# Mr Sarkozy is nothing if not agile



## The Economist weekly

Bonsoir,

Pour traduire la phrase du dessus je la comprends mais je n'arrive pas à la traduire en français


Pourriez-vous m'aider


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## mtmjr

Je ne suis pas français, mais j'ai trouvé quelques réponse aux autres fils:

_M Sarkozy est tout sauf agile._
_M Sarkozy n'est rien d'autre que son agilité._

Encore une fois, je ne suis pas natif.


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## Gil

My try:
Sarko est d'une souplesse indéniable


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## Already-Seen

_


mtmjr said:



M Sarkozy est tout sauf agile.
M Sarkozy n'est rien d'autre que son agilité.

Click to expand...

 
Mr Sarkozy is nothing if not agile_ means he's very agile.
_M Sarkozy est tout sauf agile_ means _he's everything but agile,_ the opposite of what is meant.
_M Sarkozy n'est rien d'autre que son agilité._ This one doesn't work but I can't explain why.


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## wildan1

_L'agilité est le seul point fort de M. Sarkozy_
_M. Sarkozy ne manque pas d'agilité sans plus_


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## mtmjr

Wow, duh...  I didn't even bother to comprehend what I wrote--it's a pretty literal translation too...  I'm also cuious why the last one doesn't work.  I don't know why I wrote the noun instead of the adjective...would this work:

_M Sarkozy n'est rien d'autre qu'agile._


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## Already-Seen

wildan1 said:


> _L'agilité est le seul point fort de M. Sarkozy_
> _M. Sarkozy ne manque pas d'agilité sans plus_


 With all due respect, I don't think that's what is meant here.


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## wildan1

Already-Seen said:


> With all due respect, I don't think that's what is meant here.


 
Well, my French wording may not be elegant but I am quite sure that the meaning is what I tried to convey, AS. 

The sentence in English means that Sarko may not have many other qualities, but he is agile!


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## Already-Seen

Nothing wrong with your phrasing; I disagree with your interpretation.
The phrase is nothing if not agile, not nothing but agile...

nothing if not=  above all else


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## Already-Seen

Gil said:


> My try:
> Sarko est d'une souplesse indéniable



Peut-être aussi : ... d'une habileté indéniable.


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## lastrana

Et que dire de:
"on peut tout reprocher à M. Sarkozy, sauf de ne pas être agile/habile?" 
ou
"Si M. S. a une qualité, c'est bien l'agilité/l'habileté/la souplesse"?
Cela va peut-être un peu loin mais il me semble qu'il y a une insistance dans la phrase anglaise...


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## The Economist weekly

Bien vu 

Je suis très impressionné.

Merci bien


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## Keith Bradford

wildan1 said:


> The sentence in English means that Sarko may not have many other qualities, but he is agile!


 

No it doesn't.  It means that agility is his most outstanding quality.

This is the text speaking, you understand, not me.


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## wildan1

Keith Bradford said:


> No it doesn't. It means that agility is his most outstanding quality.
> 
> This is the text speaking, you understand, not me.


 
To me this expression _*nothing if not*_ is generally used when you have doubts about the breadth of someone's qualities. You say this indirectly by focusing on the one positive quality (agility in Sarko's case).

If it doesn't mean that to you, Keith, what does it mean? Your comment makes me wonder if there is a dfference in nuance between BE and AE here...


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## JeanDeSponde

wildan1 said:


> _M. Sarkozy ne manque pas d'agilité sans plus_
> 
> 
> 
> Well, my French wording may not be elegant but I am quite sure that the meaning is what I tried to convey, AS.
> The sentence in English means that Sarko may not have many other qualities, but he is agile!
Click to expand...

Wildan, I think you meant ..._ne manque pas d'agilité, *au moins*_ Indeed, _sans plus_ here would imply he has _no_ other quality, while _au moins_ leaves the door open.

I'd say _Sarkozy a au moins pour lui d'avoir l'esprit vif_.(this conveys the same reservation as in Wildan's view)

(Is _Agile_ here "mentally quick" or "energetic"?)


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## OuhlalaBird

What would you think about this one :


"M. S. n'est rien si ce n'est etre agile"


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## wildan1

JeanDeSponde said:


> Wildan, I think you meant ..._ne manque pas d'agilité, *au moins*_ Indeed, _sans plus_ here would imply he has _no_ other quality, while _au moins_ leaves the door open.


 Right you are. I stand corrected.

