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l\'effectif de la pharmacie
Réalisateur de métier
Oct 14, 2015 09:37
8 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

Les fouilles de Madame D

Non-PRO French to English Art/Literary Slang General
... un mot dont les typographes firent une si belle coquille un jour que, dans un journal, il était question des fouilles de Mme Dxxx.

From what I understand/suppose .. it seems slang but I am not very sure ..
Thanks in advance for your help.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +2 Les couilles de Madame D
5 archeological digs

Discussion

philgoddard Oct 29, 2015:
Alison I've just seen your additional reference - thanks!
Alison MacG Oct 21, 2015:
Another ref confirming Phil's answer Avisant au fumoir une Mme Dieulafoy en pantalon, le général de Gallifet la prend par le bras et lui propose : «Et maintenant, allons pisser ! (8), les «fouilles» orientales de la même étant devenues «les couilles de Mme Dieulafoy» par la grâce d'une malencontreuse autant que malicieuse coquille de typographe.
From: L'honneur ratatiné d'une athlète lesbienne en 1930 by Christian Gury
https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&biw=1280&bih=861&tbm=b...
philgoddard Oct 15, 2015:
I think I have the explanation - see my answer.
Jane F Oct 14, 2015:
Maybe it is a typo for 'feuilles' meaning pages?

http://www.abebooks.com/devise-lexploratrice-archéologue-Jan...
Alison MacG Oct 14, 2015:
More context The text immediately before and after this paragraph may help someone make some sort of sense of this ...

Quand il voulut publier cette supercherie littéraire très supérieure à celle de Mérimée : le Carquois du sieur Louvigné du Dézert, M. Fernand Fleuret se fit appuyer auprès d’un éditeur qui demeure à côté de l’Odéon.

L’éditeur sourit à mon Fleuret, tâte le manuscrit, l’ouvre et le premier mot qui lui tombe sous les yeux, c’est celui dont les typographes firent une si belle coquille un jour que, dans un journal, il était question des fouilles de Mme Dieulafoy.

« Fouilles, Monsieur, s’écria l’éditeur en refermant le manuscrit, Monsieur… Sortez, Monsieur. »
https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Apollinaire_-_Le_Flâneur...
Philippe Etienne Oct 14, 2015:
coquille means typo, and I can only come up with c replacing f in the poster's question. "Fouilles" in slang means "pockets" (of a garnment)
polyglot45 Oct 14, 2015:
then I imagine that they mean that, instead of saying the archaeological digs of site XXX conducted by Madame D, they were implying that it was the lady herself that they were exploring !
FIROOZEH FARHANG (asker) Oct 14, 2015:
Here is the whole paragraph .. L'éditeur sourit à mon Fleuret, tâte le manuscrit, l'ouvre et le premier mot qui lui tombe sous les yeux, c'est celui dont les typographes firent une si belle coquille un jour que, dans un journal, il était question des fouilles de Mme Dieulafoy.
polyglot45 Oct 14, 2015:
the word it should be must appear in the part of the sentence you chose not to give us....
philgoddard Oct 14, 2015:
We need to know the beginning of the sentence, please.

Proposed translations

+2
23 hrs
Selected

Les couilles de Madame D

I think it's a typo in a story about a typo.

Mme Dieulafoy was an archaeologist who caused a scandal by wearing men's clothing. The newspaper was supposed to say "fouilles", but it came out as "couilles", meaning "testicles". This was something of a Freudian slip given her masculine attire.

However, for some reason, in the text Firoozeh is translating, someone couldn't bring themselves to type "couilles", and put "fouilles" instead, thus rendering a very funny joke incomprehensible.



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Note added at 23 hrs (2015-10-15 09:01:55 GMT)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Dieulafoy

So in the translation, I would put something like "couilles, meaning testicles, rather than fouilles, meaning excavations", and a translator's note explaining what has gone wrong.
Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Dieulafoy

Peer comment(s):
agree Yolanda Broad
12 hrs
agree Alison MacG : I've posted another reference for anyone still interested
6 days
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Selected automatically based on peer agreement."
1 hr

archeological digs

*http://tybalt.pagesperso-orange.fr/LesGendelettres/biographi...

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Note added at 1 heure (2015-10-14 11:14:01 GMT)
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or archeological fieldwork/research
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