Post by Pierre HalletPost by kkwweettI'm French and I'm looking for an english translation
of a french expression ("usine a gaz") which is
literally [gasworks] but which means a working device
or machine so complicated that it is highly probable
that it crashes very soon and that it is almost a
miracle that it is still working.
Is there an equivalent phrase in English ?
My /Robert-Collins/ proposes "huge labyrinthine system".
Beurk. Pas du tout une expression idiomatique tout faite, et lourde
d'ailleurs.
Post by Pierre Hallet(Une manière comme une autre de suggérer qu'il n'y a pas
d'équivalent convaincant. Mais attendons ce qu'en diront
des anglophones natifs.)
Perhaps "house of cards". That's an elaborate, scaled-down
building constructed with playing cards (cartes à jouer); the
slightest disturbance will cause the whole thing to collapse.
Rien de meilleur ne me vient à l'esprit en ce moment. Je conseille
au préopinant de poser sa question dans
<fr.lettres.langue.anglaise>, forum plus fréquenté que celui-ci.
Post by Pierre HalletYou might have also "Rube Goldberg machines" (should this
not ring any bell, just Google it). But then I suspect it
is not exactly what you had in mind. "Usine à gaz" is used
in French to refer to organizations or to administrative
processes, not to physical devices as such. I would say
that a Rube Goldberg machine works--in an absurdly complex
way, but it works--while an "usine à gaz" works by an
unlikely constant supply of miracles.)
Your description of a Rube Goldberg machine is exactly right.
Not only is it absurdly complex, but there's an obvious, much
easier way to accomplish the same result.
--
Jim Heckman