Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
baignoire chinée
English translation:
a bath (I) unearthed at a bric-a-brac sale (held) at Fontainbleau
French term
baignoire chinée
"baignoire chinée au château de Fontainebleau"
I'm not sure about chinée : does the tub have an image on it with the castle?
4 | a bath (I) unearthed at a bric-a-brac sale (held) at Fontainbleau | Tony M |
4 +4 | (bargain hunted) tub | patrickfor |
3 +2 | bathtub bargain | B D Finch |
chiner | Nikki Scott-Despaigne |
Jul 8, 2015 12:53: writeaway changed "Field" from "Other" to "Marketing"
Jul 8, 2015 20:58: Nikki Scott-Despaigne changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): Michele Fauble, Tony M, Nikki Scott-Despaigne
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Proposed translations
a bath (I) unearthed at a bric-a-brac sale (held) at Fontainbleau
You don't give us enough context to know whether the 'I' (or any other person) is appropriate / usable here.
You could substitute other types of sale for 'bric-a-brac', such as 'antiques fair' or 'car boot sale' or somesuch — it might be worth doing a little research of your own to see what kind of sales they hold at Fontainbleau.
personalyl, I wouldn't worry to much about keeping 'château' — and ought it perhaps not to be 'palace' anyway? Always a tricky one that! But just 'at Fontainebleau' will sound like a nod to people "in the know", just as we might say "at Longleat / Beaulieu" etc.
(bargain hunted) tub
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Note added at 29 mins (2015-07-08 13:18:40 GMT)
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cf TLFI: Brocanter, chercher des occasions :
En ce moment, Rémonencq, réconcilié avec son ancien bourgeois Monistrol, en affaires avec de gros marchands, allait chiner (...) dans la banlieue de Paris, qui, vous le savez, comporte un rayon de quarante lieues.
BALZAC in "Le Cousin Pons", 1847, p. 109.
neutral |
B D Finch
: Not all tubs are bathtubs!//True! However, I don't think that "bargain-hunted bathtub" works (even with the hyphen). My suggestion of combining "bargain" with "found" is, perhaps, too weak. "Unearthed" might be better, but risks an archeological confusion
1 hr
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pretty sure the issue isn't the "baignoire" it's "chiné" the interesting bit don't you think?
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agree |
writeaway
: yup. chiner, another term found in any Fr-En dictionary. It is best to specify bathtub in the context.
2 hrs
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Merci !
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neutral |
Sheri P
: Agree with the meaning, but not the form. 'Bargain hunted X' doesn't sound like idiomatic English to me.//Re your disc. post: In this case, the participle doesn't work as a modifier, unfortunately. It would have been a neat solution otherwise.
2 hrs
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do you watch BBC1 in NYC? :-)
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agree |
mchd
2 hrs
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Merci !
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agree |
Michele Fauble
4 hrs
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Merci !
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neutral |
Tony M
: '(bath)tub' is very American, it is normally called just a 'bath' in EN-GB.
6 hrs
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thanks Tony, yes it's a bath my mistake!
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agree |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: "hunted down" yes, but forget the "bargain" idea here. And I agree with bathtub (US) and bath (GB).
7 hrs
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Thanks Nikki. The thing is you have to haggle (maybe a better verb than to bargain?) as in this context you rarely have a list price... The french would be "marchander"
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bathtub bargain
Bathtub bargain, found at the château de Fontainebleau
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Note added at 2 hrs (2015-07-08 15:26:01 GMT)
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Re my note on Patrick's answer and his response, I think that "found" is inadequate. Perhaps "bargain bathtub, hunted down at the château de Fontainebleau".
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Note added at 2 hrs (2015-07-08 15:28:43 GMT)
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Hunting was, I believe, one of the French royal pastimes indulged at Fontainebleau, so "hunted down" might evoke that.
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Note added at 9 hrs (2015-07-08 21:59:54 GMT)
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https://www.masterofmalt.com/gin/professor-cornelius-amplefo...
"Bathtub Gin Bottling Note
An extraordinary award-winning gin, produced by the enigmatic Professor Cornelius Ampleforth. "
www.duravit.co.uk/website/.../starck_tubsshower_trays.com-e... 1800 x 800 mm · 700010 Bathtub. #700010. Bathtub 1800 x 800 mm · 700011 Bathtub ... 700013 Bathtub with support frame · #700013. Bathtub with ...
www.dailymail.co.uk/.../The-35-000-Yin-Yang-bathtub-couples... Nov 2013 - The Yin Yang bathtub is ideal for couples who want to spend quality time together without encroaching on each others' personal space.
www.independent.co.uk › News › World › Europe12 Feb 2015 - A young Russian woman has died after her charging iPhone fell into the bathtub in her Moscow flat.
www.telegraph.co.uk › Culture › Art Photography11 Feb 2014 - Lee Miller: the woman in Hitler's bathtub.
Thank you! "bathtub bargain, hunted down at the château de Fontainebleau" is very good for me! |
agree |
Sheri P
: Good solution
35 mins
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Thanks Sheri
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agree |
Tony M
: Although I'm not so keen on 'bathtub', any use of 'tub' always rings rather American to my ears; I can see why you didn't just want to leave it as a bald 'bath', so I guess we may have to live with it. / Yes, I agree! Don't waste your time for me ;-)
5 hrs
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Thanks Tony. "Bath bargain" or "Bargain bath" both sound wrong. I'll post some proof of bathtub being proper English English. Done: everything from gin to Hitler with bathing refs too.//Never mind, I liked the gin.
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Reference comments
chiner
First stop should have been a FR/FR dictionary to check the meaning:
http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/chiner/15383
Familier
Brocanter.
Chercher des occasions chez les brocanteurs, les antiquaires, dans les marchés aux puces, etc.
And a quick cross-check (Google : chiner + larousse + english) for example =
http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/chiner...
chiner [ʃine]
verbe intransitif conjugaison
[faire les boutiques] to go round the second-hand shops
That way you would have got the meaning. After that, it's amatter of choosing the right register. It would have avoided what would have been a serious mistake in seeking to describe a picture of the château. It actually means that was where it was found ("chinée")!
Thank you, Nikki! |
Discussion
I feel pretty sure that Fontainebleau, like many other tourist sites in FR, the UK, and no doubt elsewhere, is simply being used as a venue for a (probably widely-known) brocante or vide-grenier sales.
Taking some risks with my favourite language, apart from french indeed :-)
-> looking for an objet in various places antiques shop, car boot sale (vide-greniers), flea market (marché aux puces)
-> Discussing the price, looking for a bargain.
Secondhand is too restrictive, Bargain is about a fair price, none of these convey the basic idea... I think...