Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

écrase le temps

English translation:

are killing time

Added to glossary by jeantrans (X)
Mar 13, 2013 03:12
11 yrs ago
French term

écrase le temps

French to English Art/Literary Journalism
From an article about cigarette smuggling in France:

"Un samedi j'en ai compté 200", dit-il en regardant les vendeurs qui s'activent en ce jeudi glacial de février.
Derrière sa caisse, il a vu ce trafic prendre son envol en 2005 après plusieurs hausses brutales du prix du tabac.
A deux mètres, une poignée de CRS écrase le temps dans un mini-car, comme tous les jours depuis que le quartier a été classé zone de sécurité prioritaire (ZSP) en septembre. Devant le kiosque, les vendeurs s'accumulent.

Proposed translations

+5
28 mins
Selected

are killing time

...
Peer comment(s):

agree Daryo : exactly the same kind of imagery!
3 hrs
agree Philippa Smith
3 hrs
agree DouglasCarnall
4 hrs
neutral polyglot45 : yes and no - you've lost the image of crushing the fag end
4 hrs
agree NancyLynn
7 hrs
agree Lara Barnett
8 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you to everyone."
4 hrs

time drags

I realise this is changing things around ('time drags for the CRS') but 'the CRS drag time' doesn't sound right, and I feel you might need to make the French cigarette wordplay a little more obvious than just with reference to 'killing'.
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3 days 7 hrs

are whiling away the time

a late alternative suggestion!
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7 days

watch the time goes by

That is what they are doing, isn'it? It really seems that they don't have what to do...
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