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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

dans un bocal

English translation:

living in its own bubble

Added to glossary by Wyley Powell
Mar 5, 2014 23:19
10 yrs ago
2 viewers *
French term

dans un bocal

French to English Bus/Financial Government / Politics
This is an article about a Canadian anglophone who speaks French fluently and is now a great francophile. He makes the point that one can be a francophile and not necessarily agree with Quebec government policy. Specifically, he mentions the Quebec Charter of Values which, in his view, "...ne constitue pas une façon de vivre dans la francophonie, mais plutôt ouvre la porte à la vie d'une société isolée ***dans un bocal***.

Perhaps the idea of becoming isolated while also living in a fishbowl (because of all the controversy surrounding this charter)?

TIA
Proposed translations (English)
4 +1 living in its own bubble
4 in a fishbowl
4 in a bubble

Discussion

DLyons Mar 6, 2014:
Basin For Roald Dahl fans, it's got to be living in a basin :-) With people blowing smoke into your eye.

http://www.ceng.metu.edu.tr/~ucoluk/yazin/William_and_Mary.h...
Lara Barnett Mar 6, 2014:
@ Colin Thank you for clarifying my use of "bubble". Unfortunately I will not be posting this as somebody seems to have taken my idea into an answer box themselves. Thanks anyway.
B D Finch Mar 6, 2014:
Bubbles burst E.g. the South Sea Bubble, where the stock price inflated only to collapse, ruining many English aristocrats. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company) A "bocal" is rather more durable.
Colin Morley (X) Mar 6, 2014:
Agree with Lara Barnett My first thought, before I read any of the comments was "living in a bubble". Staying in a closed society - living in a bubble. Can't personally see any problem with this.
Lara Barnett Mar 6, 2014:
What about living in a "bubble"? Would these examples stand up as a suggestion? (Obviously the usage would be on a wide scale rather than living in the bubbles of our own personal lives.)

"To live sheltered from the outside environment."
http://www.idiomquest.com/learn/idiom/in-a-bubble/

"We all live in bubbles, in our jobs, our families, our relationships. These bubbles are created by external necessities: the demand for products, the need for human relations. And the structure follows. In these bubbles processes and people succeed that fit best these necessities. "
http://www.ted.com/conversations/7797/we_are_all_living_in_b...
philgoddard Mar 6, 2014:
Yes, jmleger is right I was thinking "living in a fishbowl" means cutting yourself off, but it means having no privacy. I wonder what other metaphor you could use. Head in the sand?
jmleger Mar 6, 2014:
No it means "se replier sur soi-même". We have the same societal debate in France about immigration. The anti-immigration side is accused of being hostile to "opening to the world" and wanting to stay in a closed society (here "le bocal"). The pro-immigration policy side being accused of opening the floodgates of immigration which will in a very short time change forever the face and nature of French society.
philgoddard Mar 5, 2014:
Yes.

Proposed translations

+1
19 hrs
Selected

living in its own bubble

As per my original posting in the discussion box at the early stages, I think that this variation of my suggestion of " bubble" would take the idea away from a "burstable" bubble as suggested in the discussion boxes. Living in "ones own bubble" is a very commonly used term which is not related to this financial phenomenon.
Example sentence:

"It means that your living in your own little insulated world. When some says to you "your living in a bubble" they are basically saying that you're living in your own little world, and are naive to the bad things outside of it."

Reference:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101204123021AAsuAXd

Peer comment(s):
agree DLyons : I have reservations. But it's not at all clear what the souce text means since the Quebec Charter of Values has almost nothing to do with Francophonie (and nothing at all to do with immigration).
43 mins
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks to everyone."
9 hrs

in a fishbowl

I see no reason not to use your initial suggestion.

"Bubble" to me conveys too much fragility, yes there's protection e.g. "the boy in the bubble", but one immediately thinks of "pricking their bubble". That works very well in some contexts, but here the implication seems to be that the bubble is durable and isolating.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 9 hrs (2014-03-06 09:14:08 GMT)
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"goldfish bowl" ?

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 hrs (2014-03-06 09:45:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Apparently people can live in a fishbowl :-) But "goldfish bowl" is what should have sprung to my mind.

https://www.google.com/search?num=100&lr=&safe=images&as_qdr...
Peer comment(s):
neutral Colin Morley (X) : Appreciate your reasoning, but not sure about the terminology. How about living in a goldfish bowl? That's an expression I've heard before in UK English.
18 mins
Yup, that was what I thought (and said) seconds after I posted :-)
agree B D Finch : I think the expression is "in a goldfish bowl". Even if the goldfish can see out (not sure whether it can), it can't get out and it is isolated from the surrounding environment.
18 mins
Thanks Barbara, that's what I think too (see above) !!!
disagree Cecelia Barker : The ST indicates a closed society, inward looking people (see jlegler's analysis). The bubble idiom matches this. The goldfish bowl idiom is the opposite (here, people outside looking at the Canadians).
57 mins
Thanks Cecelia. I don't see that bubbles are more (or less) inward looking than fishbowls. But I only go along with jleger's analysis up to the point of a closed society.
Something went wrong...
11 hrs

in a bubble

See jmlegler's analysis of the ST meaning: se replier sur soi-meme; Lara Barnett's links; and Colin Morley's comments.
'in a bubble' suggests a degree of isolation; inward-looking people; people who have closed minds.
Think of housing/property bubbles, bubble economies... where prices exceed true value. This occurs where people close their minds to the level of risk involved.
idiomquest and thefreedictionary also show non-financial usage of this term.

Example sentence:

Is the American political system the latest bubble? Is the markets’ faith inflated by bad historical analogies and a willful disregard of current facts?

Reference:

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2013-10-10/is-u-s-political-bubble-about-to-burst-

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bubble

Peer comment(s):
disagree B D Finch : As DLyons notes, a "bubble" implies vulnerability to bursting. That instability is exactly what is meant by "property bubbles", "bubble economies", the "South Sea Bubble" (which burst very dramatically) etc. The source text does not mean that.
2 hrs
agree Sheri P : From your 2nd ref: A protective, often isolating envelope or cover... "Living in a fishbowl" to me means lack of privacy.
3 hrs
agree philgoddard : I think your explanation and references confuse things a bit, because it's nothing to do with bubbles bursting. I agree with Sheri P.
5 hrs
disagree DLyons : This was Lara's idea, so I'm going with her posting.
8 hrs
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