Une belle-mère reine de la nuit

English translation: A mother-in-law who\'s a bit of a party animal

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	Une belle-mère reine de la nuit
English translation:	A mother-in-law who\'s a bit of a party animal
Entered by:	Carol Gullidge

20:03 Dec 5, 2010

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / description of a type of person/character

French term or phrase: Une belle-mère reine de la nuit

Index par profil du destinataire [heading]

Un copain écolo ?
******Une belle-mère reine de la nuit****** ?
Une voisine geekette ?

Soyez sûr de faire plaisir en choisissant le présent qui correspondra exactement à celui qui le recevra.
________

The first line is the heading encompassing the following 3 lines.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what type of mother-in-law (or indeed, stepmother!) this is, my only stab so far being "A glamorous mother-in-law". OK, I did think of "Mother-in-law from hell" but ruled that out, as the aim of this book is to inpire the reader to give pleasure through gifts... viz the bottom line -- although, that doesn't specify who is in fact being pleased, and a few of the suggested gifts are fairly quirky to say the least!

Unfortunately, this line isn't a specific heading, so I can't check against the text to see what type of pressies are being suggested for this character...

I'm afraid "Queen of the night" doesn't work for me.

So I'd be very grateful for any suggestions - many thanks!

Carol Gullidge KudoZ activity Questions: 352 (1 open) (1 without valid answers) (3 closed without grading) Answers: 2710 United Kingdom
Local time: 23:04

A mother-in-law who's a bit of a party animal

Explanation:
or step-mother of course, but I think that's a less likely candidate here.

Just another option that might match the register.

Good luck

Selected response from:

Evans (X)
Local time: 23:04

Grading comment

thanks so much everybody! In the end the consensus seems to be that she is is an all-night party animal, and most of the answers are variations on this theme. Which makes it exptemely hard to grade this, and I wish I could dish out more points!
btw, I had hoped that this was a set idiom, but it seems this isn't the case
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +3

an Ab-Fab mother-in-law

Irene McClure

3 +2

A party girl mother in law / step mother

Drmanu49

4 +1

a let's get down-totally happening-all night partying mother-in-law

emiledgar

4 +1

A mother-in-law who's a bit of a party animal

Evans (X)

a mother-in-law who likes to paint the town red

Sarah Bessioud

3 +1

A mother-in-law who's a creature of the night

Alison Sabedoria (X)

A mother-in-law who likes to party

ST Translations

A "Dancing Queen" mother-in-law

David Goward

party-going mother-in-law

Andreas THEODOROU

hot mother-in-law

Jonathan MacKerron

Discussion entries: 11

Carol Gullidge

United Kingdom

ASKER

thanks also

11:41 Dec 7, 2010

to those who posted suggestions and links - all of which helped in various ways. Especially Ségolène, for her clarification of the meaning, which is what I was really looking for. Also to writeaway, for the Reference link, which helped tremendously towards supplying the register, but which was removed as I was (perhaps mistakenly?) a little embarrassed about publicly revealing indirect source/client details

Andreas THEODOROU

Spain

Good point, David

08:46 Dec 7, 2010

"mother-in-law" doesn't roll off the tongue as well as belle-mère - I think "glamorous granny" is good.

David Goward

France

Mother-in-law really necessary?

11:42 Dec 6, 2010

I wonder if the reference to "mother-in-law" is really necessary. If you want to stick with "glamorous", the obvious "relative" in English would be "granny".
Having said that, maybe "reine de la nuit" does not quite portray the same image as "glamorous granny".

rkillings

United States

07:22 Dec 6, 2010

If she doesn't have spectacular coloratura, then maybe she's a bimbo like this one: http://le-bouzin.com/secret-story-4-amlie-reine-de-la-nuit/

chaplin

United Kingdom

00:22 Dec 6, 2010

Pour moi cela peut aussi vouloir dire qu'elle est tout simplement noctambule

emiledgar

Belgium

Not Mozart

21:52 Dec 5, 2010

Considering the context I really doubt this has anything to do with Die Zauberflöte.

Carol Gullidge

United Kingdom

ASKER

super input!

21:11 Dec 5, 2010

many thanks everyone for the tremendous suggestions so far, as well as those links, Wordeffect! Watching those performances made me wonder if "mother-in-law from hell" wasn't perhaps closer to the mark than I'd imagined...

I was hoping that this was a stand-alone expression, quite unconnected to the opera, but maybe this isn't going to be the case...

