino
childrens' video game
I'm wondering if there's some sort of play on words here that I don't understand. This appears as a random phrase uttered by one of the boy characters in the Titeuf comic. It's a comic aimed at primary school kids so it's very much the boys against the girls kind of vibe!
Au fait c'est quoi un herbier ? Un arbre à herbe ?! Les filles ne parlent que de ça en ce moment.
Any ideas are very welcome. Thanks!
Au fait c'est quoi un herbier ? Un arbre à herbe ?! Les filles ne parlent que de ça en ce moment.
Any ideas are very welcome. Thanks!
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 | A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb |
Andrew Levine
|
| 4 +3 | herbarium |
Odette Grille (X)
|
Proposed translations
8 hrs
Andrew Levine
United States
United States
Native in English
United States
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Works in: French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb
"So what's an herbarium? A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb?"
Not a literal translation for obv. reasons, but playing off the confusion over the common stem (here -ium like helium, sodium etc., in French -ier for pommier, bananier etc.) combined with the root. I think mine is kind of funny.
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Note added at 8 hrs (2007-06-13 19:01:53 GMT)
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Unfortunately there are no trees in English whose common name ends with "ium" so the confusion has to shift to chemical elements for the pun to make any sense. The focus of the dialogue is still on explaining just what a "herbarium" is, so the digression is not too important in its details.
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Note added at 9 hrs (2007-06-13 19:56:05 GMT)
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Just to be 100% clear, the basis behind the joke is explained well above by Odette; all I am doing is proposing a translation that works in the context of the material.
Not a literal translation for obv. reasons, but playing off the confusion over the common stem (here -ium like helium, sodium etc., in French -ier for pommier, bananier etc.) combined with the root. I think mine is kind of funny.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2007-06-13 19:01:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately there are no trees in English whose common name ends with "ium" so the confusion has to shift to chemical elements for the pun to make any sense. The focus of the dialogue is still on explaining just what a "herbarium" is, so the digression is not too important in its details.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2007-06-13 19:56:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Just to be 100% clear, the basis behind the joke is explained well above by Odette; all I am doing is proposing a translation that works in the context of the material.
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "This worked really well. Captured the tone perfectly. Thanks, Andrew!"
+3
31 mins
herbarium
Is a Herbarium a tree that grows herbs.?..Because in French, many trees' names are coined with the stem (fruit) + the ending «ier», but in English you have ium, so ...Children are known to make up words on models.
I could not see any double meaning, unless there is a context we are missing
If there is a list of trees preceding the joke, they should end in ium....
I could not see any double meaning, unless there is a context we are missing
If there is a list of trees preceding the joke, they should end in ium....
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Eric BILLY
: nothing to add, so perfectly explain :)
4 mins
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Thank you so very much
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| agree |
Anne Diamantidis
17 mins
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Merci Anne
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| agree |
Vicky Papaprodromou
4 hrs
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Discussion