capharnüm

English translation: clutter / cluttered junk shop

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:capharnüm
English translation:clutter / cluttered junk shop
Entered by: Pablo Strauss

20:09 Mar 1, 2013
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / Thrift/junk stores
French term or phrase: capharnüm
Le comptoir est long, immaculé et, comme la peau mate de celle qui me regarde, peu vraisemblable au fond de ce capharnaüm de la rue Fairmount.

From a short story. The idea here is that it's a store overstuffed with junk, with greater emphasis on the overcrowdedness (I feel) than on the "junkiness." I feel like there's a single English word that would do the job but it's not coming to me.

Thanks.
Pablo Strauss
Canada
Local time: 18:46
clutter / cluttered junk shop
Explanation:
Lots of options already...not sure if you're looking for a word to describe the junk shop (cluttered) or to replace it altogether (clutter).
Selected response from:

Wolf Draeger
South Africa
Local time: 00:46
Grading comment
Thank, in the end went with "emporium of clutter." You sent me in the right direction.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +5jumble
jmleger
4 +2shambles
kashew
4 +1mayhem
Verginia Ophof
3 +2mishmash, confusion, pastiche
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
3 +2clutter / cluttered junk shop
Wolf Draeger
3 +1pandemonium
Claire Mercier
4great mess, havoc, shambles, upside down, etc.
Jean-Claude Gouin
3pack rat's nest
gkshenaut
Summary of reference entries provided
Capernaum - The site
Daryo

Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
jumble


Explanation:
Un amas désordonné

jmleger
Local time: 17:46
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard
8 mins
  -> Thx!

agree  Victoria Britten
11 mins
  -> Thx!

agree  Fabio Barbieri
3 hrs
  -> Thx!

agree  Lara Barnett
4 hrs
  -> Thx!

agree  GILOU
17 hrs
  -> Thx!
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10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
mayhem


Explanation:
suggestion

un lieu de grande pagaille

Verginia Ophof
Belize
Local time: 16:46
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: Nice! http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/capharnaüm
7 mins
  -> Thank you Philgoddard !!
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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
pandemonium


Explanation:
I feel that pandemonium or perhaps maelstrom give the same feeling of chaos that capharnaum does.

Claire Mercier
Local time: 23:46
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Verginia Ophof
1 min
  -> Thanks!

neutral  philgoddard: Pandemonium means it's noisy, which may not be the case. Maelstrom is a good idea though.
5 mins
  -> Thanks for the input.

neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: pandemonium suggests an element of panic which is not necessarily there in capharnaüm
6 mins
  -> Thanks for the input.

neutral  Daryo: "capharnaüm" a mess of inanimate objects // "pandemonium" living creatures in a state of great agitation – for example a crowd trapped in a stampede
11 hrs
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26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
mishmash, confusion, pastiche


Explanation:
With a little more of the original, then perhaps I'd get closer to the tone of the original. These may help.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 23:46
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  kashew: for confusion
17 mins

agree  Lara Barnett
4 hrs
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39 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
shambles


Explanation:
*

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 43 minutes (2013-03-01 20:53:13 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

utter mess!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 45 minutes (2013-03-01 20:55:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or chaos.

kashew
France
Local time: 23:46
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mary Carroll Richer LaFlèche: I've been there....
11 hrs
  -> Thanks, C.

agree  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: Shambles
1 day 40 mins
  -> Thanks, N
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46 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +2
clutter / cluttered junk shop


Explanation:
Lots of options already...not sure if you're looking for a word to describe the junk shop (cluttered) or to replace it altogether (clutter).

Example sentence(s):
  • The counter is long, immaculate and, like the dark skin of the woman gazing at me, somewhat out of place at the back of this clutter in Fairmount St.
  • The counter is long, immaculate and, like the dark skin of the woman looking at me, does not quite belong at the back of this cluttered junk shop in Fairmount St.
Wolf Draeger
South Africa
Local time: 00:46
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 32
Grading comment
Thank, in the end went with "emporium of clutter." You sent me in the right direction.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  kashew: bordel quoi !
39 mins
  -> Ben, justement, merci kashew :)

agree  katsy
18 hrs
  -> Thanks katsy.
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
great mess, havoc, shambles, upside down, etc.


Explanation:
CAPHARNAÜM est surtout utilisé pour qualifier un lieu de grande pagaille, renfermant beaucoup d'objets entassés pêle-mêle, un endroit en désordre.

Jean-Claude Gouin
Canada
Local time: 18:46
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4
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2 days 7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
pack rat's nest


Explanation:
I get the impression of a heap of miscellaneous junk, and “pack rat's nest” is a term sometimes used for that.

gkshenaut
Local time: 15:46
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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Reference comments


11 hrs
Reference: Capernaum - The site

Reference information:
Anyone knows why the name of this village become a synonym for shambles?

(Capharnaüm - Le site)

Capernaum - The site

"When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Napthali." (Matthew 4:12-13)

The site of the ancient fishing village of Capernaum (Heb. Kfar Nahum, the Village of Nahum) is located on the northwestern shore of Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), 2.5 kilometers northeast of Tabgha, and some 15 kilometers north of Tiberias.

The town is first mentioned in the New Testament, where it figures prominently in the Gospel narratives as the place where Jesus lived during much of his ministry in the Galilee. It was here, according to the New Testament, that he "cured many who were suffering from diseases," and also "cast out many devils" in those possessed.
....
[http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2000/3/Capern...]

Daryo
United Kingdom
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 8
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