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squishy

French translation: subjectif et indéfinissable

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:squishy
French translation:subjectif et indéfinissable
Entered by: Tony M

21:33 Jan 8, 2014
English to French translations [PRO]
General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters / general
English term or phrase: squishy
Gross national happiness?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has convened a panel of economists, psychologists, and other experts to calculate the **squishy** realm of feelings.

Je n'arrive pas à trouver l'adjectif juste pour traduire ce "squishy" ici, spongieux ou visqueux me semblent complètement inappropriés... (les réponses qui existent déjà dans le Kudoz ne semblent pas aller dans ce contexte précis).

Merci de vos suggestions!
Anne R
Italy
Local time: 09:34
subjectif et indéfinissable
Explanation:
Tricky! I think maybe you may have to go for a straight explanation, for want of a better way of conveying that whole wealth of meaning so succinctly encapsulated in 'squishy'.


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Note added at 23 heures (2014-01-09 20:50:00 GMT)
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Yes, Anne, that sounds good to me; of course, the register is not the same, and it misses out the 'cute' side of 'squishy' — the cuddly bears and red satin hearts, pink marshmallows and chubby Cupids on clouds, all that imagery that one little word conjures up; but I think in translation it would be wise first to get to the core idea in the EN source text. From then on, I leave it to you and the other native-speakers of FR to come up with the appropriate term, if indeed one exists, in the equivalent register.
Selected response from:

Tony M
France
Local time: 09:34
Grading comment
Merci à tous!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +5insaisissable
FX Fraipont (X)
4 +1l'improbable domaine des sentiments
jmleger
3 +1les sables mouvants (des sentiments)
Jocelyne Cuenin
4confus (sentiments confus / des ressentis confus dans le contexte)
Beila Goldberg
3malléable
Jerome Carrette (X)
3spongeux/moelleux
AllegroTrans
3vaseux
patrickfor
3piège
Alain Boulé
3l'éventail abscons des sentiments
MACotard
3la nébuleuse des sentiments/l'univers nébuleux des sentiments
Odile Raymond
1 +1subjectif et indéfinissable
Tony M


  

Answers


9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
malléable


Explanation:
..
ou inconsistant ?

Jerome Carrette (X)
France
Local time: 09:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 52

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Odile Raymond: Oui ++ pour inconsistant, mais non pour "malléable".
12 hrs
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +5
insaisissable


Explanation:
..

FX Fraipont (X)
Belgium
Local time: 09:34
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 1529

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jean-Claude Gouin
1 hr
  -> merci!
agree  HERBET Abel: oui
3 hrs
  -> merci!
agree  Victoria Britten
9 hrs
  -> thanks!
agree  emiledgar
11 hrs
  -> merci !
agree  NancyLynn
18 hrs
  -> thanks!
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26 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
spongeux/moelleux


Explanation:
.

AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:34
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 108
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15 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
vaseux


Explanation:
le contexte est "“the squishy realm of feelings.”
C'est ce qui me semble le mieux rendre ce concept en français. On dit d'un concept, d'une idée qu'ils sont vaseux (vaseuses) quand ils sont flous et difficiles a expliquer et à mesurer

Vaseux: Qui est confus, obscur, incertain : Des idées vaseuses. (Larousse)

It’s sorta like gross national product, only, rather than measuring economic activity in dollars and cents, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has convened a panel of economists, psychologists, and other experts to calculate “the squishy realm of feelings.”

http://townhall.com/columnists/pauljacob/2012/04/01/365days_...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 34 mins (2014-01-08 22:08:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

... et vaseux est du même registre que squishy...
L"idée en français, et que dans la vase on s'enfonce, on s'enlise...

patrickfor
France
Local time: 09:34
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 16
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45 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
piège


Explanation:
En modifiant la phrase : le piège que constitue le domaine des sentiments.

