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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

tables a repasser

English translation: ironing boards

02:54 Jun 5, 2007
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / Police And Prisoners
French term or phrase: tables a repasser
In a poem about New York City street scenes.

Context:

"(Prisonniers) montent dans un autre vehicule,
Sous l'oeil revolver des policiers.
Il n'y avait qu'un seul blanc.
Et quatre **tables a repasser**
Dans la poubelle.

Need help with the last two lines, which is the ending of the poem.

Merci beaucoup!

femme
Barbara Cochran, MFA
United States
Local time: 20:18
English translation:ironing boards
Explanation:
a guess
Selected response from:

Jana Cole (X)
Local time: 17:18
Grading comment
Yes, of course this is the right translation. I remember it now from a book I translated about Christine and Lea Papin, twow domestics who viciously murdred the lady of the house and her daughter in 1930's Mans. Thanks for your help.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
1 +10ironing boards
Jana Cole (X)
4 -2charts reexamined
narasimha (X)
2Chinese
Melzie
1men/blokes/guys
Emma Paulay


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +10
ironing boards


Explanation:
a guess

Jana Cole (X)
Local time: 17:18
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
Grading comment
Yes, of course this is the right translation. I remember it now from a book I translated about Christine and Lea Papin, twow domestics who viciously murdred the lady of the house and her daughter in 1930's Mans. Thanks for your help.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  MatthewLaSon: I don't know what else it would be. LOL.
1 hr
agree  Madeleine van Zanten
3 hrs
agree  Assimina Vavoula
3 hrs
agree  Jim Tucker (X)
3 hrs
agree  Jenny Duthie
3 hrs
agree  writeaway: impossible to really 'know'-thrown into the end of a text/poem we've never seen and expected to 'help'. 4 ironing boards in the trash-why not? that IS what the French says
3 hrs
agree  Cervin: Strange but true, maybe!
4 hrs
neutral  Carol Gullidge: 4 ironing boards - in a bin - in a vehicle? It's got to be a metaphor - or 2...
5 hrs
agree  awilliams
5 hrs
agree  Sandra Petch: It makes sense. It's a description of what the poet sees: four people getting into a police vehicle. Only one of them is white. The policemen. Ironing boards thrown out with the trash... all part of a description.
6 hrs
agree  Katarina Peters
10 hrs
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53 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -2
charts reexamined


Explanation:
the last two lines of the poem can be translated thus :
and four charts reexamined
from trash. (that is to say that four charts that had been discarded were picked by the police and the prisoners were rexamined)


narasimha (X)
India
Local time: 05:48
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  writeaway: I really don't see how you get this translation from what we see above as (con)text.
3 hrs
disagree  awilliams: I very much doubt it...
5 hrs
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5
men/blokes/guys


Explanation:
I haven't got anything ot back this up and if were you I'd ask your client about this one. However, for what it's worth, I think the banc is simply the bench inside the police van, which is referred to as the "poubelle". Tables à repasser is sometimes used to describe a flat-chested woman and so could also (at a stretch) mean four guys ie they had to climb into a vehicule in which there were already 4 men.

Emma Paulay
France
Local time: 02:18
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 126

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  suezen: Hi Emma, c'est blanc, not banc ... no, it's a possibility :-)
7 mins
  -> Thanks, I just noticed. Doesn't change much to my interpretation though.
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5
Chinese


Explanation:
This is complete deduction. just one white man and ??? (4 other prisonners presumably of another origin)
what nationality has the reputation in the US for using ironing boards? The Chinese...
Frankly, I don't like it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 hrs (2007-06-05 07:50:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

the bin sometimes used to mean prison, hence the deduction

"(Prisonniers) montent dans un autre vehicule, get into the 'van'
Sous l'oeil revolver des policiers. under the watchful eye of the policemen
Il n'y avait qu'un seul blanc. there was only one white (man)
Et quatre **tables a repasser** and 4 this must also be men...
Dans la poubelle. into the bin (prison)



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2007-06-05 08:43:41 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Another option : prostitutes (I don't think I need to draw any pictures) - after a lot of research in the slang dpt.

Melzie
Local time: 02:18
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  writeaway: 4 Chinese in the bin? have you heard the Chinese referred to as ironing boards? in French or in English?/poubelle is slang for prison? bin is UK for trash can (US).
1 hr
  -> no, I haven't,as I said it's deduction and all the images of this poem we've seen have really been pretty wierd // sin bin
neutral  Emma Paulay: Hi Melzie, I'm not sure about Chinese - but I think you're right in that it's referring to people.
2 hrs
  -> clutching at straws to think who the author could possibly be referring to...
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