Il fallait y penser

English translation: Someone was bound to think of it; someone was bound to come up with that idea

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Il fallait y penser
English translation:Someone was bound to think of it; someone was bound to come up with that idea
Entered by: Carol Gullidge

22:51 Jul 24, 2008
French to English translations [PRO]
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
French term or phrase: Il fallait y penser
As it happens, this is from a text about the French philosopher Deleuze criticizing the French "new" philosopher BHL for using marketing techniques in the domain of philosophy: "Il fallait y penser!"
It seems to me there are maybe two uses of this phrase, one to mean "It had to be done", in the sense of it being inevitable; the other is slightly different, in the sense of: "C'est tellement simple, mais il fallait y penser!" as a sort of reaction to serendipity, as it were...
I'm sure we must have similar reactions in English, (US English please!) but I'm blowed if I can think of the appropriate expression.
All help gratefully received.
Thanks as ever.
Susan Nicholls
Local time: 16:50
Someone was bound to think of it
Explanation:
or Someone had to think of it
Selected response from:

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:50
Grading comment
It seems a pity to put an end to all these wonderful ideas, may of which would have been brilliant. This one is the closest to the actual meaning of the SL phrase in my context I think, and also has the understated elegance I associate with Dz.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +1Someone was bound to think of it
Carol Gullidge
2 +2That's all that we need!
Helen Shiner
3 +1someone had to come up with it/have the idea
Martin Cassell
3 +1well, I guess we had it coming/comin'
Dave 72
3 +1Why didn't anyone think of that before? (ironic)
Emma Paulay
5 -2someone should think about it
Enrique Huber (X)
3it's just a matter of realization
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
3there had to be a first time (I suppose)
oldpro74 (X)
3We might have expected it
B D Finch
3(1st: That took some thinking!) (2nd: It's simple, but still someone had to come up with the idea)
MatthewLaSon
3 -1it should have been thought of
Speakering (X)


Discussion entries: 12





  

Answers


4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +2
That's all that we need!


Explanation:
Just a stab. Pretty unsure.

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Note added at 6 mins (2008-07-24 22:58:17 GMT)
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Or more contemporary: somebody had to do it!

Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:50
Native speaker of: English
Notes to answerer
Asker: Yes, somebody had to do it is certainly better than it had to be done. Thanks!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Melissa McMahon: I think 'somebody had to do it' is good - 'bemused resignation' would be Dz's attitude to BHL
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Melissa

agree  David Goward: with Melissa on this one.
7 hrs
  -> Thanks, David
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Someone was bound to think of it


Explanation:
or Someone had to think of it

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:50
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 47
Grading comment
It seems a pity to put an end to all these wonderful ideas, may of which would have been brilliant. This one is the closest to the actual meaning of the SL phrase in my context I think, and also has the understated elegance I associate with Dz.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jean-Claude Gouin: I'm surprised that nobody else agreed with you ...
1 day 12 mins
  -> many thanks 1045!
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28 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): -2
someone should think about it


Explanation:
direct translation

Enrique Huber (X)
Mexico
Local time: 00:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  writeaway: wrong tense and wrong meaning.
4 hrs
  -> t

disagree  David Goward: A direct translation (even a correct one) is not what's called for here.
6 hrs
  -> Thank you very much
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
someone had to come up with it/have the idea


Explanation:
(like so many things in life) it was just waiting to be discovered, but it lay there until someone actually did!

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-07-25 00:07:31 GMT)
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"Isn't it amazing that someone had to come up with the concept of monitoring blood pressure during surgery?" http://www.codeblog.com/archives/the_scoop/grand_rounds_209....

Martin Cassell
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:50
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Carol Gullidge: in retrospect, this makes a lot of sense, and you were the 1st to come up with this particular interpretation :)
1 day 8 hrs
  -> thanks Carol -- there are all kinds of ways of approaching this, mine was really aimed at the set phrase ("c'est simple ..."); and my phrasing isn't so far from yours, or a number of others.
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51 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
it's just a matter of realization


Explanation:
This is the second sense ("c'est tellement simple, mais il fallait y penser")

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-07-24 23:53:26 GMT)
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For the first sense (inevitability) you could say: "it was bound to occur"

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Note added at 1 hr (2008-07-25 00:10:29 GMT)
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But in this sense of inevitability the french expression would preferably be "il aurait fallu y penser"

Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Spain
Local time: 06:50
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish
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11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
well, I guess we had it coming/comin'


Explanation:
Just an idea (if it refers to the inevitability)

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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-07-25 01:47:59 GMT)
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Agree with your point, Susan. I was thinking of how a philosopher, faced with all this marketing stuff might conclude (philosophically), "Why shouldn't we have to put up with it like everybody else?" My answer sort of came from that angle. Think Melissa's idea is an improvement though!

Dave 72
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks! This is a good one. Although it does connotate punishment a bit (if you Google it all sorts of frightening stuff comes up!)

Asker: "We should have seen it coming" would be a pretty good translation in my context. I'm not sure Dz was resigned to BHL, I get the impression he was pretty close to furious with the whole business, but he didn't enjoy wasting his energy in that way (and rightly so!) Anyway, as for what was the rpoblem with translating the phrase, it is so common in French, I was sure there must be an equally common one in English - something with "seen it coming" is probably it.


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Melissa McMahon: a variation would be "(I guess) we should have seen that one coming" - less//cool! btw, meant to finish with "less 'punitive'" :)
56 mins
  -> Melissa, I think your variation is excellent!
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
it should have been thought of


Explanation:
i think so

Speakering (X)
Native speaker of: Native in MacedonianMacedonian, Native in Serbo-CroatSerbo-Croat

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  David Goward: No, a literal translation is not what's required here as it loses the irony of the French.
1 hr
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Why didn't anyone think of that before? (ironic)


Explanation:
Or,

Now, why didn't I think of that?

I like Helen's and Dave's suggestions, and Melissa's contributions but I do think that it would be good to keep 'think' or 'idea' in the En because that's what these guys are all about. He's criticising BHL's thoughts, his ideas, his philosophy. I don't think he's suggesting that if BHL hadn't done it somebody else would have.

Emma Paulay
France
Local time: 06:50
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 35

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  MatthewLaSon: I think that this is more the idea. I do not think that "falloir" is about "inevitability". This is meant to be ironic. My translation is more literal, but could viewed as ironic in context.
10 hrs
  -> Thank you, Matthew.
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8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
there had to be a first time (I suppose)


Explanation:
irony

oldpro74 (X)
Specializes in field
PRO pts in category: 4
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
We might have expected it


Explanation:
As in "Oh dear ...".

B D Finch
France
Local time: 06:50
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 28
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2 days 17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
(1st: That took some thinking!) (2nd: It's simple, but still someone had to come up with the idea)


Explanation:
Hello,

1st example: Il fallait y penser!

This is like saying "il fallait le faire" and replace "le faire" by "y penser". In other words, it means "That took some thinking" instead of saying "That took some doing!"

2nd example (which I'm more sure of)

C'est simple, il faut y penser/il fallait y penser = Something may be simple, but, still, someone has to come with the idea

I'm not going to comment on irony here, as I don't understand the context well enough.

I hope this helps.


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Note added at 28 days (2008-08-22 01:33:13 GMT) Post-grading
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I'm not really in agreement in Emma Pauley's translation. For some reason, I am unable to delete my agree on this webpage. It's really strange....

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 01:50
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 30
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