indicateur

10:56 Nov 28, 2009 

Emma - You took the words from my mouth!
"self-appointed umpire" is probably the best we could come up with.

09:53 Nov 28, 2009 

Emma does have a point about the correct title for an umpire being "arbitre", it could be a "self-appointed umpire". I don't think one has a linesman in boules.

09:36 Nov 28, 2009 

La prochaine fois que je croise un bouliste je le cuisinerai jusqu'à ce qu'il me donne le nom de son indic' :-)

09:18 Nov 28, 2009 

Hi Emma - I looked hard for instances of this word in this context on the web and found none. In your answer you said it was tongue in cheek and I believe you are right. This said. These are a set of figurines and it didn't make sense not to have an umpire of sorts. So I put it in inverted commas. I could not find anything better. I could still be wrong and if ever you come across something better, I'll be happy to change the entry on KudoZ.

08:51 Nov 28, 2009 

Sorry, I realise it's too late now but I'd forgotten about this question until I got the "closure" message. I'm not suggesting for a second that my answer is the "right" one, but I fail to see how "umpire" can be a correct translation of "indicateur". Firstly, the umpire is called an "arbitre" in French (http://www.petanque.fr/~ips/index.php?option=com_content&tas... - unless of course "boules françaises" and "pétanque" are two different things. Secondly, it seems strange, to say the least, for an umpire to give advice to the players. But maybe that's why Titi controlled the ball with his hand - because the referee told him it would be a good idea?!