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les humains s'embrassent avec la langue

English translation: humans kiss one another with their tongues

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:les humains s'embrassent avec la langue
English translation:humans kiss one another with their tongues
Entered by: Julia Bogdan Rollo (X)

19:12 Nov 26, 2001
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
French term or phrase: les humains s'embrassent avec la langue
a comic strip
jessica
humans embrace one another with their tongues
Explanation:
Its a play on words.

"S'embrasser", in its literal sense, is to hug or embrace one another. Notice the "bras" in "embrasser" (it means "to take into one's arms"). The "real" word for "to kiss" is "baiser" which, nowadays, means "to f-u-you-know-what"... "Donner un baiser" and "bizou" still refer to kissing though.

Nowadays, "embrasser" usually means "to kiss, "s'embrasser" usually "to kiss one another passionately".

That's why I'd go for "embrace" rather than "kiss" because you can play more with "embrace" as a concept than with kiss: one can embrace a principle, an idea, or *a people* (and still be considered respectable) whereas most word plays on "kiss" have too many possible negative connotations.

There's also the play on "langue" which means either "tongue" (the thing in your mouth) or "the power or communication through speech" (as Merriam-Webster puts it). "Tongues", the plural, seems to me to better suggest either language or tongue (the organ) better in the plural than in the singular.
Selected response from:

cheungmo
Grading comment
i liked the background you put it. it makes a little more sense now. i understand how you would mean embrace with tongues, even though saying it is awkward. thanks for the info.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +2humans kiss with their tongues
Zaltys
4 +2humans kiss using the tongue
BernieM
5humans kiss using their tongues
mckinnc
4humans embrace one another with their tongues
cheungmo
4human beings kiss each other with their tongues


  

Answers


5 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
humans kiss using the tongue


Explanation:
Sounds a strange sort of comic strip!!

BernieM
Canada
Local time: 19:26
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 244

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mohouttuin: I think this is the explanation which comes the closest....
4 hrs
agree  sujata
11 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
humans embrace one another with their tongues


Explanation:
Its a play on words.

"S'embrasser", in its literal sense, is to hug or embrace one another. Notice the "bras" in "embrasser" (it means "to take into one's arms"). The "real" word for "to kiss" is "baiser" which, nowadays, means "to f-u-you-know-what"... "Donner un baiser" and "bizou" still refer to kissing though.

Nowadays, "embrasser" usually means "to kiss, "s'embrasser" usually "to kiss one another passionately".

That's why I'd go for "embrace" rather than "kiss" because you can play more with "embrace" as a concept than with kiss: one can embrace a principle, an idea, or *a people* (and still be considered respectable) whereas most word plays on "kiss" have too many possible negative connotations.

There's also the play on "langue" which means either "tongue" (the thing in your mouth) or "the power or communication through speech" (as Merriam-Webster puts it). "Tongues", the plural, seems to me to better suggest either language or tongue (the organ) better in the plural than in the singular.


cheungmo
PRO pts in pair: 339
Grading comment
i liked the background you put it. it makes a little more sense now. i understand how you would mean embrace with tongues, even though saying it is awkward. thanks for the info.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sheila Hardie: good explanation!:)
2 hrs
agree  sjpereira
3 hrs
disagree  mckinnc: definitely not embrace! You embrace using your arms!
3 hrs
disagree  Zaltys: Although I agree with the explanation, I think you're reading too much into the sentence in this context. It's only a comic strip, after all. A literal translation is probably more appropriate
8 hrs
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
human beings kiss each other with their tongues


Explanation:
Easy to show!


Native speaker of:

5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
humans kiss using their tongues


Explanation:
sounds more natural to me than saying with the tongue

Also maybe humans use their tongues when they kiss

mckinnc
Local time: 04:26
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 922

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Zaltys: what do you mean 'maybe'? Don't play the innocent!
8 hrs
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10 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
humans kiss with their tongues


Explanation:
Humans can kiss 'with their tongues', as opposed to 'without tongues', as anyone who's ever been a teenager will tell you. (Oh, it makes me feel sick).

Zaltys
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:26
PRO pts in pair: 7

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Abu Amaal (X): (humans engage in linguistic communication)
16 hrs
agree  Julia Bogdan Rollo (X)
46 days
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