# I'm fifty shades of fucked up



## Niiiko

Bonjour,
comme la plupart des anglophones, vu les chiffres de ventes, j'ai commencé la trilogie "Fifty shades of Grey". A la moitié du premier tome, le héros répond "because I'm fifty shades of fucked up", et je me suis demandé si "fifty shades" était une expression qui aurait un autre sens que simplement "5O zones d'ombre", ou "50 facettes".... Bref, merci aux anglophones de me traduire cette phrase !


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## gardian

_fout le camp, de plusières perspectives._


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## guillaumedemanzac

"*Shades* of grey" covers all the different* tints* which make up the spectrum "*grey*" -  from a very light silver grey right up to a very dark black/purple grey.
The "recall" on the words is of course from the title of the book and I would quote an earlier thread on the forum: it simply means *"foutu de chez foutu*" or to put it more politely in English *Fifty different ways to be in the shit.*
guillaume


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## gardian

_*foutu de chez foutu*_

Quelle belle phrase, cela.

(Moi aussi, du temps au temps !         )


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## doinel

Adjectif + de chez+ adjectif, comme foutu de chez foutu, a eu son heure de gloire mais je crois que cette expression n'est plus guère en vogue.


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## pointvirgule

Contexte :


> “– "Why don't you like to be touched?"
> – "Because I'm fifty shades of fucked-up, Anastasia”


Ici, _fucked up_ se réfère à la psychologie du personnage : ce n'est pas qu'il est foutu, mais qu'il est compliqué.
_
Parce que je suis complètement tordu, A._
(Malheureusement, _*je suis cinquante nuances de tordu_ ne marcherait pas.)


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## Oddmania

Salut,

Je ne suis pas convaincu que _tordu _soit l'adjectif adéquat. Est-ce que _fucked up_ signifie _distorted, twisted_ ou plutôt _emotionally unwell_ ici ? Si c'est le deuxième sens qui est sous-entendu, alors je pense que la traduction serait plutôt _Je suis complétement paumé, je ne sais vraiment plus du tout où j'en suis._


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## Assurancetourix

It means emotionally unwell / emotionally dysfunctional / maladjusted. 

_50 shades _is obviously a play on the title of the book, but it works because it is familiar from _he kicked fifty shades of shit out of him = he beat him up badly

_Has the book been translated into French yet? If so what is the title?


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## pointvirgule

Assurancetourix said:


> It means emotionally unwell / emotionally dysfunctional / maladjusted.


C'est ça : tordu (« bizarre, extravagant, fou »).


Assurancetourix said:


> Has the book been translated into French yet? If so what is the title?


The French title is _Cinquante nuances de Grey_ (after the male protagonist Christian Grey).


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## Oddmania

pointvirgule said:


> C'est ça : tordu (« bizarre, extravagant, fou »).



Bah non, pas tellement._ Être tordu_ (ou _avoir l'esprit tordu) _signifie _to have a warped, twisted mind._ Non seulement il est très improbable que quelqu'un se qualifie soi-même de _tordu_, mais en plus ça ne me semble pas être le sens sous-entendu par _fucked up._ Je me trompe peut-être, mais je comprends plus _I'm in disarray, I'm all confused _(comme dans _I've been all fucked up since my girlfriend left me_). Si vous dites _Je suis tordu depuis qu'elle m'a quitté_, ça veut dire que vous êtes en train de virer pervers et/ou psychopathe. A moins que j'aie mal compris la réplique originale.


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## Kelly B

In the general case I'd agree with you, Oddmania, but for this particular instance I think the extreme interpretation is not far from the truth. _Complètement _would be excessive, though, in that case. Could one use _50_ _nuances_ _de... _here, too?


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## BAlfson

Oddmania, my wife was the first of all her acquaintances to read all three books.  I was a little worried when she started again... 

In fact, in the scene decscribed, he is telling her that he is _tordu_.  As a boy, he was abused, burnt with cigarette butts, etc.  He knows he's "fucked up" and admits it to her because he's attracted to her, but wants her to understand the limits he has to impose just to remain functional in his life.

