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a voulu creuse

English translation: ...its hollow needle, which was the title of a book by ML


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16:03 Oct 13, 2011
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / from a description of Etretat in Normandy
French term or phrase: a voulu creuse
Pour les Normands, Etretat se singularise par son 'Aiguille' que Maurice Leblanc a voulu creuse.

I know that the Aiguille is a pointed rock sticking up in the sea off the coast of Etretat, and that Leblanc was a local author, but what the rest means, escapes me....
janisct
Local time: 14:16
English translation:...its hollow needle, which was the title of a book by ML
Explanation:
éxégèse et dilution ici pr faire passer l'idée source
Selected response from:

bigmimi
Local time: 09:16
Grading comment
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +3made hollow
Yolanda Broad
4...its hollow needle, which was the title of a book by MLbigmimi
Summary of reference entries provided
The book
B D Finch

Discussion entries: 1





  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +3
made hollow


Explanation:
It's the title of one of Leblanc's books. In English, The Hollow Needle. (An Arsène Lupin mystery).


    Reference: http://librivox.org/hollow-needle-by-maurice-leblanc/
Yolanda Broad
Local time: 09:16
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  LaraBarnett
13 mins
  -> Thank you.

agree  Carol Gullidge
29 mins
  -> Thank you.

neutral  B D Finch: This would only work if Leblanc's books were as well known to the target readers as, say, Agatha Christie's.
58 mins
  -> It would, of course, be necessary to expand the text in English to clarify the reference (i.e., include info about the Arsène Lupin mystery).

agree  Sarita Jannin: I think this is fine. The hollowed out rock is so famous in itself that surely people will understand the sentence even if they don't know Leblanc...
1 day3 hrs
  -> Thank you. Whether or not the rock would be familiar to an informed English reader, Lupin surely would.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
...its hollow needle, which was the title of a book by ML


Explanation:
éxégèse et dilution ici pr faire passer l'idée source

bigmimi
Local time: 09:16
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  B D Finch: The implication of "a voulu" is that the Aiguille is not really hollow.
2 mins
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Reference comments


9 mins peer agreement (net): +3
Reference: The book

Reference information:
Here is a review of Leblanc's book. I suspect that the allusion may be meaningless to nearly all anglophone readers.


    Reference: http://www.evene.fr/livres/livre/maurice-leblanc-l-aiguille-...
B D Finch
France
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 19

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Yolanda Broad
1 min
  -> Thanks Yolanda
agree  Helen Shiner: Yes, it will need unpacking a bit.//'imagined as hollow in his novel (of the same name/eponymous)'.//Agree with all you say.
1 hr
  -> Thanks Helen. If retained it needs unpacking, but it may well not be of sufficient importance to the purpose text and could be best omitted, or reduced to "imaginatively featured in a book by ...".
agree  SJLD: I'd drop it completely - useless in the context http://www.art-culture-france.com/fiche_artiste.php?id_artis...
3 hrs
  -> Thanks SJLD. See my note to Helen.
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Voters for reclassification
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PRO / non-PRO
Non-PRO (1): LaraBarnett


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