Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

ni vu ni connu

English translation:

as if it never happened

Added to glossary by Nicole Acher
Dec 12, 2018 17:29
5 yrs ago
8 viewers *
French term

ni vu ni connu

Non-PRO French to English Other Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
Là, Mike reprendra la valise et vous vous séparerez. Ni vu ni connu. Est-ce clair ?
Change log

Dec 12, 2018 17:53: Tony M changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Other"

Dec 21, 2018 03:09: Nicole Acher Created KOG entry

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

PRO (1): JohnMcDove

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Discussion

Tony M Dec 13, 2018:
@ Asker Well, irrespective of the context we were all so sorely lacking, the solution you have chosen is hardly really an accurate translation of the source expression!
JohnMcDove Dec 13, 2018:
In Spanish we have "si te he visto, no me acuerdo" Literally, "If I've seen you, I don't remember." "I don't know who you are, even if I saw you" type of idea. I would go with Tony M option.
Frank Gerace (asker) Dec 13, 2018:
I translated "Try to act natural" which felt best for me in the context of a secret hand off of documents. Your answers were great and I learned a lot about the phrase. I just didn't give you all enough context. thanks.

Proposed translations

+7
24 mins
Selected

as if it never happened

literal translation is "neither seen nor known"; in this context, the two individuals are to pretend they don't know anything about each other, or what occurred.
Peer comment(s):

agree Tony M
3 mins
Thanks Tony
agree philgoddard
25 mins
Thanks Phil
agree Trevino Translations (X)
1 hr
Thanks Trevino
agree Sandra & Kenneth Grossman
7 hrs
Thank you Sandra& Kenneth
agree GILLES MEUNIER
11 hrs
Thank you Gilou
agree Katarina Peters
1 day 3 hrs
Thanks Katarina
agree Yvonne Gallagher
1 day 5 hrs
Thank you Yvonne
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
+6
25 mins

with no-one any the wiser

Funny, we use this expression all the time, yet I've never stopped ebfore to thing of an actual equivalent.

Of course it means literally "neither seen nor recognized" — but that's certainly not the way we'd express it in EN!
Peer comment(s):

agree Yolanda Broad
22 mins
Thanks, Yolanda!
agree Gillian Smithers
2 hrs
Thanks, Gillian!
agree Kevin Oheix : Or "no one will be the wiser / no one will know", perhaps.
4 hrs
Thanks, Kevin!
agree JohnMcDove : Seems the best option for the context.
10 hrs
Thanks, John!
agree ph-b (X)
20 hrs
Merci, ph-b !
agree katsy
1 day 45 mins
Thanks, Katsy!
Something went wrong...
-1
29 mins

Scot-free/leave no clues/unnoticed/unseen

Leaving no sign
Here today gone tomorrow
Peer comment(s):

disagree Tony M : 'scot free' and 'here today, gone tomorrow' are totally different idioms which would not be suitable here; your other 2 suggestions are closer, but I don't feel would probably be suitable here — depending, of course, on the rest of the surrounding context
7 mins
Something went wrong...
-2
5 hrs

out of sight. Out of mind

just another suggestion
Peer comment(s):

disagree Daryo : Too much different from the ST // the ST is about meeting without anyone noticing, not about some ex-flame being forgotten after moving far away.
1 hr
disagree Tony M : Agree with Daryo! This is a quite different idiom, too far removed from the s/t.
8 hrs
Something went wrong...
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