herbier

English translation: A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:herbier
English translation:A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb
Entered by: Mari O'Keefe

10:52 Jun 13, 2007
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Games / Video Games / Gaming / Casino / childrens' video game
French term or phrase: herbier
I'm wondering if there's some sort of play on words here that I don't understand. This appears as a random phrase uttered by one of the boy characters in the Titeuf comic. It's a comic aimed at primary school kids so it's very much the boys against the girls kind of vibe!

Au fait c'est quoi un herbier ? Un arbre à herbe ?! Les filles ne parlent que de ça en ce moment.

Any ideas are very welcome. Thanks!
Mari O'Keefe
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:27
A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb
Explanation:
"So what's an herbarium? A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb?"

Not a literal translation for obv. reasons, but playing off the confusion over the common stem (here -ium like helium, sodium etc., in French -ier for pommier, bananier etc.) combined with the root. I think mine is kind of funny.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2007-06-13 19:01:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately there are no trees in English whose common name ends with "ium" so the confusion has to shift to chemical elements for the pun to make any sense. The focus of the dialogue is still on explaining just what a "herbarium" is, so the digression is not too important in its details.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2007-06-13 19:56:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just to be 100% clear, the basis behind the joke is explained well above by Odette; all I am doing is proposing a translation that works in the context of the material.
Selected response from:

Andrew Levine
United States
Local time: 07:27
Grading comment
This worked really well. Captured the tone perfectly. Thanks, Andrew!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3herbarium
Odette Grille (X)
4A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb
Andrew Levine


Discussion entries: 5





  

Answers


31 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
herbarium


Explanation:
Is a Herbarium a tree that grows herbs.?..Because in French, many trees' names are coined with the stem (fruit) + the ending «ier», but in English you have ium, so ...Children are known to make up words on models.

I could not see any double meaning, unless there is a context we are missing

If there is a list of trees preceding the joke, they should end in ium....

Odette Grille (X)
Canada
Local time: 07:27
Native speaker of: French
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Eric BILLY: nothing to add, so perfectly explain :)
4 mins
  -> Thank you so very much

agree  Anne Diamantidis
17 mins
  -> Merci Anne

agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
4 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

8 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb


Explanation:
"So what's an herbarium? A chemical discovered by some guy named Herb?"

Not a literal translation for obv. reasons, but playing off the confusion over the common stem (here -ium like helium, sodium etc., in French -ier for pommier, bananier etc.) combined with the root. I think mine is kind of funny.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 8 hrs (2007-06-13 19:01:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately there are no trees in English whose common name ends with "ium" so the confusion has to shift to chemical elements for the pun to make any sense. The focus of the dialogue is still on explaining just what a "herbarium" is, so the digression is not too important in its details.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2007-06-13 19:56:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Just to be 100% clear, the basis behind the joke is explained well above by Odette; all I am doing is proposing a translation that works in the context of the material.

Andrew Levine
United States
Local time: 07:27
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
This worked really well. Captured the tone perfectly. Thanks, Andrew!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search