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Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

"Not by the scales of my finny , fin, fin"

French translation:

non non par les ècailles de mon nageoire

Added to glossary by expat2005
Oct 26, 2006 20:07
17 yrs ago
English term

"Not by the scales of my finny , fin, fin"

English to French Other Poetry & Literature
It is the story of a Pirat and three beautiful mermaids, and the pirat wants to steal the mermaids treasure, but she replys this line to him! I am tempted to say: "Jamais, ou il faudra me couper la nageoire" but I wonder if there is a literal expression to possibly translate this line I have to translate this also in German, but I lacking some input about how to possibly say that as I can't really translate it literaly....or can i?
Proposed translations (French)
2 +1 non non par les ècailles de mon nageoire

Discussion

expat2005 (asker) Oct 27, 2006:
Hello Jonathan, I chose your answer , but it is actually la nageoire et non le nageoire. Mais bon, MERCI !!!
Jonathan MacKerron Oct 26, 2006:
German equivalent "Beim Haar an meinem Schnäuzchen, o nein, nein, nein."
Jonathan MacKerron Oct 26, 2006:
Non, non! Par le poil de nos mentons!
Jonathan MacKerron Oct 26, 2006:
it's from the children's story "the three little pigs" and has most certainly already been translated"officially" into French
Jonathan MacKerron Oct 26, 2006:
it's a take-off on "not by the hairs of my chinny chin chin"

Proposed translations

+1
21 mins
Selected

non non par les ècailles de mon nageoire

would be a direct transliteration of the original, but may not fit the rest of your piece very well
Check out the original French on the net by searching for "les trois petits cochons"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 25 mins (2006-10-26 20:32:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Non non! Par les écailles de mon nageoire!
Peer comment(s):
neutral Raynald Adam (X) : On dirait plutôt «de MA nageoire»
35 mins
neutral Alexandre Coutu : et écailles
3 hrs
agree Madeleine Algrain : tout à fait d'accord : non, non, par les écailles de MES nageoires
17 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "thanks a lot everyone. I agree with Raynald and Madeleine concerning the gender of nagoeoire"
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