Those of my friends who know me as a word nerd will not be surprised to find that I came across something interesting while perusing the dictionary this morning with my breakfast coffee.
In my Collins Robert my eye was caught by the word butter, immediatly followed by the expression; He looked as if butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth
I was immediatly intrigued to discover the translation;
On lui donnerait le bon Dieu sans confession
On first glance I translated this as; He could go to confession to God
which I thought was highly subtle.
Then I looked at it again and realised that it must mean ; He could be sent to God without confession which seems to me to be different from the English original which implies, I think, that even though he looks innocent he may well not be.
Comments
martine joulia
on April 22, 2009On lui donnerait le Bon Dieu sans confession… yes, but who knows if he deserves it ?
In Spanish they say :
Parecía no haber roto un plato en su vida, i.e. : he looked as if he never broke a plate in his all life.
Peter Denman
on April 22, 2009My translation: “You would give him God [i.e. the host, communion] without [requiring him to go to] confession”. H’mm?
Martin
on April 22, 2009Aha !
padraic
on April 22, 2009I thought I might find a different idiomatic phrase i nGaeilge but all I found in de B was “Shílfeá nach leáfadh an t-im ina béal” – the only difference is that the pretender of innocence is female.
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