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affaires mochardes

English translation: frightful matters

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:affaires mochardes
English translation:frightful matters
Entered by: Conor McAuley

14:18 Jul 29, 2021
French to English translations [PRO]
Poetry & Literature / Talk on Agatha Christie
French term or phrase: affaires mochardes
C’est dit là, dès la page 19 du premier roman d’Agatha, qui est aussi la première enquête d’Hercule Poirot : les proches savent. Et ils se taisent : une quinzaine de romans mettent en scène un membre de la famille qui couvre un assassinat. Pour Christie, les choses sont claires : l’omerta est un sport familial. Et le silence est la bande-son du patriarcat. Pas uniquement pour couvrir des assassinats. Il étouffe aussi, et surtout, toutes les affaires mochardes, interminables détresses ou vilénies ordinaires. Impossible, pour les victimes, de se plaindre : elles ont entériné qu’elles ne seraient jamais entendues. La grande affaire d’Agatha Christie, et à cet égard elle se montre radicale et subversive, c’est d’illustrer qu’en famille le mal est tripartite.
Verity Roat
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:49
frightful matters
Explanation:
This strikes me as the right register for Agatha Christie and Poirot.

Restrained and unsensational.
Selected response from:

Conor McAuley
France
Local time: 21:49
Grading comment
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +6sleazy little dealings
Carol Gullidge
4 +2Shady goings-on... / Sneaky going-on...
Lara Barnett
3 +1frightful matters
Conor McAuley
3 +1sordid affairs
Bokani Hart
3unmentionable goings-on
Mpoma


  

Answers


19 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
frightful matters


Explanation:
This strikes me as the right register for Agatha Christie and Poirot.

Restrained and unsensational.

Conor McAuley
France
Local time: 21:49
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 30

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Mpoma: Yes, something along these lines. See my answer: I surmise that you also see irony in this choice of the word "mochard"...
1 hr
  -> Irony, absolutely, the British art of the understatement, too. Maybe a bit cynical too, shove it all under the carpet and pretend that nothing ever happened. A little bit of local difficulty.
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32 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +6
sleazy little dealings


Explanation:
the "little" arises from my interpretation of "mochardes" (as opposed to simply "moches"

...or simply "nasty little dealings".

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Note added at 34 mins (2021-07-29 14:53:40 GMT)
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or "nasty little goings-on"

Carol Gullidge
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:49
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 80

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Emmanuella
11 mins
  -> thanks, Emmanuella!
agree  philgoddard: Or murky.
11 mins
  -> Thanks Phil! I like "murky" too!
agree  Yvonne Gallagher
33 mins
  -> thanks, Yvonne!
agree  Michele Fauble
35 mins
  -> thanks, Michele!
agree  Saeed Najmi
1 hr
  -> thanks, Saeed!
agree  SafeTex
6 hrs
  -> Thanks, Safetex!
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44 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Shady goings-on... / Sneaky going-on...


Explanation:
I could not decide between these two, as I am unsure which nuance fits better, so I have suggested both as a choice - Sneaky or shady "goings-on"....!


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Note added at 45 mins (2021-07-29 15:04:10 GMT)
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Typo... Second suggestion should also be "goingS-on"...

Example sentence(s):
  • "Is Gorman's murder connected with the SHADY GOINGS-ON at the once reputable Bertram Hotel?"
  • "The play, a psychological thriller, is an American version of the British speciality of incorporating SNEAKY GOINGS-ON in a houseful of suspects and retained shades of plots more commonly associated with Agatha Christie and Daphne du Maurier."

    https://www.tvguide.com/movies/at-bertrams-hotel/review/2000177412/
    Reference: http://www.grayshottstagers.co.uk/nw/nwcrit.html
Lara Barnett
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:49
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Melanie Kathan
14 mins
  -> Thank you
agree  ormiston: I like goings-on but not sure about the adjectives. To me 'mochard' is more like unpleasant or nasty business...
20 hrs
  -> Thank you, you could be right, but i would say it also depends on the implications of the context.// i.e. Using "nasty" in this context normally implies shadiness or cunning of some sort.
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54 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
sordid affairs


Explanation:
NB: 'affaires' -> 'events' or 'incidents'.

Bokani Hart
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:49
Native speaker of: English

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Melanie Kathan
5 mins
  -> Thanks Melanie
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
unmentionable goings-on


Explanation:
I think, maybe, we have to look at the intended meaning here as projected through the moral values of the Agatha Christie characters (at least as perceived by the writer of the ST). In other words, things which are mochard may be so perceived according to their outlooks.

Affaires mochardes could thus be things which are unacceptable in their value systems, so it might include unwanted pregnancies, homosexuality or even incest (if such things are alluded to in Christie's works...).

"Shady" or "sleazy" things are slightly different, it seems to me: if we choose such words we are assuming that the word mochard is being applied from our value perspective, or at least that of the writer of the ST, who is probably expecting us to share her/his outlook. Which may be the case, however.

I can't decide, partly because I can't quite gauge the connotations of mochard, which is a word I have never come across... to me it may have a whiff of irony about it, which may support my view.

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Note added at 1 hr (2021-07-29 16:07:42 GMT)
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To state the obvious, perhaps, the irony seems to me to come precisely from the fact that it is essentially a "made up" word: moche + -ard: it is a word we are not meant to take seriously, suggesting that the people who are perceiving things thus are being mocked.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2021-07-29 18:00:55 GMT)
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However, the irony of mochard could also work another way: the author of the ST could be mocking Agatha Christie, her writing style, her values, rather than her characters and their values. This wouldn't invalidate my solution IMHO.

On balance I'd come marginally down on the side of the characters being mocked, as the author appears probably to rate Christie's novels quite highly.

Mpoma
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:49
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 8
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