_agile_ = _energetic _or _able to react/readjust quickly_

More like _clever_ than_ smart_!


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## JeanDeSponde

Keith Bradford said:


> No it doesn't.  It means that agility is his most outstanding quality.
> This is the text speaking, you understand, not me.


I have read in the NYTimes, about Sarah Palin's debate with Biden:
_But Sarah Palin is nothing if not diligent_.
Could that really be a compliment? The text goes on with _She’s working hard on preparing for the debate with Joe Biden. In fact, we just heard that earlier today in Arizona, Sarah Palin shot a donkey._
As in French, it's probably more a question of context, isn't it?


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## Already-Seen

JeanDeSponde said:


> I have read in the NYTimes, about Sarah Palin's debate with Biden:
> _But Sarah Palin is nothing if not diligent_.
> Could that really be a compliment? The text goes on with _She’s working hard on preparing for the debate with Joe Biden. In fact, we just heard that earlier today in Arizona, Sarah Palin shot a donkey._
> As in French, it's probably more a question of context, isn't it?


_But Sarah Palin is nothing if not diligent _means she's very diligent whether it is sarcastic or not (a compliment or not) doesn't change the meaning of the phrase; its interpretation, yes, but not its basic meaning. 
_to be diligent = to work hard_ (from the next sentence, to reinforce the first sentence.)
The donkey is the symbol of the Democrats. Of course it's a tongue-in-cheek comment.


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## Macseoin

To say "somebody is nothing if not" followed by whatever adjective for me means that as a person can never be nothing what follows is obviously true.  M.S. n'est rien s'il n'est pas habile, donc il est forcement habile.


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## OuhlalaBird

Not quite sure I'm right, I finally prefer this one:

"M. S. n'est rien si ce n'est etre habile"

as to me, _agile_ refers in french mostly to (good) body abilities 
_habile_ is sometimes connoted with malicious and misuse.
No political opinion here.


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## Already-Seen

In the article in question, after calling him agile, the author says that even if he's extremely agile, it still will be hard for him "to straddle the entire political spectrum". So agile could be taken literally and less literally.





> And Mr Sarkozy is nothing if not agile. But even he will find it hard to straddle the entire political spectrum.


...  sa dextérité ?


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## Moon Palace

OuhlalaBird said:


> "M. S. n'est rien si ce n'est etre habile"



I'm afraid this doesn't make sense in French. You would have to say: _Mr Sarkozy n'a aucune qualité si ce n'est d'être habile. _But that would go well beyond the original English sentence by stating he has no other quality than this one. 

The Free Dict gives a definition that backs the idea of a quality that is stronger than any other indeed. Yet, as it is worded, one can't refrain from seeing that the fact it starts with _Mr Sarkozy is nothing_ can't but be ironical, or at least provide an underlying hint at his flaws. Otherwise, why not use _he is above all a very agile man? 

_My suggestion would be very close to JDS's , although I believe _agile _is too ambiguous to narrow it to either the mind or the physical activity without more context, and _vif_ preserves this ambiguity:
_Mr Sarkozy a au moins pour lui d'être vif. 
_
I believe _a au moins pour lui_ provides the same kind of underlying hint, and is very similar to the English start with a negative statement further downplayed by the acknowledgement of a quality.


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## frenchlady

Et (Dieu sait que) Mr Sarkozy ne manque pas d'habileté.


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## OuhlalaBird

Another trial :
" M. S. n'est rien moins qu'habile. Il lui sera difficile malgré tout d'embrasser l'étendue du paysage politique"


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## Already-Seen

Moon Palace said:


> The Free Dict gives a definition that backs the idea of a quality that is stronger than any other indeed. Yet, as it is worded, one can't refrain from seeing that the fact it starts with _Mr Sarkozy is nothing_ can't but be ironical, or at least provide an underlying hint at his flaws. Otherwise, why not use _he is above all a very agile man? _


It starts with "nothing" because the idiom IS "to be *nothing* if not + adj."! From Cambride Dictionary: 





> he is *nothing* if not strict : il est strict *avant tout* ...


The phrase reminds me a bit about "nothing short of"?





> *nothing short of* strongly showing this quality. _She is nothing short of amazing in her latest movie._
> Usage notes: used to *emphasize* the quality mentioned


The author (who works at the Economist) could have used a myriad of other expressions to say the same thing but he chose this one. Maybe because it's more elegant, literary, highbrow than a simple "he was above all a very agile man..." I don't know.


