dessinent un bateau mordant

English translation: help / make the boat slice through the sea

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:dessinent un bateau mordant
English translation:help / make the boat slice through the sea
Entered by: claude-andrew

10:38 Dec 9, 2011
French to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Ships, Sailing, Maritime / sailing boat publicity
French term or phrase: dessinent un bateau mordant
I'm stuck on suitable phrasing; "I've started with "Fifteen metres of sleek lines ..."

Quinze mètres de lignes fuselées, que rien ne vient accidenter, **dessinent un bateau mordant**.

Picture:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=289326891111342&set=p...
claude-andrew
France
Local time: 15:21
help / make the boat slice through the sea
Explanation:
'Slicing' picks up on the idea of 'mordant', and 'slicing through the sea' is found fairly often in descriptions of ships. Just an idea...
Selected response from:

Karen Vincent-Jones (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:21
Grading comment
Thanks Karen - I adapted it to "help the boat to slice through the waves"
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +1give the boat a dynamic design
Sarah Bessioud
3drawing a sharp edged boat
Michel F. Morin
2 +1represent a splendid boat
mimi 254
3result in an extremely sleek machine
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
3help / make the boat slice through the sea
Karen Vincent-Jones (X)


Discussion entries: 11





  

Answers


24 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
drawing a sharp edged boat


Explanation:
Difficile... Maybe "sharp edged" (after "a sharp edged sense of humour", qui signifie bien "un humour mordant, ou acéré")...

Thanks for any comment.

Michel F. Morin
France
Local time: 15:21
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 43
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27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): +1
represent a splendid boat


Explanation:
sketch the outlines of a splendid boat

portray

mimi 254
Local time: 15:21
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alistair Ian Spearing Ortiz
6 mins
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
give the boat a dynamic design


Explanation:
Now for a high-powered speedboat, I would probably talk about a boat with a bit of bite, or even a snappy design, but having looked at the picture, I think you may be on the safer side here focusing on the dynamic look of the yacht.

http://www.boatguideweb.com/makes/azimut/flybridge-range/48/
In the Flybridge Range, the dynamic design and powerful architecture of the 48 seem to drive the yacht forward even when not under way, while the volumes traced by its sleek, athletic lines are extraordinarily large.

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Note added at 48 mins (2011-12-09 11:26:29 GMT)
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Would "a cutting-edge design" be pushing the boat out too far?

Sarah Bessioud
Germany
Local time: 15:21
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  piazza d
5 hrs
  -> Thank you piazza
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
result in an extremely sleek machine


Explanation:
I'd like to have the sentence before and after to see how this might run together. This sort of sentence, which is elegant bla bla, needs to be well bolstered up on either side if it to avoid being ridiculous in English.

Fifty feet of uninterrupted lines result in an extremely sleek machine.

There are zillions ways of translating this, rolling the ideas together. By the way, you have to use feet and not metres when describing boats.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-12-09 13:19:21 GMT)
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I'd run two sentence into one here, the one in your question with the one that follows, to give something along these lines, no pun intended :

"Fifty feet of pure uninterrupted pure lines for a racy machine, owing largely to the voluntary emancipation of the constraints of the measurement rule."

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-12-09 13:20:07 GMT)
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Sorry, I shifte "pure" and forgot to srub the original position, thus :

Fifty feet of pure uninterrupted lines for a racy machine, owing largely to the voluntary emancipation of the constraints of the measurement rule.

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Note added at 2 hrs (2011-12-09 13:22:04 GMT)
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Or even :

Fifty feet of pure uninterrupted lines, producing a thoroughbred machine, enabled by the voluntary emancipation of the constraints of the measurement rule.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 15:21
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 198
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
help / make the boat slice through the sea


Explanation:
'Slicing' picks up on the idea of 'mordant', and 'slicing through the sea' is found fairly often in descriptions of ships. Just an idea...


    Reference: http://www.caborey.com/
    Reference: http://www.7blueseas.com/cruises/cruisedetail.asp?cruise=CU-...
Karen Vincent-Jones (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:21
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks Karen - I adapted it to "help the boat to slice through the waves"

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  kashew: I've seen "wave-cutter" used.
1 hr

neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: "Slice" soudns odd to my easr, but then I may have odd ears. Wave-cutting, yes, for "perce-vagues" but I'd argue that "mordant" includes this but more.
1 hr
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