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fond

English translation: bottoms

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:fond
English translation:bottoms
Entered by: Rod Darby (X)

21:54 Nov 3, 2003
French to English translations [PRO]
/ boats, sailing, anchors
French term or phrase: fond
difficult one here: it's about testing anchors on different types of ground. there's a heading "Des fonds représentatifs", which my predecessor (I'm "only" proof-reading!) chose to translate as "Representative bottoms", which immediately put me in mind of Britney Spears.
Obviously, the word keeps cropping up, and I quickly ran out of synonyms, while avoiding the bottoms!
Rod Darby (X)
Ghana
Local time: 04:03
bottoms
Explanation:
Sorry, Rod, but bottoms it is and bottoms it must remain!

Perhaps you could find a way of re-phrasing here, it might make it easier to reconstruct the sentence to avoid the plural, as in 'Representative bottom samples', etc.

Sea-bed would be a better alternative, except it isn't really appropriate when talking qualitatively about the type of bottom in which you can fix your anchor...

Just trust the people in the know not to laugh as much as us lay folk!

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Note added at 2003-11-04 07:56:25 (GMT)
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With regard to Jane\'s suggestion of \'typical\' --- hilst I agree that this would be a much better way of getting round the problem, I unfortunately can\'t agree on the basis that to me it doesn\'t mean quite the same thing. These \'bottoms\' have to be representative of a wide cross-section of ones likely to be encountered in the wild (oh, oh, now its WILD BOTTOMS....!), and to me that\'s subtly different from \'typical\'

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Note added at 2003-11-04 08:04:31 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Apologies for the typo -- of course that should have been \'whilst\'

And even bigger apologies to Jane for incorrectly quoting her suggestion in perr comment below; of course, NOT \'typical bottoms\', but \'different types of...\'

But I still stand by the comment that \'representative\' is being used deliberately --- as in \' a representative cross-section of bottom types\'. Oh dear, I seem to be getting into this \'bottom\' thing deeper and deeper, don\'t I? :-) SHUT UP, Alex!!!


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Note added at 2 days 2 hrs 21 mins (2003-11-06 00:16:32 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

In response to Ron\'s PS:

No, I\'m certain the plural isn\'t REZES-de chaussée; I suspect the \'chaussée\' should in fact be invariable, but deliberately made it agree to indicate the otherwise invisible plural, in order to illustrate my point. Apologies to the Académie Française and all my French native colleagues who might be offended by my thus taking liberties with their language!
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 06:03
Grading comment
well it's bottoms up, then, and representative ones to boot.
In the end I used "representative bottom types", not being able to get Britney out of my head (go to the bottom of the class, Darby)
Many thanks to all of you, not least for brightening my day/evening!
Rod
P.S. re your comment to JLDSF: you sure the plural ain't "rezes-de-chaussée"?


4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4bottoms
Tony M
4 +2sea bottom
olganet
5 +1sea, lake and other bottoms
Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)
4 +1(see) floor
Francis MARC
4seabed
Kpy
4 -1bottom floors
Jean-Luc Dumont


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
(see) floor


Explanation:
Termium:
Domaine(s)
  – Navigation Aids (Water Transp.)
  – Hydrology and Hydrography
Domaine(s)
  – Aides à la navigation
  – Hydrologie et hydrographie
 
sea floor Source CORRECT

seafloor Source CORRECT

sea-floor Source CORRECT

sea bottom Source CORRECT

seabed Source CORRECT

ocean floor Source CORRECT

ocean bottom Source CORRECT

plancher océanique Source
CORRECT, MASC

fond de l'océan Source CORRECT,
MASC

fond océanique Source CORRECT,
MASC

fond de la mer Source CORRECT,
MASC

fond Source CORRECT, MASC

fond marin Source CORRECT, MASC

lit marin Source CORRECT, MASC

DEF – The bottom of the ocean.
Source

DEF – Partie de la croûte terrestre
formant le fond des océans

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Note added at 2003-11-03 21:59:45 (GMT)
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***
et aussi bien sûr \"SEABED\"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-03 21:59:49 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

***
et aussi bien sûr \"SEABED\"

Francis MARC
Lithuania
Local time: 07:03
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in pair: 6500

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Ivana UK
10 mins
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26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
sea bottom


Explanation:
sea bottoms, not just any bottoms :)sorry about the association with Britney, but buttoms are ok:)))
The San Francisco Mud Bottom Anchor Tests
Conducted by NAV-X Corporation (manufacturers of the Fortress Marine Anchors)

The intent of this series is to establish a credible reference for the performance of anchors in the various bottom types and anchoring conditions the yachtsman can expect to encounter while cruising.
The two anchors which are optimized for mud bottoms did substantially better than the traditional designs
http://www.ussailing.org/safety/Studies/1990_mud_anchor_test...