Yvonne Gallagher

Ireland

21:03 Dec 5, 2010

I'd be inclined to keep "Queen of the Night" as it is unclear to you whether it is good/bad thing and this term is suitably ambiguous

Marco Solinas

Oppressive, domineering

20:45 Dec 5, 2010

If the reference is to "The magic flute", the the "Queen of the night" would be rather an unpleasant character, oppressive, domineering and representing obscurantism.

Alison Sabedoria (X)

United Kingdom

Queen of the night

20:38 Dec 5, 2010

Probably not much help, but just for fun while you're cogitating, here's Diana Damrau in the best version I know of: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuKxL4LOqc
and of couse, dear Florence Foster Jenkins: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM6qntPpyZ0

Both quite scary in their own way.

During her teenage Goth period, my younger daughter and her friends used to refer to me as "Mother, Queen of Darkness" - rather sweet really! =)

David Salas

United States

how about...

20:08 Dec 5, 2010

... "life of the party" or "who rules the night" or "queen of the night life" (I know that uses "queen of the night" but the variation might work)?

Answers

4 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

A party girl mother in law / step mother

Explanation:
Suggestion

Drmanu49
France
Local time: 00:04
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 84

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks Drmanu!

10 mins confidence:

a mother-in-law who likes to paint the town red

Explanation:
Reine de la nuit - someone who paints the town red at night.

(Somehow the very thought of this sends a shiver down my spine!)

Sarah Bessioud
Germany
Local time: 00:04
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 38

Notes to answerer

Asker: hi, thanks for the help! A question: does this imply that "Reine de la nuit" is a set expression? You (or anyone else!) can reply in the Discussion box to save your posting being moved down the "ladder"

13 mins confidence:

hot mother-in-law

Explanation:
may fit the rather ordinary tone here...

Jonathan MacKerron
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks Jonathan!

34 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

a let's get down-totally happening-all night partying mother-in-law

Explanation:
If you don't want to use queen of the night; then let's describe it!

emiledgar
Belgium
Local time: 00:04
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 125

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks Emil!

11 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

A mother-in-law who's a creature of the night

Explanation:
An alternative with dark undertones that's as ambiguous as the original , though I'd favour keeping "queen of the night" which leaves readers to conjure up their own images.

Alison Sabedoria (X)
United Kingdom
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks Wordeffect! I like your reasoning! As I said, I wish I could share out the points!

12 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

an Ab-Fab mother-in-law

Explanation:
All the discussion made me think of Patsy and Eddie in Absolutely Fabulous - the partying mother and her best friend who are the bane of the up-tight daughter's life!

Probably only a ref which works in UK English (although I don't know it could well have gone Stateside), but which has includes the party element but can also be taken either as a complement (cool) or as a dig (embarassing).

For more info see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutely_Fabulous

Another idea to add to the mix!

Irene McClure
Local time: 00:04
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks Irene! I really love this, and it was an extremely close contender!

12 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

A mother-in-law who's a bit of a party animal

Explanation:
or step-mother of course, but I think that's a less likely candidate here.

Just another option that might match the register.

Good luck

Evans (X)
Local time: 23:04
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 98

Grading comment

13 hrs confidence:

A mother-in-law who likes to party

Explanation:
A hip and cool mother-in-law, a young at heart mother-in-law, a mother-in-law who is a bit of a party animal. Just some more ideas! I also like your suggestion: a glamorous mother-in-law.

ST Translations
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:04
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks ST Translations! Again, there is very almost too much choice of good answers here!

15 hrs confidence:

A "Dancing Queen" mother-in-law

Explanation:
...if you want to keep the reference to "Reine".
Or "Glamorous Granny" if the actual relationship is unimportant.

Would be useful to know what gifts are being suggested.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs (2010-12-06 11:49:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Check out "Régine" to discover who is generally known as the "Reine de la nuit" in Paris, St Trop', etc.

David Goward
France
Local time: 00:04
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 43

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks David! the family relationship is probably not that important - there being no grandmothers mentioned elsewhere - but I'd probably only change it if, for instance, "Reine de la Nuit" turned out to be a set phrase - a well-known epithet describing a certain type of person that would rule out mothers-in-law, etc. Thanks for the Régine hint! Plenty to ponder about! Unfortunately, there's no way of matching up the pressies with the Reine..., as she is only mentioned here in passing, and not as one of the subheadings grouping together various types of gift

1 day 12 hrs confidence:

party-going mother-in-law

Explanation:
or fun-loving

Andreas THEODOROU
Spain
Local time: 00:04
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Notes to answerer

Asker: many thanks Andreas - nice and simple!

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Une belle-mère reine de la nuit

English translation: A mother-in-law who\'s a bit of a party animal

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Une belle-mère reine de la nuit

English translation: A mother-in-law who\'s a bit of a party animal

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