Alain Boulé
Local time: 09:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 200
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
l'improbable domaine des sentiments


Explanation:
Il faut s'éloigner du sens premier de squishy à mon sens. On parle de sentiments.

jmleger
Local time: 02:34
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 159

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  GILLES MEUNIER: joli
4 hrs
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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
l'éventail abscons des sentiments


Explanation:
Le terme "abscons" est spécifique à tout ce qui est de l'ordre de l'intellect, de l'esprit et de l'abstrait.

MACotard
France
Local time: 09:34
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 8
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16 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
la nébuleuse des sentiments/l'univers nébuleux des sentiments


Explanation:

Sonder l'univers nébuleux des sentiments

www.revue-texto.net/Parutions/.../Behar_Bernard.pdf‎
LA NEBULEUSE DES SENTIMENTS. On se propose ici d'étudier les sentiments dans le roman de langue française .....

Odile Raymond
France
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 124
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17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
les sables mouvants (des sentiments)


Explanation:
Peut-être, chiffrer, évaluer, quantifier les sables mouvants des sentiments
À tout hasard, parce que :
1. soft and moist.

2. softly gurgling or splashing: a squishy sound.

3. emotional or sentimental.
http://poesiedumonde.blogspot.de/2006/11/sables-mouvants.htm...

"Prends garde au pire des pièges : la friend zone. Ce triangle des Bermudes de l’amour. Ces sables mouvants des sentiments."



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 18 hrs (2014-01-09 16:03:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

On parle aussi de terrain mouvant...

Example sentence(s):
  • Mais peu à peu, Jean-Jacques Olier apprend à fonder sa vie intérieure sur la foi comme sur un roc solide, et non plus sur les sables mouvants des sentiments et des consolations. Alors il est guéri
  • Faut-il s’appuyer sur les sables mouvants des sentiments ? Je t’aimais, c’était bien, je ne t’aime plus, c’est ainsi … ?

    Reference: http://www.mariedenazareth.com/17330.0.html?L=0
Jocelyne Cuenin
Germany
Local time: 09:34
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 91

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daryo
8 mins
  -> merci, Daryo. Bonne soirée.
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20 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
confus (sentiments confus / des ressentis confus dans le contexte)


Explanation:
En fait, c'est **squishy** realm of feelings qui est à traduire en tenant compte du contexte.




    Reference: http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/confus_confuse...
Beila Goldberg
Belgium
Local time: 09:34
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 65
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12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +1
subjectif et indéfinissable


Explanation:
Tricky! I think maybe you may have to go for a straight explanation, for want of a better way of conveying that whole wealth of meaning so succinctly encapsulated in 'squishy'.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 heures (2014-01-09 20:50:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Yes, Anne, that sounds good to me; of course, the register is not the same, and it misses out the 'cute' side of 'squishy' — the cuddly bears and red satin hearts, pink marshmallows and chubby Cupids on clouds, all that imagery that one little word conjures up; but I think in translation it would be wise first to get to the core idea in the EN source text. From then on, I leave it to you and the other native-speakers of FR to come up with the appropriate term, if indeed one exists, in the equivalent register.

Tony M
France
Local time: 09:34
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 288
Grading comment
Merci à tous!
Notes to answerer
Asker: dans ces cas-là Tony on pourriat éventuellement dire "le caractère subjectif et indéfinissable des sentiments"..


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jean-Claude Gouin
1 hr
  -> Merci, J-C ! Meilleurs vœux !
neutral  Odile Raymond: I would use "subjectif" only, because all the in"/"im" adjectives (except for "inconsistant") sound like those experts are going to attend just for les petits fours. //Bonne année !
10 hrs
  -> Merci, Odile ! MDR ! / Meilleurs vœux !
agree  emiledgar: Likewise Tony!
11 hrs
  -> Merci, Emile ! Meilleurs vœux !
disagree  GILLES MEUNIER: Pour moi, squishy ne véhicule en aucune façon l'idée de subjectif : http://www.thefreedictionary.com/squishy
13 hrs
  -> Oh but it does! 'squishy' means indefinable, unmeasurable, woolly, fuzzy, difficult to pin down... 'squishy, subjective sentiments' are the antithesis of 'hard, objective facts'.
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