botter en touche

English translation: dodge the issue/elude the question/stall/sidestep the issue

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	botter en touche
English translation:	dodge the issue/elude the question/stall/sidestep the issue
Entered by:	Isabelle Barth-O'Neill

17:52 Mar 19, 2011

French to English translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

French term or phrase: botter en touche

Ici, je cale !

Voici la phrase :

Interrogé sur la question des moyens, le ministre botte en touche et invoque Internet. Autrement dit, à quelques jours d'intervalle, le ministre aura dit une chose et son contraire.

Isabelle Barth-O'Neill KudoZ activity Questions: 285 (2 open) (38 closed without grading) Answers: 134
Local time: 00:56

dodge the issue/elude the question/stall/sidestep the issue

Explanation:
the Minister, when asked a direct question, fudged it !

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Note added at 22 mins (2011-03-19 18:15:08 GMT)
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I think this may be a wrong choice of expression - perhaps they mean that he "scored an own goal" but normally "botter en touche" means to get oneself out of trouble by kicking into touch when your opponents are getting too close to your line

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 51 mins (2011-03-19 18:44:29 GMT)
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he chose to OBFUSCATE - a rare chance to place this one

Selected response from:

polyglot45

Grading comment

4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +3

dodge the issue/elude the question/stall/sidestep the issue

polyglot45

5 +1

England's hope of the grand slam thanks to Ireland!

Bashiqa

3 +3

to kick into touch

Tony M

4 +1

avoid the question

Marlene Gbedo

comes up dry

emiledgar

3 +1

parry

Jocelyne Cuenin

to curtail

Rachael Burns

Summary of reference entries provided

Definition

B D Finch

botter en touche - dicos

cc in nyc

Discussion entries: 1

Answers

5 mins confidence:

comes up dry

Explanation:
There are a number of ways to translate this.

emiledgar
Belgium
Local time: 01:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 125

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks

48 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

England's hope of the grand slam thanks to Ireland!

Explanation:
Looking at the latest score this is a certainty!!

Bashiqa
France
Local time: 01:56
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 32

9 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

dodge the issue/elude the question/stall/sidestep the issue

polyglot45
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 227

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks

52 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

parry

Explanation:
Une autre possibilité pour rester dans le monde du sport, même si ce n'est plus le rugby, un peu moins "colloquial" :
to parry =
1. (Individual Sports & Recreations / Fencing) To deflect or ward off an attack (a fencing thrust, for example).
2. To deflect, evade, or avoid: He skillfully parried the question with a clever reply.

Example sentence(s):

the minister parried all other questions terming it a ...
the Russian prime minister, parried that it was pointless to involve Washington, arguing that Georgia needed to ...

Jocelyne Cuenin
Germany
Local time: 01:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in category: 8

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

avoid the question

Explanation:
fuir les responsabilités publiques

Reference: http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/botter%20en%20t...

Marlene Gbedo
Italy
Local time: 01:56
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

12 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

to kick into touch

Explanation:
A sporting metaphor, used both literally and figuratively.

Without having more of your context, difficult to see just how it applies here, but I suppose this is referring to the fact that this was the last straw, that he has now said something "to cap it all", etc. etc.

Would that fit with your context?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 heures (2011-03-20 01:21:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

There seems to be an odd divergence of opinion here as to the actual meaning of the metaphor (which I'm sure in its original, literal form must surely mean the same thing in both FR and EN?)

Perhaps it is the fact that I flunked out of rugby whenever I could, but I thought "kicking into touch" meant that somebody gave the final touch to something to round it off; obviously, as JML points out, this is to some extent making the best of a bad situation... but I'm not sure just to what extent the full implication of the literal meaning carries across when it is used figuratively.

I've heard it used in contexts where (empirically) I understood it like this: "The XYZ team did most of the donkey work with the research, then Prof. ABC came along and kicked the project into touch, thereby picking up all the accolades."

Tony M
France
Local time: 01:56
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 348

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks ! In fact, the Minister got muddled up as he said one thing and its contrary !!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

rkillings: Your fellow translators will always suggest a different metaphor, but why not keep this one? Very close in spirit to its fashionable cousin in the US, "kick the can down the road". :-)

2 hrs

-> Thanks, R! I think it's quite important to keep the same metaphor, though I'd like to be surer I really understand what the writer thought it meant as they used it here?

agree

chris collister: Keep the whole thing: "booted into touch" - one of my dad's favourite expressions.

13 hrs

-> Thanks, Chris! I think your Dad and mine must have come from different backgrounds... ;-)

agree

B D Finch: Indeed, why paraphrase? I believe it is a tactic to put the ball out of play to neutralise the other side's advantage.//i.e. avoiding an awkward question and shifting discussion to (or restarting it at) different ground.

16 hrs

-> Thanks, Barbara! Yes, though I'm not sure it always has quite that meaning when used figuratively? Certainly can't see how that would really fit here... Can't help wondering if perhaps the author wasn't getting their metaphors muddled?!

neutral

Joseph Jeffries (X): Hi Tony - right metaphor, wrong meaning! You kick into touch 1) to clear the danger when pegged back by an opponent or 2) to win territory in the opponent's half. No glory involved at all

1 day 17 hrs

-> Thanks, J! Yes, I'm well aware of the literal meaning of the sporting metaphor, but like I said, empricially, it seems to be employed rather differently in figurative usage; maybe by people who don't understand the origins!

1 day 4 hrs confidence:

to curtail

Explanation:
Direct translation is possibly 'to kick into touch' but in this context 'to curtail', may be more appropriate.

Rachael Burns
Local time: 00:56
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English

Reference comments

17 hrs peer agreement (net): +1

Reference: Definition

Reference information:
"It's a footballing phrase. If the ball goes over the "touchline" which marks the edge of the pitch, the ball is said to be "in touch" and is considered "dead". Play stops and must be started again by one of the players throwing the ball on to the pitch. I think this holds good, more or less, for soccer, both codes of rugby, and American football. Aussie rules too, for all I know. THe OED gives the first use of "touchline" as 1868, at which time the various codes of football were still evolving from a common point of origin.

: In figurative use, to kick something (e.g. a plan or project) into touch is to halt it, just as kicking a ball into touch stops play. (VSD)"

Reference: http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/55/messages/73.html

B D Finch
France
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 136

20 hrs

Reference: botter en touche - dicos

Reference information:
éviter un sujet épineux en abordant un autre sujet
source: http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/francais-definition/botter e...

to stall, play for time
source: http://www.larousse.com/en/dictionaries/french-english/botte...

to avoid the question
source: http://dictionary.reverso.net/french-english/botter en touch...

cc in nyc
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 153

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botter en touche

English translation: dodge the issue/elude the question/stall/sidestep the issue

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botter en touche

English translation: dodge the issue/elude the question/stall/sidestep the issue

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