busybodies

08:27 Aug 14, 2019
This question was closed without grading. Reason: Other

English to French translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
English term or phrase: busybodies
I sometimes ache to be rocked in the bosom of the blood relations and busybodies of my childhood.
(Barbara Kingsolver - High Tide in Tucson)
Jacek Sierakowski
Belgium
Local time: 00:09


Summary of answers provided
4 +1fouineur, fureteur
FX Fraipont (X)
4un importun, la mouche du coche
Annie 33
4 -1d'aventures de mon enfance
Jean Charles CODINA
4 -1ceux qui s'affairaient autour de moi
Daryo
3 -1bien intentionnés
kashew
3 -2profiteurs
david henrion


Discussion entries: 17





  

Answers


31 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
d'aventures de mon enfance


Explanation:
c'est une possibilité qui correspondrait a l'idée générale. Il y a de nombreuses possibilités contextuelles. J'espère que cela va vous aider.

Jean Charles CODINA
France
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: 'busybody' has nothing to do with adventures — it's about a certain type of person...
28 mins

disagree  Daryo: "... qui correspondrait a l'idée générale"? non, même pas de très loin.
1 hr
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
fouineur, fureteur


Explanation:
"Fureteur
Au fig., emploi subst. et adj. (Celui, celle) qui s'introduit quelque part et qui fouille partout, dans l'espoir de découvrir ou de s'approprier quelque chose."

"Busybody
a person who pries into or meddles in the affairs of others.
http://dicionary.com/browse/busybody


FX Fraipont (X)
Belgium
Local time: 00:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 106

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Daryo: that would the OK when there is the usual negative connotation, but here it's different.
1 hr

agree  B D Finch: Yes, there is a negative connotation, as Daryo notes. However that seems to be exactly the point; the busybodies might have been annoying at the time, but their nosey interferance was associated with warmth and concern.
2 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -2
profiteurs


Explanation:
dans le sens d'opportunistes !!

david henrion
France
Local time: 00:09
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: that is not the meaning associated with "busybodies" , and even in this unusual use of "busybodies" it would not make much sense.
1 hr

agree  GILLES MEUNIER
2 hrs

disagree  Tony M: Agree with point made by Daryo; this isn't a general meaning of busybody, and hardly seems to fi the context here.
3 hrs

disagree  kashew: Try again!
4 hrs
  -> I will, Kashew, I will ... Thx for the inducement !!
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
un importun, la mouche du coche


Explanation:
une personne qui se mêle de tout

Annie 33
United Kingdom
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: French
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
busybodies [of my childhood]
ceux qui s'affairaient autour de moi


Explanation:
"busybodies" are usually seen in a negative way, usually petty officials or self-appointed defenders of morality/order/... [see "Mary Whitehouse" ...] meddling in other people's business on the flimsiest of pretext.

Not exactly what would usually motivate anyone to "ache to be rocked in the bosom of ..." of said individuals.

These particular "busybodies" must have been all kind of non-relatives fussing around the author in her childhood.

"ceux qui s'affairaient autour de moi"

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Note added at 2 hrs (2019-08-14 11:26:10 GMT)
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to state the blindingly obvious, just in case:

this is not the "normal/usual" use of "busybodies " - don't put this in a glossary and give the impression to people not paying enough attention to the context that "busybodies" are supposed to be nice people.

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Note added at 6 hrs (2019-08-14 14:47:37 GMT)
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ceux qui s'affairaient autour de moi = literally: those making themselves busy around me

not particularly negative nor positive, wouldn't sound in discordance with the idea that a child would want "to be rocked in the bosom of ..." such persons.

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Note added at 12 hrs (2019-08-14 21:22:46 GMT)
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some context - to get the general tone / style of the story:

http://dl.lux.bookfi.net/foreignfiction/1184000/749a80a8def6...[Kingsolver_Barbara]_High_Tide_In_Tucson(BookFi).pdf

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Note added at 12 hrs (2019-08-14 21:25:31 GMT)
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the whole passage sounds more nostalgic than ironic to me.

Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in SerbianSerbian, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: I think that the point here is that these busybodies were nosey and interfering, but warm and concerned. Their positive features might not have been appreciated in childhood, but only later.
37 mins
  -> well, the text **was** written later - (several decades later!), so you would reasonably expect that events are described **as perceived later / at the time of writing**?

disagree  GILLES MEUNIER: ça ne rend pas d'idée de personne intéressée....
45 mins

neutral  kashew: Irony by the writer I reckon. And BDF has a good point.
3 hrs
  -> Possible - you would need to read the whole story to get the underlying associations - With what's available, I see it as simply a statement of facts "these people were busy around me" - and I liked them => not your bog standard "busybodies"!
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
bien intentionnés


Explanation:
This could be the writer's insinuation - well-intentioned but meddlers all the same.

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Note added at 1 jour 1 heure (2019-08-15 09:52:35 GMT)
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do-gooders seems the idea.

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Note added at 1 jour 11 heures (2019-08-15 19:38:18 GMT)
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"...bosom of the blood relations and busybodies...."
Anybody else note the alliteration:4 b's ?

kashew
France
Local time: 00:09
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  david henrion: "ache ..." "personnes bien intentionnées" ?! it seems to be a really awkward association.
6 mins

neutral  Daryo: these particular "busybodies" were probably of the rarest "well-intentioned" variety, but it misses the "busybodies" part
9 mins
  -> Seems it's a haven relative to her difficult later experiences, after leaving home.
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