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DR and DG
DD
Apr 17, 2023 18:36
1 yr ago
73 viewers *
French term

Vous avez une langue de vipère !

French to English Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings
personne qui aime dire du mal des gens.
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 You (really do) have a serpent's tongue
4 +2 You really do have / You have such a vicious / spiteful tongue on you!
4 +1 You have a viper's tongue!
5 You are a real badmouth
3 +1 You're really/pretty bitchy
4 shrew, mean/spiteful etc. tongue
4 You’re really catty/have a sharp tongue
2 +1 You are a venomous gossip!
3 You spew poison with your backstabbing words.
3 You have a slanderous tongue
4 -3 You speak with a forked tongue.
References
It can also be found by using the www (other than Kudoz)

Discussion

Daryo Apr 21, 2023:
Of course I insist on as much context *as needed* But here I can't see what huge difference more context would make.

Whether Vous avez une langue de vipère ! is said as an insult, ironically, as a plain statement of fact, with a negative or a positive connotation (yes, that could happen depending on the context), it wouldn't change the written translation (but might change the way it's spoken).

As for "helping fellow translators" ... you forget that you're also helping yourself. At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, you won't improve your methods by translating tons of easy text - but but solving "hard cases". All that assuming you self-analyse how you translate ... or in plain-speak learn from own mistakes. I would rather spend my time on a tricky question by a troll than on an easy one by someone out of his/her depth. But that's only me ...
SafeTex Apr 19, 2023:
@Daryo You are incredible Daryo.

You normally INSIST on context but for this series of questions, context has gone completely out of the window and no one knows if the "classic" English idiom is the best answer or an alternative idiom/phrase.
Also, some of us give our time to help fellow translators but do not want to be trolled, which is surely not the purpose of the forum?
Daryo Apr 19, 2023:
What difference does it make? "Of course the asker is trolling us!"
Maybe, maybe not.
One way or another it's a good question - the kind of question that seems "obvious" but in fact is far from "obvious" IOW worth asking, no matter who's asking.
Andrew Bramhall Apr 18, 2023:
Of course the asker is trolling us! ..which ia why, as a non-translator, the only answer he could accept was from a fellow non-translator.
AllegroTrans Apr 18, 2023:
What is IPv6? IPv6
Internet protocol
Internet Protocol version 6 is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol, the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. Wikipedia
Based on: IPv4
Purpose: Internetworking protocol
AllegroTrans Apr 18, 2023:
The logo used by this asker... I reverse searched it and it is the logo of IPV6 Ready Logo Testing Lab, which appears to operate out of China, India, Korea, Taiwan and the US. I cannot see its relevance. Perhaps site management should check whether this is a genuine translator at all.
Michele Fauble Apr 18, 2023:
Langue de vipère “Catty” and “sharp-tongued” come to mind.
AllegroTrans Apr 18, 2023:
What is going on? I have the same impression
Either having a bit of fun or trolling us all
Asker has no bio or credentials, just a blank profile and lives in Pas-de-Calais region
SafeTex Apr 18, 2023:
What is going on? I don't get it
This asker hardly ever gives context and many of his questions are just idioms. Others are just stuff you could look up in a dictionary like the "electric/petrol lawnmower.
Am I the only one who thinks the asker is just trolling the group?
Andrew Bramhall Apr 17, 2023:
Adrian taking the gypsy's again; "Viper" is the WRONG reptile" really??? " vipère" is what the ST says; " to US native speakers" ??? and implying I'm NOT a native speaker???Hahahahahaha!
"A viperish tongue" is in my opinion far more accurate than " serpent", which smacks more of Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra. For the benefit of AMM, Shakespeare was a late 16th/early 17th century English playright, and Cleopatra was the eponymous heroine of the play, who poisoned herself by clasping a serpent to her bosom, which injected poison into her, and killed her.

Proposed translations

+3
1 hr
Selected

You (really do) have a serpent's tongue

Viper is the wrong reptile - to us native Engllish speakers - in this context.

Otherwise, means a 'sharp' tongue - often used for females (the only Anglo-Irish scenario I've heard it in) though, in these days of gender equality, could also apply to males who IMO tend, rather, to have an 'acid' tongue .
Example sentence:

serpent's tongue 1. A tendency to speak maliciously.

