French term
coups de coeur
Context: A newsletter for a boat maker.
Les équipes XXXX vous souhaitent un été haut en couleurs et en coups de cœur !
This sentence is followed by a list of boats that you are presumably supposed to fall for!
I rang the customer who said, it's the idea behind 'craquer' or 'séduire au coeur'
My problem is that in English we need to say what we are falling for, don't we?
Any ideas?
I don't seem to be able to come up with anything satisfactory.
Proposed translations
express it verbally
The way "coup de coeur" works in French, it is sweet, yet snappy. Sweet 'n' snappy in English with "fond", "love" etc can come across sweet, but not snappy. I think you cannot translate it directly, not efficiently in context anyway. Your best bet is to just rethink your own sentence to get the sweet and snappy across.
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ST Translations
1 min
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Bertrand Leduc
5 mins
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B D Finch
25 mins
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writeaway
: one of the most 'over-used' Fr marketing phrases. so many ways to get around it in English, depending on context
2 hrs
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Sheila Wilson
: perhaps "aboard your favourite" just to show you'll love it so much you'll buy it.
3 hrs
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philgoddard
: This might need adapting to the context, but it's very good.
3 hrs
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NancyLynn
: with Sheila too
4 hrs
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Yolanda Broad
: Along with the "animation" group, "coup de coeur" drives me crazy!!!
1 day 5 hrs
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Crush
neutral |
B D Finch
: One generally has a "crush" on a person, not on a boat!
42 mins
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Sheila Wilson
: with BD; I don't think crush or impulse buy would work here
3 hrs
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enchantment
Any good?
Infatuation
Fondness
So I'm suggesting fondness because it implies attraction and a strong liking of the boats that are listed below.
XXX wishes you a summer filled with colors and fondness
craze
things that simply take your breath away
wishing you a colourful and irresistible summer
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Wolf Draeger
: Irresistible is good.
3 mins
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: The suggestion can be close or far from the original, but I think it has to describe the boats being offered in there somewhere. Can you link "irresistible" to the choice of boats?
36 mins
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Cupid's (sweet/fresh) arrows
Boats/yachts are also great places on which to conduct a casual romance, so again, the comparison appears deliberate.
Rainbows for colours to rhyme with arrows (compare the FR couleurs and coeur). Sweet/fresh (or an alternative adj) is optional; we don't want the text to be too syrupy, as it is ultimately about selling boats, not summer love :-)
The XXX team wishes you a summer filled with rainbows and Cupid's (sweet) arrows.
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: Probably off target, if you excuse the pun! A coup de coeur is (over-?) used in commercial French, so the English version can be freely translated, light and commercial. They are in the boat business, not a matrimonial agency.
37 mins
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Go overboard this summer (with some of our favourite boats):
http://fishingknots.plansandideas.com/?p=724
http://blog.syracuse.com/entertainment/2011/02/saturday_best_bet_go_overboard.html
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philgoddard
: As in drown, you mean?
1 hr
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That would be fall overboard, Phil :)
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kashew
: Interesting proposal
2 hrs
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Thanks, kashew
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: I have the same problem as Phil with this play on words. Going overboard when sailing is ominous. Could have a coup de coeur (heart attack???) and go overboard!//I am familiar with the expression but too close to MOB and disaster to be "vendeur".
2 hrs
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No need to go overboard and agree with Phil, Nikki! See the two references I posted, the term is a well-used nautical pun.
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heart's desire
Here, the sentence might read, XXX wishes you a lively summer searching for your heart's desire! This comes close to expressing the client':s ideas of "craquer" and especially "séduire au coeur." (I can see this in an ad with a picture of a couple at the wheel of a sailboat looking out over the ocean.)
As Dorothy said in The Wizard of Oz:
Well, I -- I think that it -- that it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em -- and it's that – if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?
fall in love with
Endearment / Endearing
"Endearment
noun
1. the act of endearing.
2. the state of being endeared.
3. something that endears; an action or utterance showing affection: to murmur endearments."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/endearment?s=t
"Endearing
adjective
1. tending to make dear or beloved.
2. manifesting or evoking affection: an endearing smile."
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/endearing
"Merlin has a definite charm and the sort of 'do anything' character that has ENDEARED old working boats to me for years, and it was a case of love at first sight. "
"A full bridge deck overhang protected the walk-around side decks a feature which ENDEARED the boat to many couples, as it facilitated two-person linehandling and movement through locks."
loves-at-first-sight
[...] modèle sportif et élégant, alliance réussie de carbone et de PVD noir souligné par des touches de PVD rose, dénote une originalité artistique qui en fera une montre coup de coeur.
watches-lexic.ch
[...] sporty and elegant model, successfully combining carbon and black PVD with highlights in rose PVD, expresses an artistic originality that will make it a love-at-first-sight watch.
watches-lexic.ch
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Note added at 5 heures (2012-07-09 14:41:58 GMT)
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They are hoping for impulse buys - but you can't say that!
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: I shall keep this one in reserve for future use. Works well for the over-used "coup de coeur". However, here, the unfaithfulness of having multiple loves at first sight for more than one boat make it a dodgy option! Love @ 1st sight suggests uniqueness.
1 hr
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They are addressing all potential clients, so why not "loves..." More loves, more bucks!
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wish you a summer full of sunshine and excitement
haut en couleur = sunshine-filled (that's how I read it)
haut en coups de coeur = full of excitement
I hope this helps.
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Note added at 6 hrs (2012-07-09 16:20:39 GMT)
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I wouldn't get complicated with this in English, even though the French seems so "colorful", but standard for this type of register.
Discussion
Or, could it be some other maritime wordplay on couleurs = flags
Maybe the writer is cleverer than we think?