His blast from the past

13:30 Nov 25, 2014 

J'en suis certaine parce qu'après avoir approfondi mes recherches, l'ambiguité est maintenue volontairement pour créer un effet de suspense.

13:59 Nov 24, 2014 

le contexte en anglais tel que vous l'avez donné, semble indiquer clairement que la femme en question est une ex du dénommé John

11:06 Nov 24, 2014 

"Le souffle de son passé" peut mieux passer si vous voulez une solution courte !

09:51 Nov 24, 2014 

Of course the blonde is meant here. I got this part. My question is how to put it in english si that it can fit in the whole sentence. "Son passé le rattrape" cannot connect with " really hit you hard". Je sèche toujours.... Any other idées ? Thank you to all of you for your answers

17:39 Nov 17, 2014 

Although I generally agree with what you say, do let's bear in mind that it is JOHN's past that has caught up with GARY, who is the one who has been hit here!
What we don't of course know is whether this former acquaintance of John's actually knew Gary of not? Surely that puts a different complexion on things...? If she DID know Gary (through John), then it might have been more of an issue that she still went ahead and hit him; but of course if she DIDN'T already know Gary, then obviously she would have hit him just like any other bod.

14:53 Nov 15, 2014 

it is extremely probable that the blonde is meant here. Whether she was his petit-amie or they experienced some harrowing times together is not clear. Only you can tell us that.
Otherwise perhaps something along the lines of "son passé le rattrape"

13:45 Nov 15, 2014 

Je re-précise que le contexte ne dit pas clairement que c'est l'ex petite-amie de John, donc je ne peux pas parler d'"ex" ou de "petite amie". Il faut peut-être laisser tomber l'anglais et essayer de trouver quelque chose d'imagé qui pourrait coller en français.

12:27 Nov 15, 2014 

In the US at least, this expression originally denoted a song or musician one had not heard for a long while.
E.g. "just heard Screaming Lord Sutch on the radio, now that's a real blast from the past."
The context here is more one of "running into an old flame".

10:43 Nov 15, 2014 

words fail me !
Stop taking things personally. Also stop assuming all site members are geniuses !!!!

10:29 Nov 15, 2014 

Please disregard my earlier comments, I'm sorry if my lightweight comments on the author's style and my perceived reading of it in any way caused you confusion or influenced the way you wanted to translate this text.

09:41 Nov 15, 2014 

"blast from the past" is just a phrase that caught on because it rhymes. It is the sort of expression you use when you see or hear of a person you haven't had any contact with for donkey's years. Or someone relates an old, old story : "wow, that was a real blast from the past" - there is no violence involved. The choice of words here "may" be linked to the fact that the guy got hit but beware of over-translation.

08:58 Nov 15, 2014 

= l'ex petite amie de John - cela ressort très clairement de l'explication donnée par ASKER.
Quant à 'hit', il semble également clair que les 2 équipes étant sur la même affaire sans le savoir, elle a dû le prendre pour un malfrat et lui filer une belle gifle (voire plus...) !