Cheers - Bob


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## Oddmania

Kelly B said:


> In the general case I'd agree with you, Oddmania, but for this particular instance I think the extreme interpretation is not far from the truth. _Complètement _would be excessive, though, in that case. Could one use _50_ _nuances_ _de... _here, too?



As PointVirgule said, _50 nuances de +_ adjective isn't really idiomatic in French. But I'm pretty sure anyone could come up with a made-up expression using it! 

Maybe something like _J'ai 50 nuances de désespoir dans mon arc-en-ciel spirituel!_



BAlfson said:


> Oddmania, my wife was the first of all her  acquaintances to read all three books.  I was a little worried when she  started again...
> 
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> In fact, in the scene decscribed, he is telling her that he is _tordu_.   As a boy, he was abused, burnt with cigarette butts, etc.  He knows  he's "fucked up" and admits it to her because he's attracted to her, but  wants her to understand the limits he has to impose just to remain  functional in his life.
> 
> Cheers - Bob



Context helps a lot indeed  I don't want to push the matter (I haven't read the books at that!), but according to what you've just said, I reckon _tordu _is still not the right term. I'd rather use _bousillé _instead. If he says _Je suis tordu_, then it means he's become as twisted and perverted as the people who abused him and tortured him when he was a child. Just like a boy is likely to become as violent as his father when he grows up. I may be wrong, but is this what is implied _(I'm insane, I'm a pervert)_ or does he mean he's broken up inside, torn into pieces ? I don't know about the character, so I couldn't say.


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## pointvirgule

Merci Balfson.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Salut,

Il me venait « Je suis tordu / bousillé (*) / <à remplacer par ce que vous voulez ! > _dans les grandes largeurs_ », mais je ne sais pas si ça convient tout à fait.

(*) tiens je vois qu'Oddmania a utilisé le même terme.


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## Niiiko

Assurancetourix said:


> It means emotionally unwell / emotionally dysfunctional / maladjusted.
> 
> _50 shades _is obviously a play on the title of the book, but it works because it is familiar from _he kicked fifty shades of shit out of him = he beat him up badly
> 
> _Has the book been translated into French yet? If so what is the title?




Le livre sera traduit en français en octobre, je crois. Assurancetourix, est-ce que tu veux dire que l'expression "he kicked fifty shades of shit out of him" est une expression existante connue donc des anglophones?? c'est justement ça que je me demandais, si "fifty shades" de quoique ce soit était une expression déjà connue.... car bien sûr, sans référence, on peut comprendre "j'ai été bousillé de 50 manières", "je suis une personne multi facettes complètement tordu", tout comme le titre "les 50 nuances de grey-gris-gray", mais j'espérais bien que c'était plus subtil et qu'il y avait une expression existante avec "fifty shades", ce qui n'est pas le cas en français avec "50 nuances" qui ne fait référence à aucune expression..... bref, merci déjà pour tous ces posts.... en attendant la suite !


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## BAlfson

"Fifty shades of ..." didn't enter the parlance until the first book became popular.

Jann, I don't think you should have _supprimé_ that post of oddmania's; you thus removed the confimation of the meaning that was done in a perfectly playful manner.  Also, someone (;?) had posted that the conversation to which I referred in #12 was during negotiations of the rules for a sexual contract to include his torture of her.



			
				oddmania said:
			
		

> Est-ce que _fucked up_ signifie _distorted, twisted_ ou plutôt _emotionally unwell_ ici ?


Well, yes.  And, although he is _tordu_, given the French title provided by pointvirgule, I bet the book in French will contain, "_Je suis 50 nuances de bousillé."

Cheers - Bob
_


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## pointvirgule

J'aimerais que les cousins-cousines m'expliquent le sens profond du mot _bousillé_.  S'ils entendent par là « détruit moralement », alors c'est à côté de la  plaque pour ce personnage. Ce qu'il dit, c'est qu'il est plein de  complexes (il a « des bibittes », comme on dit chez nous). 

Puisque _tordu _ne fait pas l'unanimité (et pourtant...), je fais une nouvelle proposition :
_Je suis dérangé, dans cinquante nuances du terme.
_
Edit – Un café plus tard, il me vient à l'esprit le mot _fêlé. _Un mot de quatre lettres qui commence par _f_.


