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  3. Human Resources

droit de cuissage

15:19 Mar 14, 2005
This question was closed without grading. Reason: No acceptable answer

French to English translations [PRO]
Human Resources / woman at work
French term or phrase: droit de cuissage
And here is another one from the same text. They say that bosses try to exploit their "droit de cuissage", especially when promotion time or salary reviews are coming up. I can think of "casting couch" but that is usualy "promotion canapé". Do we talk about "seignuerial rights"?
CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 10:17


Summary of answers provided
4 +7droit de seigneur
Angela Dickson (X)
3 +3employer's right to subject employees to sexual harassment
Sandra C.
5 +1"bedding rights"
Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)
4 +1Lord's first night rights
Patrick McKeown
4 -1maiden rents
ILA
3abuse of power
tatyana000


Discussion entries: 3





  

Answers


3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
employer's right to subject employees to sexual harassment


Explanation:
not sure if there is an actual translation in English

Sandra C.
France
Local time: 10:17
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sara Freitas: yes, or to unwanted advances...I think this is more straightforward than a more "literary" translation of the term.
14 mins
  -> thank you Sara
agree  Assimina Vavoula
19 mins
  -> merci
agree  Gaelle THIBAULT
33 mins
  -> merci
agree  Bourth (X): If the term, as used, is not supposed to encompass the exchange of promotion ets. for sexual favours
54 mins
  -> merci
neutral  LAC: BUT, employers do not have this "right", and you need to make sure you don't give the impression that they do. Which is prob. why the French text uses the (in theory) antiquated and outdated "droit de cuissage", rather than a more modern term/expression.
1 hr
  -> merci, agreed
agree  Ian Burley (X): I've been thinking about this for hours. The "right" bothers me. It's a standard French expression but sounds too legal in English. I think "employer's subjection of employees to sexual harassment" would be better.
1 hr
  -> merci, agreed as well
disagree  df49f (X): ??? "employer's RIGHT to subject employees to harassment"????!! //for the literal meaning, see Larousse or any other French dico... // or see also Patrick's link
4 hrs
  -> literally, that's what droit de cuissage means; even in French, who really has the 'droit' to harass anyone? yet the expression is 'droit' de cuissage. I am just as appalled as you are...I did say 'not sure if there is an actual translation in English'.
disagree  Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X): agree with previous disagree...the employer has no "right" here..if y ou say this like this in English, it completely distorts the idea I think
23 hrs
  -> ok, I just gave a literal translation and that's what it means. Thanks. I did say 'not sure if there is an actual translation in English'.
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14 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +1
"bedding rights"


Explanation:
would be understood...the right to bed...says it all, IMO



Jane Lamb-Ruiz (X)
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 135

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  mportal: what if they worked for the 'bedding' department in a store? I am both educated and English, but it sounds clumsy for the reason I gave
28 mins
  -> no..if it's in quote marks any English speaker will understand..if they are educated
agree  Dr Sue Levy (X): I don't think there's any ambiguity at all - it's a stock expression//Economist article http://polazzo.stuysu.org/india_survey.htm
1 hr
  -> wow...The Economist...well,what can I say? Thanx Sue
neutral  Ian Burley (X): I would't call this a stock expression. And this kind of thing rarely happens in a bed!
1 hr
  -> perhaps not stock but a remnant of Medievalism that makes sense, no?
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +7
droit de seigneur


Explanation:

This indicates the hierarchical nature of the thing, and I can't think of a better way to do it in English (I think this French phrase would be understandable to an English-speaking audience - it's fairly common - but 'seigneurial rights' would do it if you want to make it more Englishified).

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Note added at 15 mins (2005-03-14 15:35:20 GMT)
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I think leaving \'droit de cuissage\' as it is would be risky, as it relies on a very good understanding of French on the part of the reader (who, after all, will be reading a translation...). It\'s a nice expression, though, and not quite so... um... graphic as what \'droit de seigneur\' implies.


    Reference: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=377499
Angela Dickson (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:17
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  mportal: although one might object to the concept being expressed, (as I think people would in the UK) this seems to be the best way of rendering the meaning.
37 mins
agree  Bourth (X): That, I believe, is the established expression in English (dating from when the seigneurs spoke French, I guess), but maybe the sentence needs turning around ...
47 mins
agree  Pierre POUSSIN: Yessir! Ancien droit...français!
49 mins
agree  LAC
1 hr
agree  Jean-Charles Pirlet: Aaaaah the good old days.Of french speaking lords of course.It's not droit "du" seigneur? Didn't know this expression.
4 hrs
agree  df49f (X)
4 hrs
agree  Patrick McKeown
6 hrs
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17 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
maiden rents


Explanation:
why not use the exact equivalent, this is an old fashioned word, it's used to convey a new meaning, What do you think

ILA
Local time: 09:17
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  mportal: this a) does not sound English and b) sounds as if it is an effete way of talking about prostitution. Also, to avoid sexism, the term could also refer to men, I presume.
27 mins
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18 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
abuse of power


Explanation:
just another suggestion. Maybe it's too general, but I don't think you should make any reference to first night. That sounds out of place in the context of the workplace in English.

tatyana000
Local time: 10:17
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
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6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Lord's first night rights


Explanation:
... is one conventional approximation.
Depending on the register of your text, could you not just leave this jolly little expression in the original and let the readers do the heavy thinking?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 mins (2005-03-14 15:27:20 GMT)
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Sorry, meant to say that your \"seigneurial rights\" sounds fine, too.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs 35 mins (2005-03-15 14:54:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/13493.ctl

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 23 hrs 36 mins (2005-03-15 14:55:56 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

If anyone is interested in \"first night rights\" (from an entirely academic point of view of course!), you could have a look at this:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/13493.ctl

Patrick McKeown
Italy
Local time: 10:17
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Angela Dickson (X): I would really like this one to be possible, as it is jolly... but I've never heard of it... :)
21 hrs
  -> thanks, Angela; if you have time you might like to look at the link I added (twice, because nothing ever seems to happen the first time I post!)
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