Reference:

http://dioms.thefreedictionary.com/serpent's+tongue

Peer comment(s):
agree Anastasia Kalantzi : Similar with : sharp-tongued / backbiter / hatemonger.
1 hr
Efaristo, merci and thanks again, Anastasia - all better than the first reptilian answer- an insult to snakes.
agree AllegroTrans : Yes, "viper's tongue", albeit quite easily understood, is not as common an expression as "serpent's tongue"
2 hrs
Marci and thanks, Chris. It's understandable that OTT alias AB aka ZR - with a typical knee-jerk answer within 4 mins. - missed the metaphorical or figurative shift.
agree Jennifer Levey
5 hrs
Gracias, merci and thanks, Jennifer.
neutral Drmanu49 : Not the way I understand the source terms.What anonymity??? And being outvoted doesn't mean I am wrong. There is definitely a difference between a native speaker's understanding of his native tongue and others. Yours is just a litteral translation.
14 hrs
Well, you - hiding behind your cloak of anonymity - have been outvoted and ought to elucidate whether a sharp, acid or some other kind of tongue is more apposite.
neutral James A. Walsh : If someone said this to me, i'd have to ask for an explanation because I've simply never heard it before.
1 day 1 hr
neutral ormiston : Agree with James.
1 day 14 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Merci "
+1
4 mins

You have a viper's tongue!

Literal works here, though there are plenty of similar options; " you have a poisonous tongue", "you have a barbed tongue", amongst many other variants;
Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/Serpent's tongue; this surely is one of your "many other variants"
4 hrs
Yes,but not one I'd choose here.And while I'd expect AMM to rely on the FD sponsored by Farley's rusks, would expect better of you than to rely on that spurious validation.
agree abe(L)solano
11 hrs
Gracias;
Something went wrong...
35 mins

You are a real badmouth

A typical English expression
Peer comment(s):
neutral Carol Gullidge : Don’t you mean American? Definitely not typical UK EN!
8 mins
agree Yolanda Broad
50 mins
neutral ormiston : Not a very common expression
1 hr
disagree Lara Barnett : I am with Carol. Badmouth is not generally used as an insult directed to somebody - its normally a simple, descriptive term that also conveys a sense of bitterness when describing somebody, but you wouldn't very often address somebody in that way.
1 hr
disagree AllegroTrans : Doesn't work for UK
2 hrs
neutral writeaway : very convincing references
3 hrs
agree Peter Gooss : This is definitely a US English expression and should have been marked as such instead of just "English expression". The wording is a little juvenile however I would say it's not an incorrect translation.
5 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
2 hrs

You're really/pretty bitchy

Meaning the person makes malicious remarks:

bitchy
adjective INFORMAL
malicious or spitefully critical.
"bitchy remarks"
Peer comment(s):
neutral AllegroTrans : strays too far from the source
1 hr
disagree Peter Gooss : I don't think this really provides the idea of someone who is gossiping.
3 hrs
agree Carol Gullidge : I actually think this does work, and is far clearer and more colloquial than any reference to snakes of any sort
9 hrs
Thanks Carol.byes vto me a bitchy remark is spiteful and needn't be gossip. I don't think we'd convey the venom by using a snake metaphor
agree Tony M : Agree with Carol's comment here too. "You really are bitchy, aren't you?" etc.
1 day 10 hrs
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-3
2 hrs

You speak with a forked tongue.

to speak in a dishonest way that is meant to deceive people. His colleagues accused him of speaking with a forked tongue.
Peer comment(s):
agree Johannes Gleim : speak with a forked tongue   to tell lies or say one thing and mean something else https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/forked-t... Same as in German.
20 mins
Thank you.
disagree Andrew Bramhall : Nothing to do with a tongue being forked, which isn't necessary to spit poison.
58 mins
Better learn your anatomy! ;-)
disagree AllegroTrans : That is a different meaning; compare (1) someone who speaks spitefully with (2) someone who speaks deceivingly // It's also a matter of understanding English, 5 native English speakers disagree with you!
58 mins
Not the way I understand French!Precisely, native English speakers, not French.
neutral Peter Gooss : I think the difficulty here is we don't really have any expressions that are commonly used at least for US English that capture this idea that the tongue we use to speak with can drip venom because our gossiping is poisonous to others.
3 hrs
Right.
disagree Jennifer Levey : With AT - forked tongue is about deceit, not spite.
4 hrs
Not the way I understand French!
disagree Carol Gullidge : With the others: this interpretation doesn’t fit the context // no it doesn’t fit the context provided by the Asker - which is about bitchiness rather than lying (talking with a forked tongue)
9 hrs
Not the way I understand French! It certainly fits the context.In French it is about is lying, saying bad and wrong things. Also called langue de pute.
disagree Tony M : Definitely the wrong idiom here! Asker's definition! "says nasty things about people" (= gossip) — but that gossip may well be true; whereas in EN, 'forked tongue' implies specifically lies, but not necessarily gossip.
1 day 10 hrs
Sorry Tony but it is definitely the way I understand the French term.
agree Daryo : I can't believe the number of disagrees you got! Seems too many misunderstood the exact nuance of meaning in French.
1 day 16 hrs
My feeling too, no disagreement from native French speakers.;-)
Something went wrong...
2 hrs

shrew, mean/spiteful etc. tongue

Said of a woman, you could say she is a shrew (see Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew). It might be dated, though.

