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VENTE A TERME-EMPTION
avis de situation déclarative à l'impôt sur le revenu

Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

petit poucet

English translation:

midget (literally "Tom Thumb".)

Added to glossary by Ben Gaia
Jun 27, 2018 11:03
5 yrs ago
French term

petit poucet

French to English Bus/Financial Economics
This is an article about the digital economy. This term appears several times (see examples below) and I am having trouble coming up with an appropriate translation - is there a term we use in English? Any ideas?

La nouvelle économie, géant médiatique mais petit poucet économique ?

Cette vision d’un petit poucet ne reflèterait elle pas en réalité l’incapacité de nos appareils statistiques à bien mesurer ce secteur numérique et la nouvelle économie collaborative qui en résulte.

Mais ce petit poucet numérique, du point de vue de la comptabilité nationale, sème ses cailloux (ou plus précisément ses octets) dans toute l’économie et la société faisant ainsi aujourd’hui de chaque entreprise et ménage son foyer.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 midget
4 +1 little guy
3 +1 David (and Goliath)
4 kid
References
Little Thumb - metaphor: capacity of ov...
Change log

Jun 28, 2018 22:14: Ben Gaia Created KOG entry

Discussion

ph-b (X) Jun 27, 2018:
@Phil, re: semer Perrault used this verb in his tale, although not with pebbles but with bread crumbs (http://www.cndp.fr/fileadmin/user_upload/CNDP/catalogues/per... Also confirmed by one of TLFi's entries for semer: Répandre sur un lieu en disséminant.
Charles Davis Jun 27, 2018:
@Phil I don't think there is a contradition there. It doesn't say that the new economy is in fact tiny. It says that people see it that way, but it may actually be bigger than they think. The perception that it is tiny is due to the fact that so much of it is invisible to people who can see only what can be measured by traditional methods and think that's all there is. That's how I understand it, anyway.
José Patrício Jun 27, 2018:
@D Finch
Yes. See ref comm
philgoddard Jun 27, 2018:
I think this may need rewriting. The Petit Poucet/Tom Thumb idea contradicts what they say about not being able to measure its size using traditional tools. The whole metaphor is awkward - and how do you "semer des cailloux"?
B D Finch Jun 27, 2018:
@spielenschach1 Do you have any evidence for thinking that "little thumb" is an expression used in English?
José Patrício Jun 27, 2018:
I think we can translate by little thumb (ou maintenir petit poucet) because it is a metaphor of the childish resilience, capacity of overtake, recover from adversities

Proposed translations

+1
6 hrs
Selected

midget

In this context, "Tom Thumb" is too folkloric, a news article might say "economic midget".

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 15 hrs (2018-06-28 02:23:05 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

.."a headline-grabbing giant, and yet, an economic midget?.."
Peer comment(s):
agree Daryo
2 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks"
+1
44 mins

David (and Goliath)

Would address the idea of little guy vs big guy, tho you could really only use where the 2 are opposed, otherwise reader will be wondering who this David chap is. Might help with working up something for the cailloux tho (slingshot pebbles etc)
Reference:

https://blog.euromonitor.com/2018/01/david-vs-goliath-rise-small-companies.html

Peer comment(s):
agree B D Finch
6 mins
neutral Ben Gaia : I like the way you are thinking. But it refers to something which is "either or both at once" rather than two things in opposition.
6 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
4 hrs

little guy

I agree with the sentiment of Margaret's answer, but to avoid the problem of opposition, I'd suggest the most commonly used English language term is just the "little guy" (some examples below).
Example sentence:

The digital economy: media giant but economic little guy.

This perception of the little guy might in fact reflect the inability of our statitical tools to properly measure the digital sector and the sharing economy that has emerged from it,.

Reference:

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2012/03/03/small-is-not-beautiful

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/business/some-shoppers-rebel-against-giant-web-retailers.html

Peer comment(s):
agree Ben Gaia : Modern PC Down Under version of my suggestion.
11 hrs
:-)
Something went wrong...
1 day 2 hrs

kid

Why not kid! After all, 'le petit poucet' is a fairy tale for kids

On top of that, kid also means in English a young man without experience (incapable of what great achievements)

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2018-06-28 14:55:49 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

erratum: GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS instead of 'what great achievements'
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

2 hrs
Reference:

Little Thumb - metaphor: capacity of overtake, recover from adversities
Literature about Little Thumb:
Little Thumb
Charles Perrault - https://www.pitt.edu/~dash/perrault08.html
Little Thumb, or Little Poucet (French: Le petit Poucet), is one of the eight fairytales published by Charles Perrault - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hop-o'-My-Thumb
Little Thumb - American Literature - https://americanliterature.com/author/charles-perrault/fairy...
"Little Thumb" Andrew Lang. The Blue Fairy Book
"Little Thumb" Charles Welsh in The Tales of Mother Goose
"Little Thumb" Samber (transl.); Mansion (ed.); Clarke (ill.). The fairy tales of Charles Perrault. Harrap, 1922. - https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Little_Thumb
Peer comments on this reference comment:
neutral B D Finch : The usual name is "Tom Thumb", I'd never heard him called "Little Thumb".//Correction: apparently Tom Thumb is an English fairy story and Little Thumb is the name in the translation of Perrault's fairy story.
1 hr
But what interests here is Perrault’s story, I think. Besides Tom Thumb was an actor: General Tom Thumb", was a dwarf who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer. Can you send me the link of the fairy story? Thank you.
Something went wrong...
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