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faussement sage

English translation: falsely demure

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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

French term or phrase:	faussement sage
English translation:	falsely demure
Entered by:	loulou79

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09:40 May 24, 2011

French to English translations [PRO]
Journalism / article de magazine

French term or phrase: faussement sage

Good morning,

I know what this means but can't find an appropriate translation, your help, as always would be very helpful :)

"Ici, la mode se veut créative et faussement sage avec une touche de..." (talking about a pret-à-porter shop)

Thank you in advance :)

Here, fashion is intended to be creative and falesely... hmm

loulou79

falsely demure

Explanation:
'sage' as in 'modest', as in "Brave Margot qui était simple est très sage présumait que c'était pour voir son chat que tous les gars..."

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Note added at 36 mins (2011-05-24 10:17:41 GMT)
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or, you could perhaps use 'coyly demure'

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Note added at 1 hr (2011-05-24 10:43:34 GMT)
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my pleasure! I imagine the Brassens song is before your time...!

Selected response from:

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:33

Grading comment

Thank you so much!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +1

with an air of feigned innocence

Colin Rowe

3 +1

falsely demure

Carol Gullidge

deceivingly sober

LaraBarnett

4 -2

to pass oneself's off as an expert

SafeTex

Discussion entries: 3

Answers

32 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

falsely demure

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:33
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

Grading comment

Thank you so much!

Notes to answerer

Asker: thank you :)

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

agree

silvester55

11 mins

-> many thanks sylvester!

agree

Michel F. Morin

52 mins

-> many thanks Michel!

neutral

polyglot45: I like "demure" and think it is the right word but I do not like "falsely" - can't put my finger on the word I want. Perhaps "seemingly" or "apparently" or "superficially" Pseudo goody-two-shoes - perhaps "pretend demure"

1 hr

-> perhaps "pseudo demure" then? Or "fake demure" might just work... I don't think the others quite work in this context//Actually, I think "FAUX DEMURE" could work, as in "faux" so many other things!// Or even "teasingly demure"

disagree

SafeTex: The fashion world want to show itself to be 'falsely demure' ???

1 hr

-> could be, or one of the other suggestions I put forward might be better. In any case, I don't think this is about the fashion world as such, but simply about fashion itself - which is quite a different thing!

neutral

Mike Birch: I also like "demure", but less keen on "falsely". How about "mock demure"?

2 hrs

-> thanks Mike! "Mock" is another possibility (one of many), but really - as with Polyglot's comment - I see this as an Agree with "demure", which I feel is the main part of the question, and what seemed to be most bothering loulou!

neutral

Melissa McMahon: Maybe "coy" is all you need? Sums up "falsely demure"?

2 hrs

-> Thanks Melissa! I already suggested "coyly demure", which I actually prefer to just "coy", which somehow seems to have negative connotations. I think "wickedly demure" might even do the trick, but I feel "sage" is the part that loulou finds most difficult

neutral

cc in nyc: agree with coyly demure, but not false, faux, fake, pseudo or other negatives if the intent is a positive review (I can't tell :o); but I'm not sure because of the "se veut" // Yes, the faux may not be pej., but still... and yes, I saw your coyly demure

4 hrs

-> thanks cc! You'll see I did already suggest "coyly demure". Incidentally, the use of "faux" is frequently far from negative, as in "faux leather" and "faux fur" - which is the sense I had in mind

neutral

Laura Elvin: How about 'deceptively demure'? (and you get some nice alliteration too!)

5 hrs

-> thanks Laura! "deceptively demure" is very nice, but please see my replies to previous Neutral postings. Basically, I'm taking them all as Agrees with my basic answer, as they would have been had this been posted on the ES>EN side!

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): -2

to pass oneself's off as an expert

Explanation:
An English expression that is what I believe the writer wants to say and it goes with the preceeding part of the sentence.

"The fashion world wants to pass itself of a creative and as an expert"

SafeTex
Local time: 20:33
Native speaker of:

English

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

with an air of feigned innocence

Explanation:
I think this is the idea being conveyed here.
Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth... or would it?

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Note added at 3 hrs (2011-05-24 12:42:00 GMT)
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i.e. mischievous and playful (flirtatious, perhaps), whilst pretending to be innocent

Colin Rowe
Germany
Local time: 20:33
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

1 day13 hrs confidence:

deceivingly sober

Explanation:
"Deceivingly" is one aspect of falsely that could work. "Sober" is also an aspect of this idea.

LaraBarnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:33
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
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in this pair and field

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faussement sage

English translation: falsely demure

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English translation: falsely demure

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