Apr 17, 2023 18:36
1 yr ago
73 viewers *
French term
Vous avez une langue de vipère !
French to English
Art/Literary
Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
personne qui aime dire du mal des gens.
Proposed translations
(English)
Proposed translations
+3
1 hr
Selected
You (really do) have a serpent's tongue
Viper is the wrong reptile - to us native Engllish speakers - in this context.
Otherwise, means a 'sharp' tongue - often used for females (the only Anglo-Irish scenario I've heard it in) though, in these days of gender equality, could also apply to males who IMO tend, rather, to have an 'acid' tongue .
Otherwise, means a 'sharp' tongue - often used for females (the only Anglo-Irish scenario I've heard it in) though, in these days of gender equality, could also apply to males who IMO tend, rather, to have an 'acid' tongue .
Example sentence:
serpent's tongue 1. A tendency to speak maliciously.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
: Similar with : sharp-tongued / backbiter / hatemonger.
1 hr
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Efaristo, merci and thanks again, Anastasia - all better than the first reptilian answer- an insult to snakes.
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agree |
AllegroTrans
: Yes, "viper's tongue", albeit quite easily understood, is not as common an expression as "serpent's tongue"
2 hrs
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Marci and thanks, Chris. It's understandable that OTT alias AB aka ZR - with a typical knee-jerk answer within 4 mins. - missed the metaphorical or figurative shift.
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agree |
Jennifer Levey
5 hrs
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Gracias, merci and thanks, Jennifer.
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neutral |
Drmanu49
: Not the way I understand the source terms.What anonymity??? And being outvoted doesn't mean I am wrong. There is definitely a difference between a native speaker's understanding of his native tongue and others. Yours is just a litteral translation.
14 hrs
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Well, you - hiding behind your cloak of anonymity - have been outvoted and ought to elucidate whether a sharp, acid or some other kind of tongue is more apposite.
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neutral |
James A. Walsh
: If someone said this to me, i'd have to ask for an explanation because I've simply never heard it before.
1 day 1 hr
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neutral |
ormiston
: Agree with James.
1 day 14 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Merci "
+1
4 mins
You have a viper's tongue!
Literal works here, though there are plenty of similar options; " you have a poisonous tongue", "you have a barbed tongue", amongst many other variants;
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
AllegroTrans
: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Serpent's tongue; this surely is one of your "many other variants"
4 hrs
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Yes,but not one I'd choose here.And while I'd expect AMM to rely on the FD sponsored by Farley's rusks, would expect better of you than to rely on that spurious validation.
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agree |
abe(L)solano
11 hrs
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Gracias;
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35 mins
You are a real badmouth
A typical English expression
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Carol Gullidge
: Don’t you mean American? Definitely not typical UK EN!
8 mins
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agree |
Yolanda Broad
50 mins
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neutral |
ormiston
: Not a very common expression
1 hr
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disagree |
Lara Barnett
: I am with Carol. Badmouth is not generally used as an insult directed to somebody - its normally a simple, descriptive term that also conveys a sense of bitterness when describing somebody, but you wouldn't very often address somebody in that way.
1 hr
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disagree |
AllegroTrans
: Doesn't work for UK
2 hrs
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neutral |
writeaway
: very convincing references
3 hrs
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agree |
Peter Gooss
: This is definitely a US English expression and should have been marked as such instead of just "English expression". The wording is a little juvenile however I would say it's not an incorrect translation.
5 hrs
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+1
2 hrs
You're really/pretty bitchy
Meaning the person makes malicious remarks:
bitchy
adjective INFORMAL
malicious or spitefully critical.
"bitchy remarks"
bitchy
adjective INFORMAL
malicious or spitefully critical.
"bitchy remarks"
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
AllegroTrans
: strays too far from the source
1 hr
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disagree |
Peter Gooss
: I don't think this really provides the idea of someone who is gossiping.
3 hrs
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agree |
Carol Gullidge
: I actually think this does work, and is far clearer and more colloquial than any reference to snakes of any sort
9 hrs
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Thanks Carol.byes vto me a bitchy remark is spiteful and needn't be gossip. I don't think we'd convey the venom by using a snake metaphor
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agree |
Tony M
: Agree with Carol's comment here too. "You really are bitchy, aren't you?" etc.
1 day 10 hrs
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-3
2 hrs
You speak with a forked tongue.
to speak in a dishonest way that is meant to deceive people. His colleagues accused him of speaking with a forked tongue.
