Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
les rois de notre cul
English translation:
champions only of ourselves, our rights, our image
Added to glossary by
lundy
Jul 29, 2008 17:21
15 yrs ago
French term
les rois de notre cul
French to English
Art/Literary
Cinema, Film, TV, Drama
Sorry about accented characters. Could you please clarify the last sentence for me?
Contre tous les discours qui vantent et vendent l'image interactive: l'eloge de la passivite.
Etre passif au poit de ressentir l'appel de se laisser entrainer, de se perdre, de ne plus savoir ou je suis, qui je suis. Aujourd'hui tout nous affirme qui nous sommes: les rois de notre cul, de nos droits, de nos image...
Contre tous les discours qui vantent et vendent l'image interactive: l'eloge de la passivite.
Etre passif au poit de ressentir l'appel de se laisser entrainer, de se perdre, de ne plus savoir ou je suis, qui je suis. Aujourd'hui tout nous affirme qui nous sommes: les rois de notre cul, de nos droits, de nos image...
Proposed translations
(English)
Change log
Aug 11, 2008 10:06: lundy Created KOG entry
Proposed translations
+1
35 mins
Selected
champions only of ourselves, our rights, our image
I think the meaning here is that this passiveness is due to the fact that people are only ever interested in themselves and "what is in it for them". If you say of somebody "il ne pense qu'à son cul" it means he's totally self-centred. I've added "only" because I think this contrast is implied in the source text.
Peer comment(s):
| neutral |
Tony M
: Interesting, I read that last sentence completely the opposite way round from you...!
37 mins
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Hi Tony, well I agree with you that the last sentence is making a contrast with the first, ie passivity vs interactivity but that as "rois de notre cul" we precisely don't need to interact or even care what anyone thinks. But I can see your point too!
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| agree |
Sébastien Ricciardi
20 hrs
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3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+1
6 mins
Laura Gómez
Spain
Spain
Specializes in field
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Native in: Galician 
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Works in: English to Spanish, French to Spanish, Portuguese to Spanish, and 9 more.
our own kings
It seems to me
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Note added at 6 minutos (2008-07-29 17:28:00 GMT)
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our own chiefs, our own rulers, our own owners
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Note added at 6 minutos (2008-07-29 17:28:00 GMT)
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our own chiefs, our own rulers, our own owners
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Enrique Huber (X)
: MUUUY BIEN, guapa.
37 mins
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Gracias Enrique.
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| neutral |
Tony M
: I'm not sure that the 'kings' metaphor works as successfully in EN as in FR, and I would certainly avoid the ugly-sounding 'our own owners'!
1 hr
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Thanks for your opinion, Tony. You are right with "our own owners". I was just trying to give the asker the idea. I also like a lot your answer! :)
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+3
1 hr
masters of our own arses (destiny),
... our rights, our image
I actually read it differently from the other contributors: I think this last sentence is making the CONTRAST with the first sentence. Passivity is letting yourself go, being carried along... whereas Interactivity means (having the illusion of!) being 'in control', masters of our own destiny, and so on.
It's a shame that it is so difficult to render all the subtleties of meaning that may lie behind 'cul' — on the one hand, I'd favour a literal rendering as 'arses', inasmuch as we do have expressions in EN like "watch out for your own arse" etc., and I think the metaphor for that as representing our destiny / fate / what happens to us isn't a bad one. Plus, there could even be an element of the anal-retentive about all this 'being in control'. As well as that most deliightful of FR expressions, 'coincé du cul'!
However, I recognize too that the literal approach might not sit well in all contexts, and the vulgarity of 'arse' in EN would be more marked than the equivalent for 'cul' in FR. So the 'straight' rendering may well be inescapable, in which case 'destiny' seems to me to go very well with 'masters' (OK, it's a well-worn cliché...)
I would favour 'master' over 'king', as I believe the expression, whilst being pretty much the equivalent of the sentiment as I understand it in FR, is, i think, rather more common in EN.
And I think the emphasis of adding 'own' (for the first item, at least) is well worth the slight liberty — a ploy that often seems justified, even when the FR doesn't explicitly say 'propre...' etc.
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Note added at 1 hr (2008-07-29 18:35:57 GMT)
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Oh, and of course I forgot to mention (but was reminded by Sue's ATA comment above!) of the potential allusion to cul = sex, given that so much of today's interactive media seem to revolve around that sort of subject area... so it is almost 'masters of our own (sexual) gratification' too...
I actually read it differently from the other contributors: I think this last sentence is making the CONTRAST with the first sentence. Passivity is letting yourself go, being carried along... whereas Interactivity means (having the illusion of!) being 'in control', masters of our own destiny, and so on.
It's a shame that it is so difficult to render all the subtleties of meaning that may lie behind 'cul' — on the one hand, I'd favour a literal rendering as 'arses', inasmuch as we do have expressions in EN like "watch out for your own arse" etc., and I think the metaphor for that as representing our destiny / fate / what happens to us isn't a bad one. Plus, there could even be an element of the anal-retentive about all this 'being in control'. As well as that most deliightful of FR expressions, 'coincé du cul'!
However, I recognize too that the literal approach might not sit well in all contexts, and the vulgarity of 'arse' in EN would be more marked than the equivalent for 'cul' in FR. So the 'straight' rendering may well be inescapable, in which case 'destiny' seems to me to go very well with 'masters' (OK, it's a well-worn cliché...)
I would favour 'master' over 'king', as I believe the expression, whilst being pretty much the equivalent of the sentiment as I understand it in FR, is, i think, rather more common in EN.
And I think the emphasis of adding 'own' (for the first item, at least) is well worth the slight liberty — a ploy that often seems justified, even when the FR doesn't explicitly say 'propre...' etc.
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Note added at 1 hr (2008-07-29 18:35:57 GMT)
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Oh, and of course I forgot to mention (but was reminded by Sue's ATA comment above!) of the potential allusion to cul = sex, given that so much of today's interactive media seem to revolve around that sort of subject area... so it is almost 'masters of our own (sexual) gratification' too...
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Anne Farina
1 hr
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Thanks, Anne!
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| agree |
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
1 hr
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Thanks, Bea!
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| agree |
Stéphanie Soudais
: oui, je pense aussi que c'est dans ce sens là.
2 hrs
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Merci, Stéphanie ! Autant que l'on sais maintenant qu'il s'agit d'un cinéaste qui parle ! ;-)
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1 hr
masters of our own sexuality
The idiom seems rude in French but this is such a common usage that it could be translated with a politer register in English.
2 hrs
rulers of our own navels
I think that the writer is expressing that indivualism has been taken so far that it becomes egotism... so taking the expression "contemplating ones navel" and adapting it, I got this. Or even turn it on its head a bit and say ruled by our own navels...
10 hrs
kings of our culture
maybe
Discussion
You asked whose quotation it was. Well, it's a French film director. I won't disclose the name for obvious reasons.