May 28, 2007 10:38
17 yrs ago
English term

And it can't really get chopped.

English to French Art/Literary Cinema, Film, TV, Drama Film sur un concert à Rio
Contexte :
Des ouvriers creusent un trou dans le sable de la plage pour faire passer les câbles devant servir pour le courant, etc., notamment pour le "Snake" (câble de traction).
L'un des hommes de l'équipe tout en travaillant s'exclame :
"And it can't really get chopped. It's the whole show, so we'd rather dig it ourselves and make sure it's deep enough."

Comment traduire "And it can't really get chopped." ?
Il ne faut pas qu'il y ait de coupure (sous-entendu durant le concert) ?
Encore merci d'avance pour votre aide !

Proposed translations

+5
8 mins
Selected

et il faut absolument qu'on ne puisse pas le couper

This is my guessing day!
Je pense qu'on dirait plus souvent 'It really can't(ou même, mustn't) get chopped'; signifiant qu'il faut absolument qu'on ne coupe pas le câble en question (ce qui implique évidemment une coupure de courant), c'est pour ça qu'il faut l'enterrer bien profondément.
D'où, donc, ma proposition.
Peer comment(s):

agree Melzie : what! an English native making a word order error... I don't know what the world is coming to! can't really = ne peut vraiment pas, really can't = ne doit vraiment pas. As the 1st doesn't make sense in the context, I rest your case.
46 mins
Well as you know Melzie, us English don't never make mistakes! Thanks :-)
agree Leïla Fressy-Parvin : tout à fait d'accord
1 hr
Merci Leila:-)
agree Emma Paulay : Can't see what else it could mean - unless it's in the sense "it shouldn't be able to get chopped now, because we're digging deep enough."
1 hr
Thanks Emma :-)Yes, that meaning could be a possibility - but the next sentence does make me think it's probably what I suggest. See Melzie's answer too.
agree Jonathan MacKerron : Emma may well be right here
1 hr
Well Jonathan, I'm ready, of course, to bow to a majority feeling... but still feel I'll stand by my answer for now. Thanks for pointing out that other possible interpretation though :-)
agree Tony M : Yes, I agree with your interpretation, though I don't think it's so much a word order error as a slightly different figure of speech.
2 hrs
Thanks Tony :-)
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks, Katsy! Laurence "
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