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  3. General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters

Allez savoir pourquoi

English translation: For some reason; Surprisingly enough

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Allez savoir pourquoi
English translation:For some reason; Surprisingly enough
Entered by: Carol Gullidge

11:08 Mar 10, 2008
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / linguistics (explanation of phrase in cookery book)
French term or phrase: Allez savoir pourquoi
C’est l’un des plats que je fais le plus souvent. *****___Allez savoir pourquoi___*****, mais ces crostini, qui sont au fond un mélange Nord-Sud (gorgonzola-figues), plaisent toujours. C’est peut-être grâce au caractère du gorgonzola, gentiment mitigé par la douceur du mascarpone… Essayez-le aussi avec des minitartelettes de pâte brisée à la place du pain.

_______

Can't think what this means, exactly! My current interim solution is "Heaven knows why", but this doesn't really fit, imo.
There are masses of g-hits for this phrase - mainly due to it being a song title. Perhaps the author is alluding to the song title, but I assume it must have a set meaning in its own right...

Any suggestions would be most welcome - many thanks!
Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:15
For some reason
Explanation:
still a bit bizarre but this is the idea

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Note added at 4 mins (2008-03-10 11:13:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Perhaps surprisingly, given their nature....
Selected response from:

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 05:15
Grading comment
thanks so much for getting me out of my mental rut! Your suggestions helped me to come up with the simple "Surprisingly enough", which fits the light-hearted colloquial register of the book
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +5For some reason
CMJ_Trans (X)
4 +1God knows why
emiledgar
5who knows why!
Nadia Ayoub
4 +1goodness knows why, but
Tony M
4inexplicably/I can't think why
Valerie Scaletta
4I don't know why
jokie
3Surprisingly
Lori Cirefice
3Go figure
rkillings


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +5
For some reason


Explanation:
still a bit bizarre but this is the idea

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 4 mins (2008-03-10 11:13:22 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Perhaps surprisingly, given their nature....

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 05:15
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 231
Grading comment
thanks so much for getting me out of my mental rut! Your suggestions helped me to come up with the simple "Surprisingly enough", which fits the light-hearted colloquial register of the book
Notes to answerer
Asker: BRILLIANT! (I was so close, yet so far away!) Thanks for the super-quick suggestions!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  swanda
4 mins
agree  Rob Grayson
10 mins
agree  Martin Cassell: Or perhaps, sticking to the well-trodden paths of cliché, "For some unknown reason, these ... "
25 mins
agree  Tony M
1 hr
agree  Steve Melling: Agree with Martin about adding the word "unkown" into the phrase.
5 hrs
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
God knows why


Explanation:
Another possibility.

emiledgar
Belgium
Local time: 05:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 125
Notes to answerer
Asker: thanks, Emil! This is fairly similar to my original idea, but I agree with Tony's comment


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Tony M: I think invoking the Almighty would be out of keeping with the register here / In SPOKEN language, yes of course — so would I! But in EN, this would be inappropriate in lots of WRITTEN contexts
13 mins
  -> Don't be silly, I would say this anytime, especially about cooking.
agree  askell
19 mins
  -> Thank you.
neutral  writeaway: agree with Tony. this isn't the right register and is out of place in the context
5 hrs
  -> See my response to Tony.
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Surprisingly


Explanation:
The mix of ingredients here wouldn't seem to be big hit, but suprisingly, people actually like it.

Lori Cirefice
France
Local time: 05:15
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16
Notes to answerer
Asker: thanks, lori! Very similar to my eventual choice, but I hit upon this as soon as CMJ posted his/her answer, so thought it only fair to award the points there!

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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
inexplicably/I can't think why


Explanation:
inexplicably/I can't think why

Valerie Scaletta
Italy
Local time: 05:15
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in ItalianItalian
Notes to answerer
Asker: thanks, Valerie - any of these would also have done!

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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
I don't know why


Explanation:
Other form option of Heaven....
The meaning is the same: doing something without know why, but pleasant.
Italian crostini with gorgonzola cheese.........wonderful!!!!


jokie
Spain
Local time: 05:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: Italian
Notes to answerer
Asker: many thanks, jokie! I must admit, the recipes are quite mouthwatering!

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16 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
who knows why!


Explanation:
also possible.

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Note added at 22 mins (2008-03-10 11:31:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

or you could say: for some obscure reason

Nadia Ayoub
Egypt
Local time: 06:15
Native speaker of: Arabic
PRO pts in category: 4
Notes to answerer
Asker: thanks nadia! As I said, all of these answers are great. I'm spoilt for choice, which is why it seems fairest to choose the first one.

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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Go figure


Explanation:
Never before occurred to me that we could have got this expression from French.:-)

rkillings
United States
Local time: 20:15
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 9
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
goodness knows why, but


Explanation:
Another one for the melting pot — slightly softer than the 'God' variant, and possibly more appropriate for an informal cookery sort of register.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2008-03-10 15:18:32 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

OK, Carol I only added it post-closure, as I saw that no-one had yet suggested this.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 31 days (2008-04-10 15:59:18 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Carol, it's the sort of thing that a "normally bilingual person" might be reasonably expected to know, and doesn't require any speciliast technical knowledge in a particular field, nor in-depth linguistic knowledge. In my book, that makes it "non-pro".

Tony M
France
Local time: 05:15
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 348
Notes to answerer
Asker: many thanks, Tony! Sorry, I didn't see this one before!

Asker: PS, you're right about the register

Asker: Hi tony, I just noticed that you voted this Non-Pro, and wonder why. It wasn't at all obvious to me, especially as it's one of those idiomatic phrases that doesn't feature in my trusty Collins Robert...


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  suezen
2 hrs
  -> Thanks, Sue!
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