The best word to describe Julien’s situation is snookered not bummed. I cannot find a French equivalent.

Alan R.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

The best word to describe Julien’s situation is snookered not bummed. I cannot find a French equivalent.

Asked 4 years ago
AurélieKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Bonjour à tous !

This is such an interesting conversation, and indeed a tricky point of vocabulary :)

First, I do agree that the US "bummed" here has more of a "I'm feeling down, deflated" meaning, unlike its pretty rude UK equivalent (look it up!) ;) 

However, it's worth noting that "dégoûté" in French also has the meaning of "being gutted (UK), very disappointed, fed up" with a situation. In modern colloquial French, I'd even say it's its main meaning:
-> Le concert a été annulé, je suis trop dégoûté(e) !  or its common abbreviation Je suis trop dèg! [daigg]

As for "snookered" (which I had to look up), it's more to do with "feeling had, taken advantage of", again not quite the right nuance.

So here we definitely have an issue of not matching quite the feeling between FR and EN. I would definitely use "gutted" myself, but can't quite come up with a US equivalent, so I decided to change the question and simply include a hint to avoid any ambiguity :)

I hope that's helpful, and thank you very much for this interesting chat!

Bonne journée !

Carl C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

You must be British.  "Bummed" is an American expression although I disagree with the translation "degoute'."  Bummed is more like depressed than disgusted.

Angela D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Indeed if you are British bummed has a very crude meaning. I would have thought that Julien was really fed up. 

Megan H.C1Kwiziq community member

I was going to make the same comment.  From a British perspective, using the phrase 'Julien was bummed' changes the nature of the story entirely  :)  

Brian E.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

mdrrr

Pamela L.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

I'm learning a lot about the english language here :)

Rose Y.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Im Australian and I'm much more comfortable with "gutted" interpreted as dégouté though I feel the meaning in English  is more " emotionally upset" 

Frank C.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

So, as an American, I would say bummed out.  Bummed is short for bummed out, meaning greatly disappointed.  For me, it is a temporary state from which you expect to recover.  I agree with Aurélie's comments regarding snookered which derives from the game of snooker in which you intentionally leave the cue ball in a position so as to leave your opponent with no direct shot.

The best word to describe Julien’s situation is snookered not bummed. I cannot find a French equivalent.

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