bons tuyaux de la plomberie-zinguerie

18:15 May 26, 2014 

Maybe you could do something with variations on 'piping to a different tune'...? Perhaps 'his family was in the plumbing business, but he's piping to a different tune'. Mixing metaphors/bit naff/depends on context...!

17:49 May 26, 2014 

In that case, you'd probably be within your rights to ignore the "zinguerie" bit (which presumably refers to sheet metal in general, rather than just zinc) and just say "plumbing".
This is the first mention of plumbing in the text, so I think you have to say something along the lines of "His father was a plumber, but..."

17:32 May 26, 2014 

I confirm what Sheila says: practically all of them (or the ones I've dealt with) are 'plombiers -zingueurs"

17:16 May 26, 2014 

A lot of people in France combine plumbing and zinc work. They specialise in making sure there aren't any leaks in roofing, particularly around chimneys etc by moulding zinc into joins. So it's all about keeping water in the right place.

17:06 May 26, 2014 

The article is online, and the next sentence reads: "Mes parents ne m'ont pas encouragé à suivre des études, je me suis retrouvé à l'armée rapidement".
Zinguerie appears to mean making things out of zinc - I suppose the nearest equivalent would be metalworking. The trouble is they're quite different occupations and it may be difficult to find a play on words that covers both.

15:49 May 26, 2014 

The article is about a businessman not following in his father's footsteps and becoming involved in the family's plumbing business.
Sheila, thanks for your suggestion. That's my first take on it too despite there being no reference to electricity in the text.

15:33 May 26, 2014 

The obvious translation would be about following (or not following) leads. That's more electrical than plumbing but maybe there's some content in your text that deals with that trade, too?

13:50 May 26, 2014 

provide more context as well as your own attempts thus far