coups de plumes

English translation: thrusts of the pen

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	coups de plumes
English translation:	thrusts of the pen
Entered by:	mill2

14:39 Jan 15, 2015

French to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - History

French term or phrase: coups de plumes

From a letter written by a French diplomat in 1657:

"Quoique Mond Sr l’électeur soit d’un tempérament assez froid et d’un humeur fort modéré, il ne laissa pas de tourner la tête et en frappant sur la table de dire […] d’une facon que je n’avais pas encore remarqué […] que l’on n’en ferait pas quitte pour de *coups de plumes* et que l’on y apporterait des remèdes si puissants que la dérision pourrait bien enfin tourner en repentir."

"Mond Sr l'électeur" has just been told by the diplomat that he is being ridiculed behind his back. I am actually proofreading a translation which renders this as: "streaks with the plume," which is obviously incorrect. I'm assuming it means something like "strikes from the pen" or, less picturesquely, "verbal attacks." Is there a better English idiom I could use, keeping in mind also the period? Thanks!

mill2 KudoZ activity Questions: 150 (none open) (7 closed without grading) Answers: 140
Local time: 06:49

pen-thrusts

Explanation:
By deliberate analogy with sword-thrusts, and I think that's appropriate, since the analogy between the pen and the sword is a very old topos and certainly familiar in the seventeenth century, so it's quite in the spirit of the original.

There are examples of this expression to be found; for example this, in an anecdote on some derogatory letters which led to a duel:

"The real author was none other than Miss Mary Todd, afterward the wife of Abraham Lincoln, to whom she was engaged, and who was in honor bound to assume, for belligerent purposes, the responsibility of her sharp pen-thrusts".
https://books.google.es/books?id=lYmEQsDiqA8C&pg=PA63&lpg=PA...
This was originally published in 1884.

This is about Voltaire:

"With all due admiration for the lucidity of his writings and his unmatched erudition in a wide range of fields, few have inquired what was behind the mocking mask of this "infidel," whose pen thrusts made many a crowned head of his era tremble. "
http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/world/modeur/ph-ida2.htm

"

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Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2015-01-16 18:51:57 GMT)
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Arguably "thrusts of the pen" would have a better rhythm in this sentence. It would keep the same idea of the pen/sword analogy. Whichever you prefer.

Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 06:49

Grading comment

I went with thrusts of the pen. Thanks very much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +4

pen-thrusts

Charles Davis

4 +2

stroke of the quill

pettiefleur

4 +1

duel of pens

John Holland

quill stabbing

mbg69

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

14 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

stroke of the quill

Explanation:
There are plenty of examples on internet with this expression.

pettiefleur
United Kingdom
Local time: 05:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 4

33 mins confidence:

quill stabbing

Explanation:
in modern French, we'd say deS coups de plumE (no S)

mbg69
Thailand
Local time: 11:49
Works in field
Native speaker of:

French,

English

45 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

duel of pens

Explanation:
As I read it, the French means that the involved parties cannot settle the score between them merely by exchanging opposing views in writing; instead, something stronger than that kind of polemic is required. Here are some examples of the expression "duel of pens" used to express a similar meaning:

From http://derrickjeter.com/2011/02/18/founding-fathers-friday-c... :
"Upon his return to his estates in Maryland, he found his colony ill at ease, bristling under the recent passages of the Stamp Act. Within a few years, Carroll would anonymously take the patriot’s part in a duel of pens, played out in Maryland papers."

From a book review at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/106238.Miss_Manners_Guid... :
"Judith Martin's writing is bitingly funny and entertaining as all get-out. In another age, she would have held her own in a duel of pens with Dorothy Parker or Oscar Wilde."

From http://www.sarasolo.com/mn2.html :
"Since 1975, when the publisher, Knopf, hoping for a cover blurb, sent him an unbound manuscript of The Woman Warrior, Chin has been hammering away at Kingston in essays, academic conferences and newspaper articles. Their duel of pens has enlivened university conferences and inspired academic papers, doctoral dissertations and college lectures."

From http://text.egwwritings.org/publication.php?pubtype=Book&boo... :
"Polemics being the order of the day, he engaged in many a duel of pens, one in particular being a sharp exchange with the Spiritualists. Sometimes his rebuttals were devastating."

From http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/59056828 :
"The fact that Mr. Elkan now professes to admire the brave British commander of the Titanic and to admit that every man worthy, the name will do his best to succour the women and children (he doesn't say 'first'), proves that I have not fruitlessly taken him to task for his initial letter. I have so often publicly chastized him with the pen that in the duel of pens that he would have, I may already be adjudged the victor..."

From a New York Times article from 1914 at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9502E7DF1638E... :
"THE battle of the armies is over and the battle of the books has begun. Viscount French has fired the first gun in a duel of pens that will surely eclipse the similar duels that raged - and still rage, for that matter..."

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Note added at 18 hrs (2015-01-16 09:39:32 GMT)
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@Daryo:

It seems to me that the speaker does not want to engage in the sort of written response that would lead to nothing more than a "duel of pens" precisely because that kind polite, polemical form of attack on his part would be inadequate. It would not even the score. He thinks something stronger is required, an approach so powerful that not even derision could defeat it.
In other words, I'm suggesting that "duel of pens" is to be read in a deprecatory way. The speaker is rejecting that approach; he does not intend to use his pen to that end.
While don't think that this is the only possible translation, I do think it is an option that makes sense and transmits the meaning of the French text.

John Holland
France
Local time: 06:49
Works in field
Native speaker of: English

47 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

pen-thrusts

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 06:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 40

Grading comment

I went with thrusts of the pen. Thanks very much!

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English translation: thrusts of the pen

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