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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

Peinture minute

English translation:

Grab-and-go paints / instant paint while you wait

Added to glossary by B D Finch
Oct 30, 2019 16:39
4 yrs ago
1 viewer *
French term

Peinture minute

French to English Other Materials (Plastics, Ceramics, etc.) Paint – UK English
This is on the website of a paint and art materials supplier:

"POUR LES PROS
Réactivité
Peinture minute en vente au comptoir livraison sous max 72 h, par tournée régulière."

Instant paint? Ready-mixed paint? I don't think it can possibly mean the latter.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +3 Grab-and-go paints

Discussion

B D Finch (asker) Nov 6, 2019:
Update The client has now let me know that there was a missing "ou" and the sentence should have read:
"Peinture minute en vente au comptoir, ou livraison sous max 72 h, par tournée régulière." That makes quite a big difference and clarifies the apparent contradiction: i.e. they are alternatives.
Tony M Nov 2, 2019:
@ Ph_B Yes, that's the general idea: 'right away' would be the closest colloquial sense (a bit like 'illico') — in cuisine, we talk about 'cuisson minute' which means cooked to order, not prepared in advance
Ph_B (X) Nov 2, 2019:
While you wait? Just drove past my Peugeot dealership and saw and remembered they have something called Peugeot Minute. They can't do anything to a car in sixty seconds. So, if "instant paint" doesn't work, would that be "while you wait"?
Cyril Tollari Nov 2, 2019:
https://www.minutekey.com
B D Finch (asker) Nov 2, 2019:
@Cyril Never heard of "minute key" shops. That is probably a corruption of the name of a (once?) dominant chain of British key-cutting shops called Mr Minit.
Ph_B (X) Nov 2, 2019:
Hard to imagine that peinture minute and livraison sous 72 heures can be about the same thing, unless it means you ring them up, tell them what you want and they do it on the spot, so that's it's ready for their next regular tournée. I suppose that pros need large quantities and so what they mean by minute is that your order is taken care of immediately, but the sheer quantity means you'll have to wait, but not more than the stated 72 hours. Could make sense within the building trade. If not, I wonder whether this might be sloppy punctuation: pros can either get instant paint and leave the shop with it or can order any ready-made paint from the company's website or catalogue and get it delivered within 72 hours. Needless to say that phoning the shop, if you're allowed to, would clarify all this.
Cyril Tollari Nov 2, 2019:
I wonder if peinture minute means something more than quickly delivered. If it is inspired from clé minute, you would think professionals order paints from samples they take to the shop. The same way people take their key to the minute key shop to get a copy. So you will have to convey this idea in English, which may be implied in French.
Tony M Nov 1, 2019:
@ Cyril I'm afraid that simply doesn't work in EN!
Any French person will understand '... minute' as meaning quick, straight away, while-you-wait, etc. However, an EN person will not at all get the same connotation, which only really appears in Chopin's 'Minute Waltz' (lasts 60 seconds, though in fact it doesn't!) or a 'minute steak' (which is actually cooked for longer than 60 secs!) — otherwise, it will be read as 'my-nute', i.e. 'very tiny' — so 'minute paint' would conjure up little teeny pots (like Humbrol model paints!)
Cyril Tollari Oct 30, 2019:
This one is ready in only 48 hrs. Peinture sur mesure rapido. In-can tinting.
http://peinture-metal.sur-mesure-rapido.fr/peinture-metal.ph...
Michael Varga Oct 30, 2019:
About the confusion over the prompt delivery service:
Wondering if the "peinture minute" and "livraison..." are meant as two separate examples of their "Réactivité" (which seems to mean they are quick on the uptake/on the ball). More specifically, this could mean that they offer these on-the-go options at the counter (for people who physically visit the store) on the one hand, and also have a fast delivery service (for all their products, including if you phone in your order, or order online, if online is an option - they do have a shopping cart icon at the top of the screen). But yes, if that is the case, then there is a punctuation problem - there would have to be something like a "/" between "comptoir" and "livraison."
philgoddard Oct 30, 2019:
Thanks for finding that, Eliza So it's not about art materials.
Eliza Hall Oct 30, 2019:
The actual site Ok, here it is: https://arc-en-ciel-peintures-luberon.com/ (scroll to bottom right of page).

The cited text is from a section that sounds like it actually is for professional painters (house painters, not artists, although this paint manufacturer does make a line of art paint). Apparently they will deliver paint you order to the job site.
Eliza Hall Oct 30, 2019:
@ TonyM normally when you go into a shop, the paint is on the shelf and you just pick it up

In the US at least, that's normally only the case for white paint. If you want a color, you get the type of paint you want off the shelf, bring it to the counter with the paint chip showing your chosen color, and they add X drops of blue/Y drops of red/etc. (whatever their computer says to add) and mix it for you.

But that's house paint. I don't recall having seen a paint seller that sold both house paint and paint for artists.
Tony M Oct 30, 2019:
@ Asker Well, normally when you go into a shop, the paint is on the shelf and you just pick it up; can't get much more 'minute' than that!
So as this seems to be some kind of service that isn't actually as "instant" as all that, but they still seem to think it's pretty fast; my guess would be specially-mixed colours — though I fail to see why they can't do it while you wait, like most places do?

Proposed translations

+3
44 mins
Selected

Grab-and-go paints

Just a hunch, but here is my rationale: These paints appear top be ready to go and are within easy reach of the cashier (perhaps because they are pre-mixed, perhaps because they reflect a range of very popular colours that are either permanent classics or the trend of the moment, perhaps because they come in small containers, etc.). The point appears to be that these paints offer time-efficiency for the paint shopper, i.e. s/he only needs to walk into the store, communicate her/his choice to the cashier, pay, and then run off home to commence painting. "Pour les pros" is another clue that these paints are for people who already know what they want, who don't want to have to wait in line behind amateur painters and therefore can skip the consulting and paint-mixing processes entirely.
Note from asker:
Sounds reasonable except for the point made by Tony and also, what's special about that? it's the usual way people have always bought paint.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Tony M : But that doesn't seem to be the case: they're saying "delivery within 72 hours"
22 mins
agree philgoddard : Good idea! Though I'm still confused about the "livraison" bit, and I wonder if the punctuation is wrong.
29 mins
agree Eliza Hall : This works if you say, "Grab-and-go paints available at the counter, or delivered within max 72 hours."
31 mins
Thanks for looking uop the website, Eliza. More context clues!
agree Michele Fauble : Immediately available at the counter (OR delivery in less than 72 hours)
9 hrs
neutral SafeTex : Nice expression but the evidence points a 72 hour delivery (you can probably order in a minute using colour swabs) so I have my doubts about "grab and go"
11 hrs
Something went wrong...
3 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Michael. I didn't use the term "Grab-and-go", partly because my personal prejudice that it sounds ugly, mainly because it seemed more appropriate for ready-mixed paint. So, I used "Instant paint while you wait". The client has now clarified that there was a missing "ou", which removes the apparent contradiction in the sentence."
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