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Johannes Gleim
: speak with a forked tongue to tell lies or say one thing and mean something else https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/forked-t... Same as in German.
20 mins
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Thank you.
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disagree |
Andrew Bramhall
: Nothing to do with a tongue being forked, which isn't necessary to spit poison.
58 mins
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Better learn your anatomy! ;-)
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disagree |
AllegroTrans
: That is a different meaning; compare (1) someone who speaks spitefully with (2) someone who speaks deceivingly // It's also a matter of understanding English, 5 native English speakers disagree with you!
58 mins
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Not the way I understand French!Precisely, native English speakers, not French.
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neutral |
Peter Gooss
: I think the difficulty here is we don't really have any expressions that are commonly used at least for US English that capture this idea that the tongue we use to speak with can drip venom because our gossiping is poisonous to others.
3 hrs
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Right.
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disagree |
Jennifer Levey
: With AT - forked tongue is about deceit, not spite.
4 hrs
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Not the way I understand French!
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disagree |
Carol Gullidge
: With the others: this interpretation doesn’t fit the context // no it doesn’t fit the context provided by the Asker - which is about bitchiness rather than lying (talking with a forked tongue)
9 hrs
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Not the way I understand French! It certainly fits the context.In French it is about is lying, saying bad and wrong things. Also called langue de pute.
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disagree |
Tony M
: Definitely the wrong idiom here! Asker's definition! "says nasty things about people" (= gossip) — but that gossip may well be true; whereas in EN, 'forked tongue' implies specifically lies, but not necessarily gossip.
1 day 10 hrs
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Sorry Tony but it is definitely the way I understand the French term.
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agree |
Daryo
: I can't believe the number of disagrees you got! Seems too many misunderstood the exact nuance of meaning in French.
1 day 16 hrs
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My feeling too, no disagreement from native French speakers.;-)
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2 hrs
shrew, mean/spiteful etc. tongue
Said of a woman, you could say she is a shrew (see Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew). It might be dated, though.
"The shrew – an unpleasant, ill-tempered woman characterised by scolding, nagging, and aggression[1] – is a comedic, stock character in literature and folklore, both Western and Eastern.[2] The theme is illustrated in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew_(stock_character)
Otherwise, 'you have a mean/spiteful/malicious/vindictive tongue'.
"The shrew – an unpleasant, ill-tempered woman characterised by scolding, nagging, and aggression[1] – is a comedic, stock character in literature and folklore, both Western and Eastern.[2] The theme is illustrated in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew_(stock_character)
Otherwise, 'you have a mean/spiteful/malicious/vindictive tongue'.
Peer comment(s):
neutral |
Andrew Bramhall
: A woman described as a " shrew" is more often seen as a ' hoarder';
55 mins
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neutral |
writeaway
: so only a woman can have mean/spiteful/malicious/vindictive tongue?
56 mins
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agree |
Carol Gullidge
: Agree with yr interpretation of shrew/ shrewish, and feel it does fit the bill, if a little female oriented!
16 hrs
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neutral |
Tony M
: I don't think 'shrew' specifically fits here. The other options are better.
1 day 9 hrs
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disagree |
Daryo
: all that is ways too mild - a venomous serpent is not on the same level of "nastiness" as a porcupine.
1 day 16 hrs
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+1
5 hrs
You are a venomous gossip!
Or: You spread venomous gossip!
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Note added at 5 hrs (2023-04-18 00:17:58 GMT)
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Or: You have a venomous tongue!
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Note added at 5 hrs (2023-04-18 00:17:58 GMT)
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Or: You have a venomous tongue!
Peer comment(s):
agree |
James A. Walsh
: "You're so venomous!" would be my shot at it, with such little context. The underlying feeling is "spite" for me: https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/spiteful No to "gossip" though, as I just don't think it's implied in the [albeit vague] Spanish
21 hrs
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neutral |
Tony M
: 'poisonous' would sound more natural to me in EN-GB
1 day 7 hrs
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5 hrs
You spew poison with your backstabbing words.
If you want more flowy literary speech that kind of captures this idea of someone who's actions are poisonous/venomous:
You spew poison with your backstabbing words.
You spew poison with the gossip you spread.
If you want a more direct translation:
You're such a gossiper!
