syndrome de la balançoire

14:25 Jan 9, 2019 

Hello
I'm a Brit and I know the verb "totter" meaning "stagger" and "teeter on the edge of a disaster" but the "teeter/totter syndrome" without an explanation that follows would be at the very limits of comprehension for us Brits (at least for me)
It is a very good suggestion for all that and preferable to "Chinese Whispers Syndrome" IMHO.
Regards
SafeTex

13:38 Jan 9, 2019 

@ Bourth and writeaway: Teeter totter would certainly seem to be the perfect expression for the US, but do you think it would be understandable in the rest of the world?

10:51 Jan 9, 2019 

He was highly reliable in many fields and is sorely missed. You can take his words very seriously indeed.

10:33 Jan 9, 2019 

More input from a non-Proz user to contribute to the discussion:

Hi,
I'm no longer registered with ProZ.com (my pseudo was
"Bourth") so I cannot respond on-line. I hope you don't
object to direct email.

The first thing I think of when I see "balançoire" is
"swing", but the French use the same word for a see-saw or,
as the Americans call it,
a teeter-totter, hence:

• Teeter-totter syndrome: the complete inability to make
decisions appropriate to the sufferer’s rank.
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/trends-and-in...

You'll find quite a few references to this if you Google it
with "management" and/or "peter principle".

Though French definitions may vary, I think it is safe to
assume this is the meaning intended. French management
theory is generally
copied from US practice.

HTH, Alex

19:33 Jan 8, 2019 

Hello
Completely agree with you on this. It's not Chinese Whispers for the reasons you give.
I've already put up a suggestion but other ideas are
"Spell things out clearly"
"Make sure no one gets hold of the wrong end of the stick"
But all these are hard to present as a syndrome.

14:59 Jan 8, 2019 

Yes, but that's exactly the problem here! Chinese whispers / télégraphe arabe both refer to a message getting corrupted in a serial manner, because of being passed through multiple hands; but that is not the situation Asker is dealing with here.

In essence, this is the notion of several parallel misinterpretations, due to different people 'simultaneously' using their own knowledge to interpret a set of specifications that were not clear / comprehensive / unambiguous at the outset — and I think that distinction is actually very important here, with reference to specifications in particular.

14:15 Jan 8, 2019 

In that case, "Chinese whispers" would be fine. It's unambiguous in English. The classic version that my Dad used to tell was how "Send reinforcements, we're going to advance," ended up as "Send three-and-fourpence, we're going to a dance."

14:06 Jan 8, 2019 

Those images are very helpful, it's clear that the basic idea in the text is to communicate clearly in order to avoid misunderstandings. I think that's the best way to get the meaning across, I'll avoid confusing references to swings and Chinese whispers.

09:39 Jan 8, 2019 

BD's reference post illustrates that this expression seems to be used with meanings that differ quite a lot. You probably need to ask the client quite what meaning they are intending to get across.

21:12 Jan 7, 2019 

Wendy's 2nd ref. indeed brings us back to a classic example of what they are talking about here, which has been used for ageas to illustrate what happens when different people interpret an imprecise specification according to their own criteria.
My Dad always used to say that "A camel is a horse designed by a committee!"

18:30 Jan 7, 2019 

Could the muddle be the result of a mistranslation that has been copied so often that it can never be put right? Let's blame an unknown translator!

Chinese whispers is generally the same as "le téléphone arabe", previously (in the days when telephones were properly wired together with curly cables so they couldn't get lost) "le téléphone sans fil". However, both "Chinese whispers" and "le téléphone arabe" have imperialist undertones that some might consider racist. (I don't, but can see how people could.)

13:12 Jan 7, 2019 

13:07 Jan 7, 2019 

https://fr.slideshare.net/PMILevisQuebec/20150428-marc-lafon...

This picture sequence ties in with the Chinese whispers idea suggested by Wendy. I aso came across the definition suggested by Rachel. I don't really see how to reconcile the two sources.

12:49 Jan 7, 2019 

The idea is a bit like Chinese whispers, only told in pictures and I have seen Chinese whispers referred to in management articles.
E.g. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dangers-chinese-whispers-tele...

11:41 Jan 7, 2019 

Not my field at all, but in case it's relevant: Syndrome de la balançoire : technique de défense du patron ayant atteint son niveau qui consiste à renvoyer leur subordonné à l’idée première émise.
http://sharedbookformbruno.over-blog.com/2015/11/le-principe...