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l'avant dernier

English translation: the people on the next rung down

12:59 Jan 8, 2003
French to English translations [Non-PRO]
French term or phrase: l'avant dernier
Le mode de vie des nouveaux bourgeois s'eloigne en tout de celui du bourgeois traditionel.
Ros
English translation:the people on the next rung down
Explanation:
the ones who haven't yet got as high up the ladder
Selected response from:

Lanna Castellano
Local time: 16:07
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4second to last
Francis MARC
4 +4last but one
Elisabeth Toda-v.Galen
5 +1depends on how you translate Bottin Mondain
Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)
4 +1next to last
writeaway
4 +1the people on the next rung down
Lanna Castellano
3(of) the last lot / the previous lot / the ones preceding them
markmx


  

Answers


1 min   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
second to last


Explanation:
Ref. termium

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Note added at 2003-01-08 13:02:40 (GMT)
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Reference Harrap\'s:
avant-dernier, -avant-dernière
1 adj last but one, second (to) last, Fml penultimate;

Francis MARC
Lithuania
Local time: 18:07
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 6500

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  NancyLynn
3 mins
agree  Louise Dupont (X)
24 mins
agree  Pascale Dahan
1 hr
agree  T Crotogino
2 hrs
neutral  Peter Coles: A touch too literal. This seems to me to be about social classes and therefore second to last has the opposite effect in English to that intended by the French.
3 hrs
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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
next to last


Explanation:
my suggestion.

writeaway
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 2913

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Bruce Popp
1 hr
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
last but one


Explanation:
Je pense qu'il parle des étages. C'est donc l'avant dernier étage, the last but one (Robert n Collins)

Elisabeth Toda-v.Galen
France
Local time: 17:07
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 268

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Nikki Scott-Despaigne
4 mins
agree  Geoffrey D Heath (X)
1 hr
agree  Anna Taylor
4 hrs
agree  cjohnstone: oui ce sont les étages
4 hrs
neutral  Therese Nichols: The one before the last
11 hrs
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
(of) the last lot / the previous lot / the ones preceding them


Explanation:
I think it's more about style here, and the idea of 'the ones who preceded them' should be lightened in tone with a casual (or even dismissive) word like 'lot'

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Note added at 2003-01-08 14:23:29 (GMT)
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\'those / the ones before them\'

markmx
Local time: 17:07
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 63
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
the people on the next rung down


Explanation:
the ones who haven't yet got as high up the ladder

Lanna Castellano
Local time: 16:07
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 377

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Peter Coles
1 hr
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
depends on how you translate Bottin Mondain


Explanation:
In the US, there is a thing, called the Social Register. So if you translate Bottin Mondain as Social Register, you can say:
If those listed in the Social Register are happy to ....., those who did not quite make it are ....

I would forget about floors and being on floors because it doesn't quite work in English as well as being listed and not making it into the book....

Evidence:
The Forbes Family is Scaling Back Social Register
by Frank DiGiacomo



Though the traditional notion of New York society has become an increasingly quaint concept in this age of branding and classless celebrity, it has clung to life in the pages of The Social Register, that 115-year-old semi-annual compilation of America’s ruling class that, since the late 70’s, has been published by the Forbes family.

But the sudden—and quiet—departure of Tom Jones, the company’s director of special projects and the man who presided over the Register during much of the 23 years he worked at Forbes Inc., has thrown the publication’s already dim future into question.



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Note added at 2003-01-08 15:03:41 (GMT)
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dernier etage=bottin mondain=being on the top floor ie in the Social Register

avant dernier etage=not being on the top floor, ie just missing being in the social register

:)

Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in pair: 8576

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Peter Coles: The UK English equivalent to the US Social Register would be Debretts Peerage, though the term 'top drawer' also works.
1 hr
  -> Indeed but the peerage is for titles persons not just ladeeda Us (as in U and non-U)
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