Something in between might be:
Your gossiping is poisonous to everyone around you.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2023-04-18 00:30:47 GMT)
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Other ideas are like:
sharp tongue (which is someone who's words are used to harm)
You have a sharp tongue.
You spew poison with your backstabbing words.
You spew poison with the gossip you spread.
If you want a more direct translation:
You're such a gossiper!
Something in between might be:
Your gossiping is poisonous to everyone around you.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2023-04-18 00:30:47 GMT)
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Other ideas are like:
sharp tongue (which is someone who's words are used to harm)
You have a sharp tongue.
14 hrs
You have a slanderous tongue
A tongue that spreads gossip
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Note added at 14 hrs (2023-04-18 09:08:24 GMT)
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In the Bible, a slanderous tongue is a tongue from a viper
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Note added at 14 hrs (2023-04-18 09:08:24 GMT)
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In the Bible, a slanderous tongue is a tongue from a viper
22 hrs
You’re really catty/have a sharp tongue
deliberately hurtful in one's remarks; spiteful.
"catty comments"
slyly malicious; spiteful: a catty gossip
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/catty
have a sharp tongue
idiom (also be sharp-tongued)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/have-...
"catty comments"
slyly malicious; spiteful: a catty gossip
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/catty
have a sharp tongue
idiom (also be sharp-tongued)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/have-...
+2
1 day 13 hrs
You really do have / You have such a vicious / spiteful tongue on you!
I think this variant would possibly be more idiomatic, at least in EN-GB
Peer comment(s):
agree |
Andrew Bramhall
: Sadly, the asker selected the wrong answer, possibly based on 3 people rushing to agree without thinking it through properly.This is the best option IMHO.But too much hot air exhaled on the question overall!
2 hrs
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Thanks, Andrew!
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agree |
AllegroTrans
14 hrs
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Thanks, C!
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Reference comments
3 hrs
Reference:
It can also be found by using the www (other than Kudoz)
https://context.reverso.net/traduction/francais-anglais/lang...
https://fr.glosbe.com/fr/en/langue de vipère
https://fr.pons.com/traduction/français-anglais/langue de vi...
etc. etc.
https://fr.glosbe.com/fr/en/langue de vipère
https://fr.pons.com/traduction/français-anglais/langue de vi...
etc. etc.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree |
Bourth
: Shhh. Everything can be found using the Ouèbbhe. It just takes time.
8 hrs
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agree |
James A. Walsh
: I know from personal experience that the process of posting a KudoZ question is WAY slower than searching the net. I think people mix up "uncertainty" with "loneliness" on here sometimes...
23 hrs
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neutral |
Daryo
: you forget that "search engines" are nothing more than **elaborate statistical devices**, no more "intelligent" than the search algorithm setter. An input from people with relevant real life experience (IF you're lucky) can make a HUGE difference.
1 day 15 hrs
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Discussion
Whether Vous avez une langue de vipère ! is said as an insult, ironically, as a plain statement of fact, with a negative or a positive connotation (yes, that could happen depending on the context), it wouldn't change the written translation (but might change the way it's spoken).
As for "helping fellow translators" ... you forget that you're also helping yourself. At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, you won't improve your methods by translating tons of easy text - but but solving "hard cases". All that assuming you self-analyse how you translate ... or in plain-speak learn from own mistakes. I would rather spend my time on a tricky question by a troll than on an easy one by someone out of his/her depth. But that's only me ...
You normally INSIST on context but for this series of questions, context has gone completely out of the window and no one knows if the "classic" English idiom is the best answer or an alternative idiom/phrase.
Also, some of us give our time to help fellow translators but do not want to be trolled, which is surely not the purpose of the forum?
Maybe, maybe not.
One way or another it's a good question - the kind of question that seems "obvious" but in fact is far from "obvious" IOW worth asking, no matter who's asking.
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Purpose: Internetworking protocol
Either having a bit of fun or trolling us all
Asker has no bio or credentials, just a blank profile and lives in Pas-de-Calais region
This asker hardly ever gives context and many of his questions are just idioms. Others are just stuff you could look up in a dictionary like the "electric/petrol lawnmower.
Am I the only one who thinks the asker is just trolling the group?
"A viperish tongue" is in my opinion far more accurate than " serpent", which smacks more of Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra. For the benefit of AMM, Shakespeare was a late 16th/early 17th century English playright, and Cleopatra was the eponymous heroine of the play, who poisoned herself by clasping a serpent to her bosom, which injected poison into her, and killed her.