TRADUguide - Your Guide to Translators and Translation Agencies

178 months ago

Barbara Cochran (a guest user) asked this question:

This question has already been answered and rated. Therefore, no new answers can be given.

178 months ago

   wrote:

though we were having a desultory conversation...

178 months ago

Makdor   wrote:

Let's go new!....Though we were just chit-chatting about this and that, the journey from LA to reach the house was very interesting...

178 months ago

Rita Solis Radius - Conseil en Création Littéraire   wrote:

Discuss aimlessly /without any purpose/pointlessly

178 months ago

Karla   wrote:

about this and that////or//// chit-chatting

178 months ago

David Edwards Translation and Training   wrote:

we talked(/were talking) of everything under the sun

My comment:

this expression suggests more of the sense of energy implied by the French expression than 'of this and that' which sounds rather detached and uninvolved to me

My references:

I found some interesting comments from francophones on the expression:
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=305915&langid=6

J´ajouterais (pour le sens commun) qu´en plus il s´agit d´une discussion trés vive et rapide.
On peut ajouter très franche, sans retenue...
Pour moi c'est typique des retrouvailles après des années sans se voir, on ne sait pas trop quoi se raconter parce qu'on a trop à se dire, alors on saute du coq à l'âne, silences, on relance la conversation vers autre chose...
Une conversation à bâtons rompus n'est pas nécessairement passionnée, au contraire... quand on dit qu'on a parlé à bâtons rompus, on pense plutôt à une ambiance détendue, déchargée de l'obligation de stricte rigueur qu'on aurait dans un débat aux enjeux importants, par exemple... on peut sauter sans transition d'un sujet à un autre, par association d'idée, très librement.

- it clearly does not mean the same thing to all these people - for some it implies passion, for others not at all. So you'll also have to decide how your author understands it!

178 months ago

DSWCreative   wrote:

It means: "Although we were talking about this and that"

My comment:

"parler à bâtons rompus" means "talk about this and that" or "small talk"

My references:

Google

The asker rated this answer best

178 months ago

DSWCreative   wrote:

haphazard

My comment:

while the discussion jumped randomly from subject to subject
You get the idea, work these in your sentence.

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

178 months ago

WILHELMINA TWENEBOA-KODUA   wrote:

Yeah, desultory or haphazard

178 months ago

Claude Le Frapper   wrote:

haphazard

My comment:

while the discussion jumped randomly from subject to subject
You get the idea, work these in your sentence.