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## Oddmania

pointvirgule said:


> J'aimerais que les cousins-cousines m'expliquent le sens profond du mot _bousillé_.  S'ils entendent par là « détruit moralement », alors c'est à côté de la  plaque pour ce personnage. Ce qu'il dit, c'est qu'il est plein de  complexes (il a « des bibittes », comme on dit chez nous).
> 
> Puisque _tordu _ne fait pas l'unanimité (et pourtant...), je fais une nouvelle proposition :
> _Je suis dérangé, dans cinquante nuances du terme.
> _



C'est effectivement le sens que j'attribue à _bousillé _ Tourmenté, ravagé, détruit (par la vie, par ses blessures, par les douleurs qu'il a dû subir quand il était gosse). Mais puisque ça ne semble pas être dans l'esprit du texte, je me ravise!  _Tordu_, comme _dérangé _conviendraient parfaitement. On pourrait même envisager _Parce que je suis juste... Anormal. De 50 manières différentes_ pour essayer de vraiment coller au texte.


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## Niiiko

J'adore cette discussion !


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## guillaumedemanzac

Enfin pour en revenir à la literature c'est la cloche fêlée de Baudelaire:
a guy who is so cracked his sonnerie ne sonne plus.
Good and  to that interpretation
guillaume


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## guillaumedemanzac

To kick *50 shades of shit out of someone* was well-known long before the  books appeared - the poetry of *sh*ades of *sh*it making it memorable.
guillaume


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## Niiiko

Can you tell me more about that poetry and expression, please? Is it recently appeared? I never heard about "Shades of Shit"..


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## Assurancetourix

50 shades of shit is a long-established expression and I would think it arose more or less as follows:

to beat someone up (to attack and hurt someone badly)
to beat the shit out of someone (to attack and hurt someone very badly)
to beat 50 shades of shit out of someone (to attack and hurt someone very badly indeed)

I'm sure the alliteration in this phrase _shades of shit_ is partly why it became so common, as GDM suggests.

We have a separate expression _shades of grey_ to describe a situation that is not clear cut or (as we also say) _black and white_. So somebody might say _much as pro-lifers try to polarise the debate, in reality there are many shades of grey.

_I would understand the title as a play on that expression and the character's name, i.e:

- 50 shades of Grey - Anastasia finds out about him in all his moods / modes / aspects - the many faces of Christian Grey
- 50 shades of grey - in a bondage context where is the line between e.g. play and humiliation (or maybe just relationships are never clear-cut [and that's what keeps them interesting] I guess I'd have to read the book itself to come to a view on that)

I don't know where the 50 comes from - possibly from 50 shades of shit but more likely it just suggested itself in both cases because it's a high round number that happens to sound good.


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## BAlfson

OK, are you Brits trying to pull our collective leg? 

I found a British expression "seven shades of shit," meaning (as AT says) a severe beating, that predates 50 Shades of Grey, but couldn't find *anything* with "50 shades of shit" that predates the book.

Cheers - Bob


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## pointvirgule

In support of Balfson's point, here is a reference for _7 sh. of sh_.:


> *seven shades of shit* esp. in _to knock_ (or _thump_) _seven shades of shit out of (sb)_, to lay into (sb) with the intention of causing severe pain and injury. Since around 1950. The phrase is also used as a general intensifier in other contexts of violence or aggression.
> (Beale, Paul, _Shorter Dictionary of Slang_)


If our friends have a ref. for any attested usage of _fifty shades of shit_ prior to the James books, then by all means...


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## Assurancetourix

You're right - "shades of shit / shite" is well attested prior to the book (just Google and limit the dates) but I am not seeing "50 shades...". I have found 10, 16 and most commonly 7. The 50 must be a mistake on my part, apologies!


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## Ella009

Niiiko said:


> J'adore cette discussion !


Moi aussi!


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## guillaumedemanzac

Everyone is now into this catch-phrase - the latest from a friend in Switzerland is an eco-bio-naturo site called  www/fiftytwoshadesofgreen.com
That's how language develops!


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