May 7, 2009 16:51
15 yrs ago
French term
Cent incongrus au bataillon
French to English
Other
Other
Title of a collection of 100 one-line portraits
Used as captions to crazy portraits. Absolutely no notion of anything military. The client prefers "sound solutions" such as "fous dans la foule" he says. He likes the words fous, lunatiques, spéciaux but not idiots.
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+2
10 mins
Colin Rowe
Germany
Germany
Native in English
Germany
Par Excellence Translations
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: German to English, French to English, Italian to English, and 3 more.
Related KudoZ points
:
9
Selected
rogues gallery
Might do the trick in this context. It's what my grandfather used to call his collection of framed photos of his grandchildren... :-)
According to Wikipedia, the original meaning of the term is as follows:
A rogues gallery (or rogues' gallery) is a police collection of pictures or photographs of criminals and suspects kept for identification ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogues_gallery
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Note added at 14 hrs (2009-05-08 07:29:28 GMT)
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Given the added stipulation of 100, how about something like:
"100 mugshots/mugs in the rogues gallery"
According to Wikipedia, the original meaning of the term is as follows:
A rogues gallery (or rogues' gallery) is a police collection of pictures or photographs of criminals and suspects kept for identification ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogues_gallery
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Note added at 14 hrs (2009-05-08 07:29:28 GMT)
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Given the added stipulation of 100, how about something like:
"100 mugshots/mugs in the rogues gallery"
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Helen Shiner
: Nice memories of my Grandpa, too, who said the same thing....
16 mins
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Thanks, Helen!
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| agree |
jaynedmoore
: Rogues' gallery is the most evocative and natural sounding one
17 hrs
|
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Many thanks!
|
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thank ou and thanks to all!"
11 mins
Frederic Lievre
Ireland
Ireland
Native in French
&
English
Ireland
Ireland To You
Native in: English , French
Works in: English to French, French to English
Nest Of Cuckooes
Why not... Liked the movie:-)
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Note added at 23 mins (2009-05-07 17:14:12 GMT)
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Okay... Okay...
A hundred cuckooes for one nest
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Note added at 23 mins (2009-05-07 17:14:12 GMT)
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Okay... Okay...
A hundred cuckooes for one nest
6 mins
Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Native in English
United Kingdom
Arts/Academic translator - Art historian
Native in: English
Works in: German to English, French to English
Related KudoZ points
:
28
[a] mélee of the mad
This sprang to mind. I first thought of 'a mélee of mad men', then realised there may well be mad women amongst them.
Please don't wince at the spelling FR colleagues - that is what we EN-speakers have done with your mêlée (apologies).
Mélee is quite good because it is a disorganised bunch of fighters involved in close combat, so 'in your face', if you like, like a comic might be.
Actually, I think you could spell mêlée properly and it would still be perfectly well understood in the EN-speaking world. The Americans spell it melee with no accents.
Other suggestions:
A nest of nutters
A gaggle of grotesques
A clutch of crazies
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Note added at 26 mins (2009-05-07 17:17:21 GMT)
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Or it could be - a nest of 100 nutters, a gaggle of 100 grotesques, a clutch of 100 crazies
Otherwise it starts to interfere with the alliteration.
I must say I think it would be best to leave it out, but if your client prefers it there.....
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Note added at 40 mins (2009-05-07 17:31:40 GMT)
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A babble of 100 buffoons
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Note added at 49 mins (2009-05-07 17:40:53 GMT)
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or you could go with 'as mad as 100 ...?' There is a really nice expression being used at the moment which is 'as mad as a box of frogs' - the green things, definitely not the Frenchmen, before anyone complains. Perhaps someone can be creative with that.
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Note added at 51 mins (2009-05-07 17:42:50 GMT)
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Here's some other ones for inspiration:
http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?p=68
Please don't wince at the spelling FR colleagues - that is what we EN-speakers have done with your mêlée (apologies).
Mélee is quite good because it is a disorganised bunch of fighters involved in close combat, so 'in your face', if you like, like a comic might be.
Actually, I think you could spell mêlée properly and it would still be perfectly well understood in the EN-speaking world. The Americans spell it melee with no accents.
Other suggestions:
A nest of nutters
A gaggle of grotesques
A clutch of crazies
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 26 mins (2009-05-07 17:17:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Or it could be - a nest of 100 nutters, a gaggle of 100 grotesques, a clutch of 100 crazies
Otherwise it starts to interfere with the alliteration.
I must say I think it would be best to leave it out, but if your client prefers it there.....
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 40 mins (2009-05-07 17:31:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
A babble of 100 buffoons
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 49 mins (2009-05-07 17:40:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
or you could go with 'as mad as 100 ...?' There is a really nice expression being used at the moment which is 'as mad as a box of frogs' - the green things, definitely not the Frenchmen, before anyone complains. Perhaps someone can be creative with that.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 51 mins (2009-05-07 17:42:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Here's some other ones for inspiration:
http://www.omniglot.com/blog/?p=68
5 hrs
Muriel FINETIN
France
France
Native in French
Works in field
France
Literature/Arts, Humanities, Food/Health
Native in: French (Variants: Canadian, Standard-France)
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French, Russian to French, and 18 more.
100 unknowing crackpots
Crackpot: a whimsically eccentric person
Unknowing, instead of unknown
Playing on sounds and on ideas!
Don't know if it's good, but I'm having fun! ;-)
Unknowing, instead of unknown
Playing on sounds and on ideas!
Don't know if it's good, but I'm having fun! ;-)
15 hrs
100 weirdos from the crowd / 100 oddities from the crowd
'Weirdos' or 'oddities' would cover the 'incongrus' & 'crowd' would cover 'au bataillon'. In figurative speech, bataillon can mean crowd or herd.
1 hr
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
:
31
a 100 funny mugs
one hundred mugshots/ugly mugs
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Note added at 22 hrs (2009-05-08 15:15:21 GMT)
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100 funny faces
100 fancy faces
100 peculiar portraits
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Note added at 22 hrs (2009-05-08 15:15:21 GMT)
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100 funny faces
100 fancy faces
100 peculiar portraits
3 days 15 hrs
A hundred odd ones out
"A hundred odd" (because there were actually 101 dalmatians)
and "odd ones out"...
and "odd ones out"...
Discussion