But such problems, rather than putting me off sailing, made me think seriously about anchors. I began my study of how anchors work - and of why they sometimes fail to work. Are all anchors equal, dragging with the same load on the same bottom? Will they drag with a constant resistance ? And if they do let go, will they dig in again? In a word, how do anchors behave?

although we would always try to launch the anchor in the same place, the natural variation of any sea bottom gave unacceptably large variations, even for repetitions of tests with the same anchor. We have assumed that the large flat surface of sand uniformly subject to the action of waves ensure that sea floor is of fairly constant form along a long beach.

Alain POIRAUD - SPADE chairman http://www.spade-anchor.com/Site anglais/US/breackingup.htm.

SMF:Baltic Sea Science Congress 2001:
The Baltic Sea bottoms
are also characterized by strong ...



olganet
Local time: 23:03
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in pair: 168

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jean-Luc Dumont: well you can use an anchor for any bottom can be a river or estuary or lake bottom, or sea bottom
1 hr
  -> of course, but not just "bottoms" :)
neutral  Tony M: Bottoms on its own is fine; and your last reference is in fact not quite right --- the capital on Sea indicates that they are talking about the bottoms found in the Baltic Sea
9 hrs
  -> I didn't find any reference of the word "bottom" used by itself, always with the context of a lake, sea, o river bottom. And the last reference is used also to show the usage of the term, and not to refer it to an anchor testing, it is obvious
agree  Robintech
9 hrs
  -> thank you
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
seabed


Explanation:
OED suggests this as an alternative to Ms Spears

Kpy
France
Local time: 06:03
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 190
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
sea, lake and other bottoms


Explanation:
that's better, a bit

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-04 01:31:26 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

OR
sandy, rocky and other bottoms [could also be texture!]

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-04 01:31:54 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

because we don\'t want to say
Typical bottoms, do we?? :)

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  Jean-Luc Dumont: bis repetita...
2 hrs
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6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
bottom floors


Explanation:
relevant representative typical

Jean-Luc Dumont
France
Local time: 06:03
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in pair: 1108

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Tony M: Sorry, JLDSF, but I don't believe you can put the two together like this; it has to be one or the other, or else it sounds like you're talking about 'rez-de-chausées' !
3 hrs
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12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
bottoms


Explanation:
Sorry, Rod, but bottoms it is and bottoms it must remain!

Perhaps you could find a way of re-phrasing here, it might make it easier to reconstruct the sentence to avoid the plural, as in 'Representative bottom samples', etc.

Sea-bed would be a better alternative, except it isn't really appropriate when talking qualitatively about the type of bottom in which you can fix your anchor...

Just trust the people in the know not to laugh as much as us lay folk!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-04 07:56:25 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

With regard to Jane\'s suggestion of \'typical\' --- hilst I agree that this would be a much better way of getting round the problem, I unfortunately can\'t agree on the basis that to me it doesn\'t mean quite the same thing. These \'bottoms\' have to be representative of a wide cross-section of ones likely to be encountered in the wild (oh, oh, now its WILD BOTTOMS....!), and to me that\'s subtly different from \'typical\'

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2003-11-04 08:04:31 (GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Apologies for the typo -- of course that should have been \'whilst\'

And even bigger apologies to Jane for incorrectly quoting her suggestion in perr comment below; of course, NOT \'typical bottoms\', but \'different types of...\'

But I still stand by the comment that \'representative\' is being used deliberately --- as in \' a representative cross-section of bottom types\'. Oh dear, I seem to be getting into this \'bottom\' thing deeper and deeper, don\'t I? :-) SHUT UP, Alex!!!


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days 2 hrs 21 mins (2003-11-06 00:16:32 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

In response to Ron\'s PS:

No, I\'m certain the plural isn\'t REZES-de chaussée; I suspect the \'chaussée\' should in fact be invariable, but deliberately made it agree to indicate the otherwise invisible plural, in order to illustrate my point. Apologies to the Académie Française and all my French native colleagues who might be offended by my thus taking liberties with their language!

Tony M
France
Local time: 06:03
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 15194
Grading comment
well it's bottoms up, then, and representative ones to boot.
In the end I used "representative bottom types", not being able to get Britney out of my head (go to the bottom of the class, Darby)
Many thanks to all of you, not least for brightening my day/evening!
Rod
P.S. re your comment to JLDSF: you sure the plural ain't "rezes-de-chaussée"?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  lenkl: And not always sea bottoms: Can anyone suggest a good anchor for anchoring in rocky lake bottoms?
28 mins
  -> Thanks, Lenkl! Sorry, I'm not familiar with your kind of bottom, so can't offer any lake-bed suggestions :-))
agree  Bourth (X): Bottoms, bed, lay; y'all will be talking about seamen next, and I'll report you!
1 hr
  -> Thanks Alex! For once, I don't even dare add a cheeky comment..!
agree  Jean-Luc Dumont: stick to the bottom :-)
1 hr
  -> Thanks, JLDSF!
agree  Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X): Different types of bottoms; even funnier but better than representative!
3 hrs
  -> Thnaks, Jane! And please see my comment above... ^
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