"The shrew – an unpleasant, ill-tempered woman characterised by scolding, nagging, and aggression[1] – is a comedic, stock character in literature and folklore, both Western and Eastern.[2] The theme is illustrated in Shakespeare's play The Taming of the Shrew."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew_(stock_character)

Otherwise, 'you have a mean/spiteful/malicious/vindictive tongue'.
Peer comment(s):
neutral Andrew Bramhall : A woman described as a " shrew" is more often seen as a ' hoarder';
55 mins
neutral writeaway : so only a woman can have mean/spiteful/malicious/vindictive tongue?
56 mins
agree Carol Gullidge : Agree with yr interpretation of shrew/ shrewish, and feel it does fit the bill, if a little female oriented!
16 hrs
neutral Tony M : I don't think 'shrew' specifically fits here. The other options are better.
1 day 9 hrs
disagree Daryo : all that is ways too mild - a venomous serpent is not on the same level of "nastiness" as a porcupine.
1 day 16 hrs
Something went wrong...
+1
5 hrs

You are a venomous gossip!

Or: You spread venomous gossip!

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 hrs (2023-04-18 00:17:58 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Or: You have a venomous tongue!
Peer comment(s):
agree James A. Walsh : "You're so venomous!" would be my shot at it, with such little context. The underlying feeling is "spite" for me: https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/spiteful No to "gossip" though, as I just don't think it's implied in the [albeit vague] Spanish
21 hrs
neutral Tony M : 'poisonous' would sound more natural to me in EN-GB
1 day 7 hrs
Something went wrong...
5 hrs

You spew poison with your backstabbing words.

If you want more flowy literary speech that kind of captures this idea of someone who's actions are poisonous/venomous:
You spew poison with your backstabbing words.
You spew poison with the gossip you spread.

If you want a more direct translation:
You're such a gossiper!

Something in between might be:
Your gossiping is poisonous to everyone around you.


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Note added at 5 hrs (2023-04-18 00:30:47 GMT)
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Other ideas are like:
sharp tongue (which is someone who's words are used to harm)
You have a sharp tongue.
Peer comment(s):
neutral ormiston : Spewing plus stabbing in the back makes for an OTT mix!
8 hrs
neutral Tony M : Over-translation, really, and 'sharp tongue' isn't really the same metaphor at all.
1 day 10 hrs
Something went wrong...
14 hrs

You have a slanderous tongue

A tongue that spreads gossip

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Note added at 14 hrs (2023-04-18 09:08:24 GMT)
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In the Bible, a slanderous tongue is a tongue from a viper
Something went wrong...
22 hrs

You’re really catty/have a sharp tongue

deliberately hurtful in one's remarks; spiteful.
"catty comments"

slyly malicious; spiteful: a catty gossip
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/catty

have a sharp tongue
idiom (also be sharp-tongued)
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/have-...
Something went wrong...
+2
1 day 13 hrs

You really do have / You have such a vicious / spiteful tongue on you!

I think this variant would possibly be more idiomatic, at least in EN-GB
Peer comment(s):
agree Andrew Bramhall : Sadly, the asker selected the wrong answer, possibly based on 3 people rushing to agree without thinking it through properly.This is the best option IMHO.But too much hot air exhaled on the question overall!
2 hrs
Thanks, Andrew!
agree AllegroTrans
14 hrs
Thanks, C!
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

3 hrs
Reference:

It can also be found by using the www (other than Kudoz)

Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Bourth : Shhh. Everything can be found using the Ouèbbhe. It just takes time.
8 hrs
agree James A. Walsh : I know from personal experience that the process of posting a KudoZ question is WAY slower than searching the net. I think people mix up "uncertainty" with "loneliness" on here sometimes...
23 hrs
neutral Daryo : you forget that "search engines" are nothing more than **elaborate statistical devices**, no more "intelligent" than the search algorithm setter. An input from people with relevant real life experience (IF you're lucky) can make a HUGE difference.
1 day 15 hrs
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