Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

not painting the devil on the wall

French translation:

ne pas être plus alarmiste qu'il ne le faut

Added to glossary by Valerie Meye (X)
Jun 22, 2005 20:19
18 yrs ago
English term

hence one should be careful of not painting the devil on the wall and give away

English to French Social Sciences Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. socio-economy
2 problems :
*not painting the devil on the wall" idiomatic structure ? I understand the meaning but do not find an accurate + satisfying translation
*give away to panic solutions

Thanks

Discussion

RHELLER Jun 23, 2005:
your last suggestion does not sound strong enough to me (devil + panic)
Non-ProZ.com Jun 22, 2005:
Je suis bien dans levrai, pour garder la m�taphore peinture, mon id�e : il faut prendre garde /veiller � ne pas dresser un tableau trop sombre de la situation
Non-ProZ.com Jun 22, 2005:
Here is the whole sentence ;,-)) The demographic projections are based on a host of assumptions, and have often proven wrong in the past, hence one should be careful of not painting the devil on the wall and give away to panic solutions.
NatalieD Jun 22, 2005:
Est-ce la phrase compl�te?

Proposed translations

+1
56 mins
Selected

1. ne pas être alarmiste. 2. ne pas céder à la panique/ne pas prendre de décisions dans l'urgence

premières idées qui me sont venues à l'esprit
Peer comment(s):

agree RHELLER : alarmiste is good - also devil implies blaming
10 hrs
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Les projections démographiques reposent sur une série d'hypothèses, celles-ci se sont d’ailleurs souvent révélées fausses par le passé. C'est pourquoi chacun doit veiller à ne pas dresser un tableau trop sombre de la situation /à ne pas être plus alarmiste qu'il ne le faut et à ne pas céder à la panique, en prenant des mesures dans l’urgence. Thank you Mey, I do think it is the accurate meaning of the expression. Thanks also Rachel, the link you sent has confirmed this first intuition we had. Special thanks also for the useful link I have already bookmarked, didn't know it ;-) "
5 hrs

not for grading

I had never heard this expression before, so I googled it. I found an interesting discussion at "the phrase finder."


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