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créateurs/repreneurs - création/rprise
Jul 4, 2014 17:23
9 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

archi blindé

French to English Marketing Idioms / Maxims / Sayings EN-UK
This term is used about a trendy bar.

Does it mean that it is packed to the rafters?
Proposed translations (English)
4 +8 packed out / teeming / heaving / seething
4 +3 brimming with people
Change log

Jul 4, 2014 17:27: writeaway changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Marketing"

Discussion

Dominic D Jul 5, 2014:
;-)
B D Finch (asker) Jul 5, 2014:
@Francis Sorry. but you are somewhat "blindé", according to your own definition of the term, to the reality of the development of the French language. I think that Dominic is just more in touch with current usage and the Académie Française prove by their own protest against it that the term is actually used in the way they disapprove of.
Dominic D Jul 5, 2014:
@writeaway The only times I have ever heard arch - blindé in connection with a bar means it's packed out. I don't think you need more context than that, especially when the asker says it's a "trendy bar"
Dominic D Jul 5, 2014:
I've been living in France for 21 years and it's something I've heard for over 10 years I think.

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=936384&langi...
here's a subject thread going back to 2008
Tony M Jul 5, 2014:
@ Francis Perhaps this is a very recent usage? But it is something I hear all the time over here in France (in conversation), whereas I have never personally encountered 'bondé' in a conversational context.
Dominic D Jul 5, 2014:
@Francis It's a slang word that is used in the same way as bondé. The Académie Française recognises its usage and says it's not good French!
http://www.academie-francaise.fr/blinde
Francis Marche Jul 5, 2014:
See the "blindé" entry in this thesaurus : in B -- "ivre" (slang) and in A -- "reinforced" or metaphorically "impervious/immune". No reference whatsoever to "crowded", "packed out", etc.
http://atilf.atilf.fr/dendien/scripts/tlfiv5/advanced.exe?8;...
Francis Marche Jul 5, 2014:
Impossible to know how relevant this is given the absence of context but in any "French Urban Dictionary" worth its salt, "blindé" would feature among the hundred odd terms meaning "drunk".
See here :
http://www.crisco.unicaen.fr/des/synonymes/bourré
Francis Marche Jul 5, 2014:
"fully crowded" and "packed out" is "bondé", not "blindé". Blindé means "totally immune/impervious to (personal) attacks" or for inanimates "reinforced", literally. I can't see how a trendy bar could be described as "blindé" though, unless there is some reference in the context to its structure/architecture as being particularly "secure", perhaps. More context needed.
B D Finch (asker) Jul 4, 2014:
@Lorraine Afraid not, my text is strictly confidential. However, Tony has confirmed what I thought it meant. "Fully crowded" would not be a natural way of expressing it in English.
Lorraine Dubuc Jul 4, 2014:
Hello, would it be possible to have a little sentence with this? Could it simply mean 'fully crowded'.

Proposed translations

+8
6 mins
Selected

packed out / teeming / heaving / seething

Yes, as you said — though clearly need to choose one that doesn't have any possibility of being pejorative "it's a very popular place"

cf similar expression 'blindé de monde'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 13 heures (2014-07-05 06:58:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

'bursting at the seams' is another similar expression, though again, may not have quite the right tone for your context!
Note from asker:
Thanks Tony, that's what I thought it might mean.
Peer comment(s):
agree katsy
1 hr
Thanks, Katsy!
agree Nikki Scott-Despaigne : I like "heaving" for this one.
5 hrs
Thanks, Nikki! I do too, though I'm worried it might come over as too pejorative...
agree Verginia Ophof
8 hrs
Thanks, Verginia!
agree Catharine Cellier-Smart : with Nikki: 'heaving'// I find 'heaving' has the same register as the French - not particularly pejorative.
12 hrs
Thanks, Catharine — with same reservation...! / Thanks!
neutral Francis Marche : Are you not confusing "blindé" and "bondé" ?
14 hrs
No, Francis, it is not I who am confused: 'blindé de monde' is an expression I hear all the time here in France.
agree Dominic D : I think you just about covered it! thought we were only allowed to post one suggestion per answer though! ;-)
15 hrs
Thanks, Dominic! No, not really — we're only supposed to post one answer per question; for straightforward terms, one suggestion per answer is of course better for the glossary, but with this sort of expression, that's not really an issue.
agree Emma Paulay
21 hrs
Thanks, Emma!
agree Daryo : plein à craquer ... pas assez de place dans ce bar pour laisser tomber une aiguille sur le sol ...
22 hrs
Merci, Daryo !
agree Yolanda Broad : Am I getting too old, or do people still use the expression "packed to the gills"?
1 day 3 hrs
Thanks, Yolanda! I don't think it's anything to do with your age, but I have to admit I haven't heard that expression for simply yonks.
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Tony. "Heaving" is probably the most apt of your suggestions. I am really cross that the thought Polizei have deleted perfectly reasonable and linguistically important discussion points on this (including my own). Suffice it to say that anyone who can't understand the difference between French as she is spoke and the reactionary conservativism of the Académie Française will be somewhat limited as a translator. I am sure that this comment will be censored, so conserve in Evernote!"
+3
22 hrs

brimming with people

another option
Peer comment(s):
agree Tony M : And a good one! Certainly avoids any danger of sounding pejorative.
7 mins
Thanks!
agree Dominic D
30 mins
Thanks!
agree Lorraine Dubuc
6 hrs
Merci!
Something went wrong...
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