Back in 2015, I noted what I thought was an interesting difference between the English and French versions of an advert for a car windscreen replacement service. Here it is:
“Since this is the silly season, I will finish with a trivial cross-language observation I have made in France and the UK. There is a company that repairs car windscreens, called Autoglass in the UK and (I don’t know why) Carglass in France. They advertise on TV in both countries, and have a jingle that goes “Autoglass repair, Autoglass replace” in UK and “Carglass répare, Carglass remplace” in France. The English version is sung in 4/4 time, but in French this timing would make it necessary to give two beats to the vowel of “Car”. Since the vowel in “Car” isn’t long in French (which doesn’t distinguish long and short vowels) this wouldn’t be appropriate, so the French version is in 3/4 (Waltz) time, though otherwise identical. I think that is very sensitive of Autoglass/Carglass.”
“Since this is the silly season, I will finish with a trivial cross-language observation I have made in France and the UK. There is a company that repairs car windscreens, called Autoglass in the UK and (I don’t know why) Carglass in France. They advertise on TV in both countries, and have a jingle that goes “Autoglass repair, Autoglass replace” in UK and “Carglass répare, Carglass remplace” in France. The English version is sung in 4/4 time, but in French this timing would make it necessary to give two beats to the vowel of “Car”. Since the vowel in “Car” isn’t long in French (which doesn’t distinguish long and short vowels) this wouldn’t be appropriate, so the French version is in 3/4 (Waltz) time, though otherwise identical. I think that is very sensitive of Autoglass/Carglass.”
I have just seen a joke on a French website which (for me) adds a postscript:
Roughly translated, it asks “Why should you eat some ice cream after an unhappy love affair?”.
Answer: “Because ice cream repairs, because ice cream replaces”
Roughly translated, it asks “Why should you eat some ice cream after an unhappy love affair?”.
Answer: “Because ice cream repairs, because ice cream replaces”
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