# if she was a day



## Enitram

"he looked no more than sixty or possibly fifty-five and she was forty *if she was a day*."
Je me demande ce que veut dire exactement "if she was a day" dans ce cas là. "Plus ou moins" peut être ?

Merci

Martine


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## sound shift

Cela veut dire qu'elle avait l'air d'avoir *au moins *quarante ans.


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## Enitram

Merci beaucoup ! je n'avais pas compris ça.

Martine


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## helena11

Tout à fait d'accord!


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## Charlie Parker

Cette tournure est assez courante en anglais. Vous pensez qu'une personne a tout au moins un âge donné sinon plus. Est-ce qu'il y a une expression similaire en français ? Il y a ce fil. J'imagine la conversation suivante :
A. You know Jane. She's pretty good-looking for her age. She must be in her late forties. 
B. She's fifty if she's a day.
_A. Tu connais Jane. Elle est belle. Tu trouves ? Pour son âge je veux dire. Elle a une bonne quarantaine d'années._
_B. M'enfin. Elle a tout au moins cinquante ans._
Je ne trouve pas de tournure humoristique comme en anglais. Je tiens à connaître vos suggestions. Et plus il y en aura, mieux ce sera.


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## Ellea1

Tu rigoles, elle a au moins 50 piges


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## underzero

_Elle a cinquante ans bien sonnés_ ?


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## Punky Zoé

Peut-être : elle a cinquante ans bien sonnés.

ou encore : elle a cinquante ans et le reste !


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## Nicomon

Salut Charlie,

« ... _bien sonnés_ » est aussi ce qu'on suggère sur *cette page* 


> il a soixante ans bien sonnés (he's sixty if he's a day),


 Mais dans la plupart des dicos, l'expression est traduite par « _au moins_ ». À l'oral, tu peux insister. 

- L'as-tu bien regardée? Elle a *au moins* 50 ans (si ce n'est pas plus).
- Moi, je dirais qu'elle a *au moins* 50 ans... et encore... je suis gentil.


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## Topsie

underzero said:


> _Elle a cinquante ans bien sonnés_ ?


 ou _Elle a 50 ans bien tassés!_


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## xtrasystole

I'm glad I learned a new expression today  

However, I just can't get the logic of it. How can _"she was forty if she was a day"_ come to mean _"she looked to be at least forty"_? 
_"She was a__ day"_? _"Was"_?  And what day? 

Could someone please explain? Thanks in advance.


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## Charlie Parker

I never thought of the logic of this expression, xtrasystole. Let me see if I can explain it in a way that makes sense. Usually, you hear the expression in the present, as indeed I used it in my little dialogue above. She is certainly more than one day old.  So if I say that she is fifty if she's a day, it's just a way of emphasizing or exaggerating her age. Someone else may think she's younger than, say, fifty. I think she looks much older. Does that help?


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## sound shift

"If she was a day" means "If she had lived to reach the age of one day old", in other words "if she had ever been born". The complete expression is a way of saying "She's at least forty if she is alive at all", and we know that she _is _alive, so it follows that she is at least forty.


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## Charlie Parker

That's a good explanation sound shift. Thank you. It's hard to explain these sayings that, as native speakers, we just take for granted.


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## xtrasystole

Thank you very much, Charlie and sound shift . 
I'm not sure I get it right, though...  

Let me reformulate: If I wanted to say that she looks to be at least fifty, I could say it that way: _"If she is old enough to be one day old, then she must be fifty"_, right? Or: _"She is fifty if she's a day"_. 

So, basically I'm saying that she looks 50 whatever her true age is. Am I right? 

I am not that convinced...


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## Charlie Parker

Yes that's right. _



			"If she is old enough to be one day old, then she must be fifty"
		
Click to expand...

 _That is the explanation of the idiom. _



			"She is fifty if she's a day".
		
Click to expand...

_That is a perfect example of how it would be used. You're saying that she looks at least fifty, if not more. Here are a few more references which might prove useful. Here, here and here.


