We are drinking our own Kool Aid

French translation: nous croyons à nos propres illusions

00:44 Apr 17, 2019
English to French translations [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Management / IT
English term or phrase: We are drinking our own Kool Aid
This strange expression is part of a speech by a company CEO about their latest software. The context : the software features are used internally by various teams, which proves how good they are.
I had absolutely no idea what that could mean, even with the context of the previous and following sentences, until I found the explanation below :

# Drinking your own Kool Aid

Believing in your product/company/media hype/service so much that you lose all objectivity. Really, you are the guy who is mixing the Kool aid, and drinking it too. Its ok to be the Kool Aid mixer, just dont drink too much of it. When the product utterly fails and you cant believe why the market didnt lap it up, all of you can gather around a beer and say, “oh well we were drinking our own Kool Aid”.
[http://ashwinnaik.com/blog/2012/07/04/are-you-drinking-your-...]

Now, I struggle to find an equivalent expression in French. KudoZ has an entry for Portuguese.
Philippe Noth
Switzerland
Local time: 10:47
French translation:nous croyons à nos propres illusions
Explanation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
Selected response from:

Francois Boye
United States
Local time: 05:47
Grading comment
Thanks François, an excellent suggestion since it contains a slight touch of sarcasm.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4nous croyons à nos propres illusions
Francois Boye
3 +1y croire dur comme fer
Stéphanie Bellumat
4 -1On est vraiment contents de nous
Anaïs G.
3Au moins on y a cru
Elisabeth Richard
3 -1nous buvons du petit-lait
Sophie THEREAU
2Comme on fait son lit, on se couche
Elena Radkova


Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
we are drinking our own kool aid
On est vraiment contents de nous


Explanation:
Puisqu'il s'agit d'un discours, quelque chose d'informel de ce type pourrait-il convenir ?

Anaïs G.
France
Local time: 10:47
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: "When the product utterly fails ... all of you can gather around a beer and say ..." : On est vraiment contents de nous // that would be a quite unusual reaction // ST doesn't sound like a sarcastic comment to me, more like regretful.
5 hrs

neutral  Ph_B (X): Je serais moins catégorique que Daryo. C'est p.-ê. dit par autodérision, comme un avertissement, etc. Difficile sans connaître la teneur du discours.
11 hrs
  -> Oui, vu le contexte présenté par Philippe, il me semble qu'il y a une idée d'autosatisafaction tempérée par un peu d'autodérision. Il faudrait bien sûr connaître le reste du discours...
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
we are drinking our own kool aid
nous buvons du petit-lait


Explanation:
La traduction proposée tente de conserver l'analogie de l'absorption d'un liquide.

Cependant, cette expression peut être également ironique (et c'est là une interprétation personnelle), car le Kool Aid additionné de cyanure a été utilisé lors du suicide collectif de la secte du Temple du Peuple en 1978.

Donc cela pourrait vouloir dire, si cette expression est utilisée pour le constat d'un échec, que les personnes l'utilisant se considèrent comme responsables.

Il doit s'agir là de personnes états-uniennes, quoiqu'il en soit.

Sophie THEREAU
France
Local time: 10:47
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Francois Boye: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
6 hrs
  -> Très bien François, que proposez-vous ?
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1 day 6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
we are drinking our own kool aid
Comme on fait son lit, on se couche


Explanation:
une idée

Elena Radkova
Local time: 11:47
Native speaker of: Native in BulgarianBulgarian, Native in FrenchFrench
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1 day 7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
we are drinking our own kool aid
Au moins on y a cru


Explanation:
It's not easy to find a way to keep the irony in that expression. Just an idea to keep the ball rolling.

Elisabeth Richard
France
Local time: 10:47
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Elisabeth, I chose Francois' answer. Yours was also excellent

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1 day 15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
we are drinking our own kool aid
nous croyons à nos propres illusions


Explanation:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid

Francois Boye
United States
Local time: 05:47
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 60
Grading comment
Thanks François, an excellent suggestion since it contains a slight touch of sarcasm.
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1 day 19 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
we are drinking our own kool aid
y croire dur comme fer


Explanation:
Une proposition... pour alimenter la réflexion...

We're using this internally.
Our own legal team is using [product feature] to talk
and they're using [another product feature] to work on legal agreements.
We're drinking our own Kool Aid.

Nous l'utilisons à l'interne. Notre service juridique l'utilise.......
Notre produit, on y croit dur comme fer !

http://www.languefrancaise.net/Bob/34804

Stéphanie Bellumat
Local time: 10:47
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Stéphanie, I chose Francois' answer. Yours was also excellent


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Elisabeth Richard: Oh I like that one
4 days
  -> Thank you!
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