English translation of "les beaux restes" - "he accused him of only leaving him the crumbs."

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52 months ago

Barbara R Cochran (a guest user) asked this question:

Language pair:	French > English
Subject:	General
Level of diffculty:	Easy / medium
Word or term in question:	les beaux restes
Context:	Avant ce dépeçage, le Louvre avait fait valoir, non sans difﬁcul- tés, son droit de préemption sur 49 chefs-d’œuvre parmi les plus importants, aﬁn de les maintenir en France si possible. Les Allemands, pour ne pas envenimer le conﬂit, ﬁnirent par accepter. Cette concession ne fut pas appréciée de tout le monde. D’après le Dr Voss, conservateur de la galerie de Linz, Hitler se montra très mécontent qu’on eût cédé aux exigences des Musées nationaux, qu’il accusa de ne lui avoir laissé que « les beaux restes ». Le Dr Buchner, directeur des Musées de Bavière, dut le rassurer, en soulignant par une nouvelle expertise la qualité des tableaux destinés à Linz. I don't think it means anything that sounds very pretty.

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Complete list of answers and comments

52 months ago

MatthewHallisy wrote:

"Beautiful" (dripping with sarcasm) leftovers

My comment:

Remember, this is Hitler speaking. He is pissed off. There is nothing elegant being communicated here. He's really mad that the conquered French are keeping the best works and just sending him the detritus. Keep in mind that the Germans had been looting ALL OF the art, jewelry, and other valuables of the French Jews and they took everything back to Germany. Now, the French Museum Directors are showing the temerity to keep most of the great French art and send him a token shipment. He must have been seething.

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

52 months ago

wrote:

You're right—Hitler was really pissed when he was describing them. I was thinking of something along the lines of "garbage" or "shitty garbage" or "shitty leftovers". What do you think? Thanks

52 months ago

MatthewHallisy wrote:

I think that's what he really was thinking too. But I think his choice of language was a little more toned down. Maybe he was having a generally good day (God knows what atrocity he did to make him happy!) or maybe he knew the best way to get them to give him more of the better art was to be nice to them. I tend to agree with the former versus the latter. Hitler doesn't strike me as a "Make Nice" kind of guy. What is subtle in the text is that Dr. Buchner "dut le rassurer"...which you can tell was like the Officer in Star Wars trying to convince Darth Vader that the Death Star really was going to be completed on time...with a heavy dose of worry, fear, and anxiety baked in...right before Vader strangled him.

52 months ago

MatthewHallisy wrote:

Nice little leftovers

My comment:

I think we have to keep the ironical, euphemistic tone

52 months ago

CMD wrote:

"paltry / pathetic remains and poor leftovers"

My comment:

IMO: "beaux (restes)" is used here in an augmentative + fig. sense + quotes
[NB: "avoir de beaux restes" = des restes de beauté, i.e. se dit d'une personne qui n'est plus jeune]

52 months ago

martynback wrote:

he accused him of only leaving him the crumbs.

My comment:

"Beaux restes" is usually used for a person who is "well preserved" (ie was once beautiful and still is... in a certain way).
Here, however, it is closer to the meaning of "leaving someone the crumbs" - ie keeping the best for oneself.

My references:

You could also say he accused them of keeping the best for themselves.

Comments by other colleagues on this answer:

52 months ago

martynback wrote:

sorry: he (Hitler) accused them (the State Museums) of only leaving him the crumbs.

52 months ago

martynback wrote:

or "accused them of keeping the lion's share" - that would work too.

52 months ago

martynback wrote:

Actually lion's share is a bit different as it refers to quantity rather than quality, so forget I said that.

52 months ago

Josephine Cassar wrote:

Lion's share is the exact opposite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion%27s_share. The crumbs is the one to go for and fits here. i understand it like you, no, it doesn't sound pretty

52 months ago

martynback wrote:

Er, I was suggesting that you could say that Hitler accused the Museums of keeping the lion's share - you have to turn the sentence around to make it work. But anyway lion's share is no good because it's quantitative not qualitative.

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