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## xtrasystole

Thank you again, Charlie and sound shift. 

I think I'm going to sleep on it now, hopefully the logic of it will be much clearer tomorrow. Bonne nuit


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## pointvirgule

xtra, à mon sens, la logique est, en quelque sorte : _si tant est qu'elle ait un âge, alors c'est cinquante ans ; elle a 50 ans ou bien elle n'a qu'un jour _(rien entre les deux)_. _Puisse ce grain de sel vous être utile.
(Note : ceci n'est pas une traduction.)


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## Punky Zoé

In French there is an expression in the same way, but not used in the context of the age.
That's (for example) : si je ne t'ai pas déjà dit cent fois de ranger ta chambre, je ne te l'ai pas dit une fois.


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## Charlie Parker

La traduction _au moins _est probablement la plus proche de l'anglais et surtout quand on insistent sur les mots. C'est dans le ton de la voix. Merci Nico. J'aime bien ton explication pointvirgule. C'est une très bonne analogie, Punky. If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Clean up after youself. Sans nommer personne. Quand même c'est drôle comme ça me fait penser à ma belle-fille.


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## xtrasystole

Thank you all . I think I got it now, even though the logic of it still doesn't sound quite natural to me. 

And thank you Charlie for the links, this one in particular where they say that this type of expression applies not only to age but to other circumstances as well, acting as an intensifier to mean _"at the very least"_:_- 'She must be 50 if she's a day'_
_- 'He was seven feet tall if he was a foot'_
_- 'He is 240 pounds if he's a pound'_
_- 'If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times'_
_- 'It's worth a million dollars if it's worth a penny'_. ​Besides that, I understand that the expression is colloquial and that you are not to use it in a formal setting, am I right?


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## Charlie Parker

Interesting. I'm not sure I would say that I wouldn't use it in a formal setting. Offhand, I can't think of a formal situation where I would say that. I think "She must be 50 if she's a day" is a better construction. The other ones are certainly understandable, but I wouldn't use them. I might say something like: "He had to be at least/no less than seven feet tall." "He was at least 240 pounds." etc. I really like "If I've told you once..." That's very common in English.


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## xtrasystole

Thanks for all the details, Charlie, I really appreciate that. I'll go to bed more knowledgeable tonight


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## sound shift

I wouldn't say "She *must be *fifty if she's a day"; I would say "She's fifty if she's a day". This means that I am sure that she is at least fifty. "Must be" would be superfluous here. This accords with the sentence in post 1.


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## xtrasystole

So noted, thank you sound shift.


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## Charlie Parker

I think's it's a matter of personal taste, soundshift. There are an awful lot of hits on Google for this kind of phrase. I also found "He's got to be 50 if he's a day."


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## Elle Paris

xtrasystole said:


> I'm glad I learned a new expression today
> 
> However, I just can't get the logic of it. How can _"she was forty if she was a day"_ come to mean _"she looked to be at least forty"_?
> _"She was a__ day"_? _"Was"_?  And what day?
> 
> Could someone please explain? Thanks in advance.


 
The idea is : If you can admit to a day old you have to admit to the other 49 years and 364 days because it is so obvious.


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## xtrasystole

Merci pour cette explication supplémentaire, chère Elle Paris. Je crois que maintenant j'ai bien compris la logique de cette expression, mais _à mon avis_ ce type de logique est totalement différent de la manière de penser de nous autres Français. 

C'est très enrichissant


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## akaAJ

Interesting.  In English it would be "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times"  with the same logic as "if she's a day".  If it is true (and of course that is incontrovertible) that I've told you at least once, then it is in fact true that I've told you a thousand times.  Not exactly proper inductive logic, and certainly hyperbolic, but there you have it.

So, xtrasystole, when you awake, one hopes from pleasant dreams, it is not "She looks at least 50, whatever her real age", but "I don't care how old she looks/you think she is/looks, her real age is at least 50."


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