et sa grand-mère
English translation: and his (pet) hamster/goldfish | and his pocket pet
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| 12:18 Aug 21, 2020 |
| French to English translations [PRO] Slang / Literal or figurative? | |||||||
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|  Selected response from: Wolf Draeger South Africa Local time: 14:19 | ||||||
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| 2 +1 | and his (pet) hamster/goldfish | and his pocket pet |
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| Everybody and his cousin |
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| Discussion entries: 12 | |
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Answers
3 days 9 hrs confidence: 
peer agreement (net): +1
peer agreement (net): +1and his (pet) hamster/goldfish | and his pocket pet Explanation: I think the FR may be sort of a reverse take on the "everybody and their dog" turn of phrase, the idea being that here grandmother is an abstraction of his inability or unsuitability for the job. Think "You and your granny are really getting on my nerves" or "You and your granny can go jump", that kind of thing. If that's the case, then hamster or goldfish may be a workable stand-in for stupidity or incompetence, as they aren't generally thought of as the sharpest pets on the block (I don't remember Hamster or Goldfish ever being in The Wind in the Willows or The Animals of Farthing Wood!). At least my answer is nicer to grannies, but less so to fur & fin...! -------------------------------------------------- Note added at 3 days 22 hrs (2020-08-25 10:24:52 GMT) -------------------------------------------------- Example sentences: "Without him and his hamster the magazine would have more bite." "Without him and his goldfish the magazine would swim not sink." "Without him and his pocket pet it would be a weightier magazine." |
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Reference comments
2 hrs peer agreement (net): +1 |
| Reference: Everybody and his cousin Reference information: Or any variant thereof. (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:everybody). Reference: http://greensdictofslang.com/entry/uze3naq Reference: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/everybody_and_his_cousin |
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Note to reference poster
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