tempérament à revendre

English translation: to have more character than she knows what to do with; to have a lots of character,

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	tempérament à revendre
English translation:	to have more character than she knows what to do with; to have a lots of character,
Entered by:	DLyons

16:02 Jun 8, 2015

French to English translations [Non-PRO]
Social Sciences - Slang

French term or phrase: tempérament à revendre

"Ils croyaient sentir sous la glace du tempérament a revendre." This is in relation to a dominatrix-type woman, "dure comme un silex", "sèche comme le coup de trique" around whom men flock. Here, it seems to mean that they believe they can awaken the ice-maiden. But, how best to phrase that? The TT can be quite slangy "has buckets of pent up feelings"?

Some GHits:
"c'est la chanteuse qui casse mes carreaux je l'adore elle a une voix magnifique et du tempérament a revendre."

"Y'a pas de raison de condamner un gars qui a du tempérament a revendre, rien de prouvé, il n'y a que les jaloux et les impuissants ..."

"Dorothy, elle n'avais pas sa langue dans sa poche et ses originies siciliennes n'était pas loin, elle avait du tempérament a revendre."

"la maitresse de ton destin alors te laisse pas marcher dessus tu as du tempérament a revendre et noulie pas t'es la ptite rugbywomen"

DLyons KudoZ activity Questions: 83 (none open) Answers: 4291 Ireland
Local time: 21:40

to have more character than she knows what to do with; to have a lots of character,

Explanation:
"à revendre", meaning that this person has so much of whatver that she could sell what's left over. That's literal of course and not much use here. Just to help get you clear on meaning, as it has nothing to do with pent up feelings, although I can see where you get that from. No, it means that she has more character than she knows what to do with. It means she has a lot of character.

I suspect it would be more natural to ssay that she has a very strong character r personality. Something along those lines.

But for the form "avoir x à revendre = to have more x than you know what to do with".

In your sentence, it could be :

"They reckoned that underneath it all, she had more character than she knw what to do with".

Selected response from:

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 22:40

Grading comment

Thanks Nikki - very helpful.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +2

to have more character than she knows what to do with; to have a lots of character,

Nikki Scott-Despaigne

4 +1

volcanic temperament

kashew

too hot-blooded/feisty for her own good

Verginia Ophof

hot-blooded in abundance

Daryo

bursting with hidden depths

ormiston

Discussion entries: 3

Answers

11 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

avoir du tempérament à revendre

to have more character than she knows what to do with; to have a lots of character,

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 22:40
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks Nikki - very helpful.

28 mins confidence:

tempérament a revendre bursting with hidden depths

Explanation:
This might tie in with the context as there is an implication that somone might be able to get through ti the 'real her'

ormiston
Local time: 22:40
Native speaker of: English

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks ormiston. Also works well.

8 hrs confidence:

tempérament a revendre too hot-blooded/feisty for her own good

Explanation:
suggestions

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2015-06-09 01:09:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

She has feistiness to spare

Verginia Ophof
Belize
Local time: 14:40
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks Verginia. Although this particular lady takes "feisty" to a whole new level :-)

17 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

volcanic temperament

Explanation:
Ils croyaient sentir le volcan sous la glace genre de chose...

kashew
France
Local time: 22:40
Native speaker of:

English

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks kashew. I've actually used a version of this and am awaiting feedback from the author (but I'm going with Nikki's answer as being of the most overall help).

21 hrs confidence:

hot-blooded in abundance

Explanation:
à revendre = more than needed

"Ils croyaient sentir sous la glace du tempérament à revendre."

They believed they could feel that behind the icy facade she is hot-blooded in abundance.

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:40
Native speaker of:

Serbian,

French
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks Daryo. Also works in the context.

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tempérament à revendre

English translation: to have more character than she knows what to do with; to have a lots of character,

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