Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

flinging the lights back and forth

French translation:

allumer et éteindre frénétiquement les lumières

Added to glossary by jenny morenos
Jun 15, 2020 21:34
4 yrs ago
12 viewers *
English term

flinging the lights back and forth

Non-PRO English to French Other General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters
hello; can you help me translate flinging please ? thank you so much : i can't find it on the dictionary; it means something like balancer, lancer, jeter ; it's not flinking, flinging, flinting ;

instantly when she seen that there were the pterodactyl things again , she shouted it's time, it's time! lock all the doors and windows right now ! it was about to go down ;she went to go cut off the lights ; she was running through the house ; she got to a window ; when she got to this window , it was already dark ; how'd it get from early evening to it was dark outside ?; there was a car driving by ; as soon as she turned off the light, they stopped ; she tried to act like nobody was in the house. she started flinging the lights back and forth, back and forth plenty of times that made them wanna come in ; she was trying to get these humans to stay away ; these humans came into the house ;

instantanément quand elle a vu qu'il y avait les ptérodactyles à nouveau ,elle a crié : il est temps, il est temps ! fermez toutes les portes et les fenêtres tout de suite ! elle était sur le point de descendre ; elle est allée éteindre les lumières ; elle courait à travers la maison ; elle est arrivée à une fenêtre quand elle est arrivée à cette fenêtre, il faisait déjà nuit ; comment s'est-il passé du début de la soirée à ce qu'il fasse nuit dehors ? il y avait une voiture qui passait ; dès qu'elle a éteint la lumière, ils se sont arrêtés ; elle a essayé de faire comme si personne n'était dans la maison ; elle s'est mis à allumer et éteindre les lumières beaucoup de fois, encore et encore ; ça leur a filé l'envie d'entrer ; elle essayait de faire en sorte que ces humains restent à l'écart ; ces humains entrèrent dans la maison

she started flinging the lights back and forth, back and forth

elle s'est mis à allumer et éteindre les lumières beaucoup de fois

elle s'est mis à appuyer sur l'interrupteur beaucoup de fois

Proposed translations

+1
13 hrs
Selected

(elle commence à) allumer et éteindre frénétiquement les lumières

I would think this meant that she turned the lights on and off again several times. But the text is not easy to understand. Why do anything with the lights if turning them off stopped the "invaders"? Why swing the lights back and forth if they were out? Anyway...... here's an idea if you thnk turning the lights on and off is the idea.
I have added frénétiquement because in my opinion, flinging gives an idea which is not literal (not logical - jeter, lancer....) but an idea of being in something of a panic
Note from asker:
excellent translation , thank you so much! well since this is a dream and she was so panicked, crazy, this is probably why she id that, but not a smart idea indeed! but since in dreams, we do unrational crazy stuff, and we dont control what we do in them or how we behave, but of course in real life, she would have probably not swtich on and off the lights over and over !
Peer comment(s):

agree François Tardif
5 hrs
Merci François
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
45 mins

elle commença à balancer les lampes...

...d'avant en arrière...
Note from asker:
thank you for helpin me out, i had thought about that, but i thought it was a very bad literal translaiton since it didnt make sense, i really thoght she meant switching the light on and off in fear stress plenty of times
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