This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Well found! So, the dog is wagging himself as his tail is immobilised. Not at all clear though how this might be used in the video game and that's crucial to the translation. Yet another example of an Asker being apparently oblivious to the importance of context if they want a sensible answer.
Si le jeu vidéo est du genre de ceux-ci: http://garfield.com/ je suis entièrement d'accord avec vous. Mais les titres que Thierry nous a fournis ici laissent entendre qu'il y a "une histoire" et vraiment, il n'y a rien de complexe dans la trame de fond de Wag the dog, qui consiste essentiellement à "noyer le poisson", comme le dit François (il ne s'agit pas de reprendre le film, mais l'idée, d'où l'entourloupette). D'un autre côté, je vous accorde que si les ados connaissent probablement le film, c'est pas mal moins sûr pour les enfants et ça donne à l'expression un sens beaucoup plus littéral. Il reste à Thierry de préciser le contexte: histoire et joueurs ciblés.
In this Garfield cartoon, Garfield first throws a stick, then, when the dog Odie is too dumb to go fetch the stick, Garfield throws Odie after the stick. http://www.weirdspace.dk/JimDavis/Odie.htm . Garfield is not a cartoon with any complex stories like what Germaine suggested, and the young audience would not be able to make sense out of a reference to a film for adults. It's quite possible that Garfield will grab Odie by the tail and literally wag him. Remember that the target audience is children, not adults.
S'agissant de Garfield, ce titre fait sans aucun doute référence au film Wag the dog (Des hommes d'influence): Le candidat à la Présidence des États-Unis est éclaboussé par un scandale sexuel quelques jours avant le début de l'élection présidentielle. Pour détourner l'attention des électeurs, ses conseillers s'allient un cinéaste et inventent une guerre en Albanie. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Des_hommes_d'influence
Transposé dans l'univers Garfield, je suppose qu'on peut facilement vérifier cette hypothèse: Garfield a fait une belle gaffe et pour détourner l'attention, invente... Pour résumer, à défaut de pouvoir jouer sur le titre de la version française (Des ? d'influence, Des ? sous influence) et si c'est bien la même intrigue, je traduirais "L'entourloupette"
I don't see someone can be so sure without further info, no matter how idiomatic the expression is. The goal of the game could literally be to wag a dog for all we know. It's a *video game*...anything is possible. Did the client provide screenshots?
The video game is about garfield the fat cat. These are strings of text :
A moment of peace Wag the dog Finally Arlene can get to sleep, but Nermal wants a cuteness rematch. Delicious pies for my lady At long last our feline dame will get her proper nap.
Tony, yes, it's so well known that it could be used literally as a joke in a cartoon or video game. That sometimes happens in comedy and cartoons. Don't tell me you've never seen that. I don't understand how you can be so sure it's not intended like that when we don't know anything about the video game. I don't say it IS intended like that, only that it's possible.
We can be 99% sure of it, simply because the idiomatic expression is SO well-known, and in any literal sense, one would be extremely unlikely to apply the verb 'to wag' to a dog (it is commonly used for fingers, tails, heads, but NOT dogs!)
The only other literal usage that springs to mind would be if 'Wag' were the name of the dog — but that seems unlikely, given that Asker has not capitalized it.
Since it's a video game, the meaning could actually be literal if it's intended in a humorous way. How do we know if a literal or an idiomatic translation is required?
The original EN idiom is clear enough ('A case of the tail wagging the dog') — but how is this actually being used in your video game? Since the literal meaning is (probably!) out of the question, we need to know what on earth they are talking about in order to be able to suggest an alternative in FR.