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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

un gars nowhere

English translation:

some random dude

Added to glossary by Madhavi Tandon (X)
Apr 13, 2006 02:57
20 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

un gars nowhere

Is 'nowhere' used to describe a 'cool' guy in Quebecois French? It is used to describe a character in an advertisement who is also described as 'surfer' type dude.

Discussion

Julie Barber Apr 13, 2006:
there are quite a few refs to a group called 'Nowhere'...you'll have some trouble figuring out what they are going on about on the sites though :)
http://www.w-fenec.org/metal/pleymo,289.html
PB Trans Apr 13, 2006:
I'd say "some guy".
Madhavi Tandon (X) (asker) Apr 13, 2006:
gars nowhere 'Là, le gars ouvre le requin tu vois des poissons morts sortir et un gars 'no where' avec un pack de gomme qui sort...'

This is part of a viewer reaction survey to an advertisement targeted at young adults and teens.
PB Trans Apr 13, 2006:
Could you give us the sentence or paragraph where the term appears?

Proposed translations

+4
2 hrs
Selected

some random dude

or some random guy

...as in a total stranger whom one interacts with in some way

Note: My answer is purely a guess from context, but here are a few examples where it seems to be the right meaning:

À tous ceux qui commentent régulièrement sur le site…à Jonathan qui répond systématiquement à a peu pres tous les messages, à Ti-Frank, Tiois, Shoto, Jos, Bill… et au gars nowhere qui est venu m’avertir que mon Rhum Haitien de marque Barbancourt était cancérigène !
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:1gjCmSLfFVAJ:www.quebecb...

Mais qu'est-ce que JF Pauzé ET John font sur le forum à 2h15 du matin en même temps, et ça en même temps qu'un gars nowhere qui vient juste de se créer un comptes pour écrire son seul message.
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:IpI0ZLxf79oJ:www.cowboys...

Site d'un gars nowhere qui a décidé de mettre son journal intime en ligne!

Il était genre avec un gars nowhere qui semblait être son ami (le gars était saoul alors Ortho le portait) et puis là je me suis mise à parler, blablabla, ...

Ce n'est qu'une photo d'un gars nowhere que j'ai trouvé sur le net
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:hCxwGwQjD34J:www.toutsim...


Finally, I found the following on Wikipedia, for what it's worth:

There are some anglicisms that have no obvious connection to any currently existing modern Canadian English idiom. For example, partir sur un nowhere ("leave on a 'nowhere'", to go on an adventurous trip without necessarily knowing your destination or perhaps even your travel companions)
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:xnFftEkmS3UJ:en.wikipedi...

Good luck!
Peer comment(s):

agree MDI-IDM
6 hrs
thanks!
agree Enza Longo
6 hrs
thank you!
agree reubenius
7 hrs
thanks!
agree PB Trans
1 day 3 hrs
thanks!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "'Random guy' fits perfectly in the context."
5 mins

a nowhere man?

only thing that comes to mind
Something went wrong...
+1
6 hrs

a loser

without knowing more about the ad, the phrase sounds as though it could mean "loser"
Peer comment(s):

agree Julie Barber : I'll go along with this..the best example I found on the net was 'ta guele gars nowhere' - love it, it's certainly not a compliment !!
11 hrs
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6 hrs

one ordinary man

...
Something went wrong...
4 hrs

a nondescript guy

Just a regular guy... not particularly interesting... doesn't really stand out from the crowd. I wouldn't say it means "cool" though.

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Note added at 4 hrs (2006-04-13 07:26:21 GMT)
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also, an "unknown" person... who seems to come out of nowhere. :-)

Le Sabre Rouge: 05/16/2004 - 05/22/2004
... et reste de la planete, que j'suis juste un gars, nowhere, provenant d'un quartier pauvre, avec une histoire de jeunesse ...
www.redsaber.com/archive/2004_05_16_archive.html

POIL.ca : Linkdump : Arriver comme un poil sur le net. - changement de paradigme
Site québécois contenant des liens drôles, d'humour et d'actualité informatique postés à chaque jour. ... explorateur" qui a découvert l'amérique, mais ya toujours un gars nowhere qui a été avant et tant qu'a faire on peu ...
poil.ca/index.php/2006/01/15/http_radio_canada_ca_nouvelles_science_s_200

+ S i M o N + " Night falls down.
... incroyable; Andréanne s'est fait pognée pour danser avec un gars nowhere; il y avait un petit homme gai qui dansait ...
simax13.free.fr/blog?p=57

www.myspace.com/
... La photo de vous 3 en bas est juste trop débille !!! pis ya comme 2 gars nowhere en arrière qui vous on spoté hahaha ...
www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&frie....

Skyblog de lovebja : My WoRlD AnD BiLlIe JoE(mOn AmOuR)
... yont donc pris un gars nowhere ke le monde appelait trécool donc losti de stupide ki parlait pas kebecois c appeler ...
lovebja.skyblog.com/2.html

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Note added at 9 hrs (2006-04-13 12:46:53 GMT)
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Given the added context above, I'd say "some guy"... meaning some guy just appears and then does something...
Something went wrong...
+1
17 hrs

a nobody!!

only guessing! after find the compliment ' ta guele gars nowhere' on the net, which made me chuckle...

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Note added at 18 hrs (2006-04-13 21:15:21 GMT)
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another outstanding example of good French that I found on a site :))

"Hey tcheke le gars nowhere en arrière hahaha!Jpas mal loser moi en train de t'écrire un full long comment sur ton myspace"

love it, I'm going to adopt this new word whatever it means...:)

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Note added at 1 day5 hrs (2006-04-14 08:27:47 GMT)
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and thanks for another new word Pina - joual ......
Peer comment(s):

agree PB Trans : "nobody" could work. By the way, the example is written in "joual" (Quebec slang) and also "franglais". It makes perfect sense to my Quebecois ears. :-)
11 hrs
thanks. I love learning new words, esp funny ones like this. I learnt quite a bit of my French in the country in the SW of France and believe me there were lots of draft words on offer for me to have fun! between the patois + franglais it was great
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