French practice 2009-01

From an article Les nouvelles censures in the current issue of Valeurs actuelles:

Quand la justice poursuit les cigares dans les médias. Inoubliable pour son rôle de postier en chef dans Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis, Kad Merad est amateur de cigares. Dans une interview à un magazine spécialisé, il a ainsi raconté qu’il appréciait « le cigare à l’apéro ». Grave erreur : la cour d’appel de Paris vient de condamner la publication à payer 5 000 euros de dommages et intérêts à l’association Droits des non-fumeurs pour “publicité directe ou indirecte en faveur du tabac”. Le journal avait eu le tort, selon la cour, d’associer le tabac « à une image positive, celle d’un acteur connu de cinéma ». Connaissant l’activisme judiciaire des modernes ligues de vertu, on voit mal comment ce type de jugement ne s’élargirait pas désormais au vin et à l’alcool. Il risque d’être bientôt impossible, sous peine de poursuites, d’avouer dans la presse qu’on aime le gevrey-chambertin ou les armagnacs hors d’âge. Et pourquoi ne pas traquer aussi les amateurs de religieuses au chocolat, dés lors qu’on exhorte sans cesse les Français à ne pas manger « gras, salé, sucré » ? Dans la presse, la publicité aussi doit se plier au politiquement correct. Ainsi la marque de jeans Diesel a-t-elle été rappelée à l’ordre pour avoir osé représenter des personnages bronzés et souriants dans des paysages urbains transformés par le réchauffement de la planète (la tour Eiffel cernée de palmiers, etc.). Inadmissible aux yeux du très officiel Bureau de vérification de la publicité, pour qui « cette campagne banalise, voire relati¬vise, le thème du changement climatique et va à l’encontre des nombreux efforts de mobilisation citoyenne engagés par les pouvoirs publics ». Un courrier a été aussitôt envoyé à la marque pour qu’elle renonce à sa campagne.

My translation (with questions footnoted):

When the law brings action against cigars in the media. Kad Merat, who was unforgettable in his role as postal administrator in Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks) is a cigar lover. In an interview with a specialized magazine¹, he thus² described how he appreciates a cigar before dinner. Big mistake. A Paris appeals court has just directed the publication to pay 5,000 euros in damages and interest to the Non-Smokers' Rights association for "direct or indirect publicity³ in favor of tobacco." The journal had been wrong, according to the court, in associating tobacco "with a positive image, that of a well-known movie actor." Knowing the judicial activism of the modern leagues of virtue, one cannot see how this type of judgment could not be expanded from now on to wine and to alcohol. It will soon be impossible, under penalty of prosecution, to admit in the press that one likes Gevrey-Chambertin or Hors d'Âge Armagnac. And why not also hound those who find religion⁴ in chocolate, since the French are ceaselessly exhorted to not eat "fat, salt, or sugar"? In the press, advertising must also bend to the politically correct. Thus, the Diesel brand of jeans was called to task for having dared show tanned and smiling people in an urban landscape transformed by global warming (the Eiffel Tower surrounded by palm trees, etc.). This was inadmissible to the very official eyes of the Office of Advertising Verification, because "this campaign trivializes, not to say places into perspective, climate change and runs counter to numerous public sector efforts to mobilize the public." A letter was immediately sent to the manufacturer so that it give up its campaign.

Questions:
1. Does "spécialisé" hide some secondary meaning here, e.g., "small-circulation," "niche," etc.?
2. I always have problems translating "ainsi"; is there a better rendering here?
3. I decided the more literal "publicity" was better suited here than "advertising." Your opinion?
4. "Les amateurs de religieuses au chocolat." My try is something of a shot in the dark. Suggestions?

Cheers...

Cross posted from french_chal.

Chinglish?

you, native speaker
soon, fifteen percent or less
of English talkers

Cheers...

More on 101 in 1001...

I did a snap classification of the items I came up with yesterday (to avoid getting wrapped around the axle when a goal fell into two or more categories) pigeonholing them among the following:

• Personal
• Family & Household
• Health
• Learning/Creative
• Leisure
• Financial
• Professional
• Other

The first three categories covered 70% of the items. The number of financial goals was 6.

I'm beginning to suspect that the proper approach to doing this is to brainstorm way in excess of what's needed, i.e., come up with not 100 goals, but 200 or more. Then start identifying the half that are important and dump the half that are "cute" (My #29 is currently "Be silent for an entire day," which would certainly be a challenge, but would be worth... what?)

Therefore, my list really isn't anywhere near "complete" in the sense of taking on some semblance of solidity. (As mentioned before, I don't expect to carve it in stone. Just as no military campaign plan will survive first contact with the enemy, no set of specific self-improvement goals will survive first contact with Real Life™)

Still, it's a starting point, on which note I shall zip my yap on the subject.

Cheers...

It feels like slo-mo...

It's been one of those days.

I finally roused myself to go mail a letter at around noontime, and then stopped at a few places on the way home, just to look.

I now have three jobs booked for 2009, and should probably start on at least one of them tomorrow. Most of today was spent "cleaning up" my 2008 files and archiving.

I got into a pelmeni-making mood and made one serving of these delicious morsels using "normal" flour, and they taste... well, the way they're supposed to.

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New French words for the day:

le braquage

robbery

le fléau

plague, scourge

l'émerveillement

wonder

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It turns out that this week, the two lowest vote-getters in each "tribe" will be dropped from the LJ Idol competition. My entry for this week, if you are inclined to read it, is here. There's a lot of other good writing being posted, too. The overall poll for the week - with links to individual entries - is here (the poll for my tribe in particular is here). Anyone can vote and any and all votes cast in my direction will be appreciated, especially since - as I write this - I am second from the bottom of my tribe!

Cheers...