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délirer à fonds perdu

English translation: letting our imaginations run away with us

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13:41 Sep 29, 2010

French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Journalism

French term or phrase: délirer à fonds perdu

Need a little help here with fitting this phrase into an English sentence. Thanks!

Here is the whole sentence:

Donc, contrairement à ce que l’on pourrait croire, si on cesse de délirer à fonds perdu, la photo d’actualité est quand même trompeuse car la candidate ne pousse pas un cri de joie à la découverte de son score mais, en aparté amical, surjoue la folle dingue ravie, presque queer, tant elle ressemble à une actrice de sitcom cherchant la connivence avec un public de rires enregistrés au moment de placer l’ultime gag avant générique.

Dani Translates KudoZ activity Questions: 3 (none open) Answers: 4
Local time: 14:33

English translation:letting our imaginations run away with us

Explanation:
Having found the article in full on-line (referring to a certain Delaware candidate) I think this is what the journalist is getting at - she has been letting her imagination run a little wild as to what the photo in question depicts, and now she is coming back to cold reality.

HTH

Selected response from:

Charlotte Allen
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:33

Grading comment

Thank you very much!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +5

letting our imaginations run away with us

Charlotte Allen

run a reality check

xxxBourth

To jabber at full pelt

Michel F. Morin

joking apart

polyglot45

if we stop being excessive

mimi 254

this insane wishful thinking

MatthewLaSon

Discussion entries: 2

Answers

15 mins confidence:

if we stop being excessive

Explanation:
If we are reasonable (and not biased)

That's how i understand it

mimi 254
Local time: 19:33
Native speaker of:

English,

French

30 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

letting our imaginations run away with us

Charlotte Allen
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:33
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 3

Grading comment

Thank you very much!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Melissa McMahon: Looked a good option anyway, but if you also have seen the context, even better!

10 mins

-> Thanks, Melissa.

agree

Philippa: I think this is a good solution, but the journalist (I also found the article) is probably a man (Didier).

25 mins

-> Yeeees, I admit I was guessing from the tone of the article - sounded a bit bitchy to me, therefore I presumed it was a woman! My bad.

agree

David Salas

1 hr

-> Thanks David.

agree

xxxSMcG: yeah, I also read the article (in Libération) with it's references to "Deep Throat" etc. the tone is not surprising if you know the publication (i.e. not exactly know for it's pro-American views.)

5 hrs

-> Yeah, I thought it was a bit over the top myself....

agree

Sandra Mouton

2 days23 hrs

1 hr confidence:

joking apart

Explanation:
another way

polyglot45
Native speaker of:

English,

French
PRO pts in category: 20

1 hr confidence:

To jabber at full pelt

Explanation:
Pour "à fond les manettes", je propose "at full pelt" (= literaly "as fast as possible").
Et pour "délirer", "to jabber".

Please comment !
Merci.

Reference: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/pelt_4#pe...
Reference: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=445611

Michel F. Morin
France
Local time: 20:33
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in category: 8

2 hrs confidence:

this insane wishful thinking

Explanation:
Hello,

délirer = to be all pschyed up in the sense of wishful thinkig here?

à fonds perdus = investing money with no hopes of return?

I think that "wishful" carries over the idea of "à fonds perdus" here, and that "délirer" could be best translated by the adjective "sane". Best to nominalize the phrase in English, even though the French verbalizes it.

I hope this helps.

MatthewLaSon
Local time: 14:33
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

2 hrs confidence:

run a reality check

Explanation:
However I'm not sure what one does to achieve a reality check. Does one do one, run one, have one, indulge in one, perform one, execute one ....

...if we put our deliciously wayward minds back on track ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2010-09-29 16:00:29 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Maybe "if we calm down and run a reality check".

xxxBourth
Local time: 20:33
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 36

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délirer à fonds perdu

English translation: letting our imaginations run away with us

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délirer à fonds perdu

English translation: letting our imaginations run away with us

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KudoZ™ translation helpThe KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.

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The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.