French term
Canada
French Canadian, fast, efficient
Native in: English 
, French
Works in: English to French
épingle du jeu
| Context |
Wolf Draeger
|
Non-PRO (2): Nikki Scott-Despaigne, Richard Nice
When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.
How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:
An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)
A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).
Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.
When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.
* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.
Proposed translations
Psychologist, Court-certified legal
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English
do (rather) well
"Passablement" is probably well rendered by "rather".
| agree |
Kate Collyer
: Less is definitely more here.
1 hr
|
| agree |
Kévin Bernier
: I changed my mind. Because we are talking about horses, I think it indeed needs to be simple. Agree with both you and Kate.
1 hr
|
| agree |
B D Finch
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Kelly Harrison
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Ingeborg Gowans (X)
: I think this fits best here
5 hrs
|
| disagree |
Daryo
: (rather) well is the translation for "plutôt bien" as in “il s’en sort plutôt bien”; "passablement bien" is level of performance below that. Like getting just enough points to pass an exam.
5 hrs
|
|
Not just one posibility for "passable", which can be read tongue-in-cheek or even negatively, which is the case with "rather". I opted for that term to leave options open, just like the original.
|
|
| agree |
cc in nyc
: @ Daryo: "passablement bien" a l'air d'une litote ("bien connus du public")
7 hrs
|
| disagree |
Jocelyne Cuenin
: passablement est plutôt négatif//yes, "rather" is something which is sometimes difficult to tackle for us Frenchies. Still, I think it implies that the horses could do better, like Daryo above. Mais l'important, c'est ce que les Canadiens comprennent !
11 hrs
|
|
Arguably ambiguous, which can be said for "rather", hence my choice.
|
|
| agree |
Bertrand Leduc
12 hrs
|
| agree |
mimi 254
14 hrs
|
| agree |
Wolf Draeger
: Or perhaps "reasonably" instead of rather.
23 hrs
|
Precision, Honesty, Reliability (quoted)
Native in: French , English
Works in: English to French, French to English
to play one's game well
Alternative meaning (not applicable here):
to extricate (oneself from an embarrassing situation)
France
Translator & Game Loc Specialist | EN-FR
Native in: French (Variant: Standard-France)
Works in: English to French
play their cards right
Only, "passablement bien" here might call for a change of expression. Since it means that they're doing moderately good, you could change the idiom into something else. Something less "powerful".
"Who manage to barely play their cards right" would work well I find.
| neutral |
Kate Collyer
: Reminds me of that painting of dogs playing cards... not right for horses!
1 hr
|
|
See my comment on Nikki's answer.
|
|
| neutral |
B D Finch
: Difficult to hold cards with a hoof!
3 hrs
|
|
You've obviously never watched Lucky Luke, my friend! But more seriously, yes.
|
United States
Tip-Top Translations into EN
Native in: English (Variants: British, US)
Works in: French to English, English, French
(have been/are) punching above their weight
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 43 mins (2012-08-09 18:29:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
Here's an example of this being used in a similar way in the horsey world: http://www.galwaynews.ie/20629-kelly’s-yard-punching-above-i...
| neutral |
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: This suggestion might work well in other situations, but here, this is mixing sports, even if one if metaphorical.//I'm expressing my opinion that in this instance it does not work well. Horses & punches, elegance and brute force? //Neigh problem? Like;-)
23 mins
|
|
Of course it is, Nikki, but it's used all the time in sports other than boxing: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/photogallery/gallery=1483081.ht...
|
|
| neutral |
Kévin Bernier
: Punching horses is murder. (Sorry... Just wanted to be funny)
35 mins
|
|
Neigh problem, Kevin.
|
Native in: English , French
Works in: English to French, French to English, German to French, and 4 more.
producing the goods
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2012-08-09 18:59:16 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
riding the crest of the wave
| agree |
Kate Collyer
: for "producing the goods" - less keen on the others
1 hr
|
| neutral |
B D Finch
: Have you sniffed a stable recently?
3 hrs
|
| agree |
Martyn Greenan
6 hrs
|
| agree |
Bertrand Leduc
11 hrs
|
which are achieving passably good results
"... and which are achieving passably good results"
This horse owner has invested money in horses – in most cases the money never comes back. The owner managed to "tirer leur épingle du jeu", expression usually used when someone manages to bail out / extract / salvage his money from some doomed venture, so these horses are winning and the owner is getting some money back. But that's about that - no spectacular profits - the results are "passably good".
in reasonably good form OR stable performers
2nd option contains the slightest of puns :-)
X currently owns a stable of seven horses, which are well-known to the public and in reasonably good form...
X currently owns seven horses, all well-known to the public and stable performers...
Reference comments
Context
Pour la majorité des amateurs de courses à Montréal, le nom des conducteurs et leur petite histoire personnelle dans le trot et amble local est un fait connu ou presque. Mais lorsque vient le temps de parler de certains entraîneurs, on est beaucoup plus profane et c’est normal puisque beaucoup d’entre eux travaillent dans l’ombre.
C’est le cas par exemple de X...qui a fait depuis belle lurette des courses sous harnais son gagne-pain favori.
Pour X, les courses sous harnais et l’entraînement des chevaux sont devenus une histoire de famille. Marié et père de trois admirables filles... qui adorent toutes les trois le métier de le père, X se trouve présentement à la tête d’une écurie de sept chevaux qui sont bien connus du public et qui tirent passablement bien leur épingle du jeu. II s’agit de A, B, C, D, E & F, de même que G, une récente acquisition.
Quoiqu’il en soit, X semble filer le parfait bonheur non seul sur le plan familial mais aussi dans le trot et amble montrêalais. II possède de bons associés en Mr et Mme Y...
So it does seem that tirer l'épingle in this context means to do OK, to hold one's own, as opposed to get out of a tricky situation.
Discussion
« bien manœuvrer » to play one's game well
« s'en sortir à temps » to extricate [oneself]