Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

to be full of beans

French translation:

péter le feu

Added to glossary by Louise Atfield
Jan 18, 2001 07:45
23 yrs ago
English term

punters here are full of beans!

Non-PRO English to French Other
about a Mexican restaurant...

It's urgent, thx in advance.

Proposed translations

11 hrs
Selected

"La cuisine qui ragaillardit son monde!"

"Les habitués d'ici ont la panse bien remplie!" or

"Les fèves ici sont pleines d'énergie!" or

"Des fèves, en veux-tu en voila!"

just a few suggestions...

This is obviously a "jeu de mots". The expression "full of beans" means "to be lively", "to be in high spirit", or in French "être gaillard", "être plein d'entrain", "se porter à merveille" (this, from my Oxford dictionary and from my Harrap English-French dictionary.) But this is also a Mexican restaurant, therefore they are saying that when punters are there, they get filled with beans, the staple of this country.

As for "punters" it can mean different things. You may want to know where that restaurant is situated. If it is near a football field, "punter" has more chance to refer to a kicker, and will be translated with "botteur". But if there is a canal nearby, with some of those flat bottom boats which are propelled with a pole, the punter is more likely to refer to the person who "punts" one of these boats (not sure of the name in French, though...) If the restaurant is near a race track, the people more likely to get full of beans there are the "parieurs". You will have to decide yourself what the word "punter" refers to. Failing that, you can always use something safe such as "clients" or "dîneurs" or "habitués".

This kind of double meaning is always very difficult to translate, especially when it involves an expression with imagery such as this one.

You won't find an equivalent expression, so you will have to invent another one that has somewhat of a similar feeling. I proposed a few above, or you may be able to think of something better along the lines of feeling full of energy as well as feeling full and consuming good typically Mexican food.

This is not easy. But it is fun to be creative in translation. Good luck!
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thx ever so much for that, I knew the words but couldn't figure out the meaning, your help is appreciated. I love the challenge of puns but it is sometimes very tricky like this one. I think it is actually: les habitues petent le feu. With "peter" for "beans"."
3 hrs

ici les clients sont pleins de salades

punters is a colloquial way of saying:"customers" and "full of beans "means :"full of crap" [pardon my french !]so i would translate by an expression that means "full of crap" and also has something to do with food to still be in the same spirit.The french expression "raconter des salades "has the same connotation and isn't vulgar either.Also,salad is popular in mexican food.
Reference:

FRENCH NATIVE

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3 hrs

punters

pour moi "full of beans" veut plutôt" dire "péter le feu" , avoir la "pêche"= a lot of peps!
je ne pense pas qu'i s'agisse de "salades" ou de beans=frijoles très consommés au Mexique
quand a "punters" il veut aussi dire "parieurs"
je n'ai pas le contexte mais c'est à retenir si on parle de jeux.
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1 day 1 hr

voir ci-dessus

Apres avoir interroge plusieurs Americains autour de moi,tous m'ont donne la meme interpretation,a savoir:"full of crap",sans le cote vulgaire.Par ailleurs j'ai fait une recherche personnelle et j'ai trouve une majorite d'exemples supportant mon interpretation d'origine.Il y a effectivement des tas de facons de faire des jeux de mots avec cette expression:Sources:Chicago Sun Times:"fans stand by Babies,but was vote full of beans?"[Beanie Babies]/Naples News:"Ellen Goodman:Cattlemen's lawsuit against Oprah is full of beans"/Globe:"Boston critic full of beans about Seattle:Most seemed to agree with a premise voiced by a waterfront coffee drinker, that "Seattle has become a fraud"./ZD NET:"interactive week:Java full of beans on standards? the Java saga continues...But i did find one exemple of the expression meaning:full of energy:"Full of beans at 60"BBC News.[about the beano comic].C'est donc a vous de prendre une decision en fonction du sens du document que vous avez sous les yeux.Par exemple,le point d'exclamation me laisse penser qu'il y a une pointe d'humour.D'autre part, il y a peut- etre une allusion au monde des joueurs?[punters].Si ce n'est pas le cas,"punters"veut aussi dire :clients,en language familier.Bonne decision!
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