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## OuhlalaBird

Moon palace,
thank you for your correction
Hope the last one is better


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## Gil

Another try:
Il va de soi que M. S. est très versatile.  (Et j'emprunte à OulalaBird)  





> Il lui sera difficile malgré tout d'embrasser l'étendue du paysage politique"                                                                                                                                                            http://forum.wordreference.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=6057664


Ce que je comprends : cette agilité consiste à prendre des mesures qui satisfont à tour de rôle la gauche et la droite.


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## OuhlalaBird

Autocorrection:
" ... de satisfaire l'ensemble du paysage politique"


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## BEEKEEPER

mtmjr said:


> Wow, duh... I didn't even bother to comprehend what I wrote--it's a pretty literal translation too... I'm also cuious why the last one doesn't work. I don't know why I wrote the noun instead of the adjective...would this work:
> 
> _M Sarkozy n'est rien d'autre qu'agile._


Les deux sont correctes.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

Salut,

Si j'ai bien compris, je crois que je le dirais à la négative pour justement ne pas faire de compliment et être ironique :
S'il y a bien une chose qu'on ne peut pas reprocher à Sarko, c'est d'être... [immobile]...    Ou s'il y a bien quelque chose qu'il n'est pas c'est [immobile] (<- euh, là, j'ai choisi le mouvement physique, i.e. on ne peut pas lui reprocher de ne pas être en perpétuel mouvement. Mais je suis loin d'en être sûre... Sinon, c'est plutôt de l'habileté politique...)

Edit : ou alors à l'affirmative, ça donnerait : On peut reconnaître à Sarko au moins une qualité / s'il y a au moins une chose que l'on peut reconnaître à Sarko, c'est d'être... (complétez vous même !  Habile ?)


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## JeanDeSponde

Already-Seen said:


> In the article in question, after calling him agile, the author says that even if he's extremely agile, it still will be hard for him "to straddle the entire political spectrum". So agile could be taken literally and less literally.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And Mr Sarkozy is nothing if not agile. But even he will find it hard to straddle the entire political spectrum.
> 
> 
> 
> ...  sa dextérité ?
Click to expand...

There is no question that Sarkozy is definitely deemed agile.
The question remains to know whether he is deemed _only _agile - or if it is one of his many qualities (as per the quote, not per my own, deep feelings!).
Now, this _straddle_ thing is interesting - wouldn't _spécialiste du grand-écart_ fit here?...


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## Already-Seen

> The question remains to know whether he is deemed _only _agile - or if it is one of his many qualities


 Really?! I didn't realize that. I thought that horse had been beaten to death already.... Here are the definitions found in 3 different dictionaries. All links were provided in earlier posts. 
*→ **nothing if not* = *above all else* (The American Heritage, link provided in post #9) 
*→ **nothing if not something* = *this more than anything else* (The Free Dictionary, link provided by MP and myself earlier) 
*→ **nothing* if not: *avant tout* ... (Cambridge Dictionaries Online, see link above)

I wouldn’t call it *one of his many qualities*, because it implies being 'agile' is a good thing. Is it really a quality in the first place? (in the context of the article: not necessarily.) 
It could be 'British restraint' to mean the guy is a 'scheming bastard' or that he's a good flip-flopper. (Quote from the article, "It was a taunt that the president chose, uncharacteristically, not to dismiss. “*Have I become socialist?” he wondered. “Perhaps.”* The ambiguity is such that some on the left now see a need to reclaim their ideology.") 
I would say it’s *his main* *characteristic,* according to the author*, but not his main 'quality'*. (And the fact that he's good at it doesn't mean it's a compliment or a quality). I think the journalist is merely musing that Sarkozy has become master at the art of ambiguity (or_ de la langue de bois_ !)

Also, it's not unfrequent for British people to use litotes... 
Is that horse dead yet? or should I keep on beating it?


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## Moon Palace

Already-Seen said:


> It starts with "nothing" because the idiom IS "to be *nothing* if not + adj."!


 


Already-Seen said:


> Really?! I didn't realize that. I thought that horse had been beaten to death already....
> I think the journalist is merely musing that Sarkozy has become master at the art of ambiguity (or_ de la langue de bois_ !)
> Also, it's not unfrequent for British people to use litotes...


 
I believe we will agree to disagree... The meaning of an idiom is one thing, its style is another. And in rhetorics, style is meaningful. Precisely because there are so many other phrases to convey this idea, the author has certainly not chosen this one at random. 
Besides, as you say, the jouranalist is musing, and he is using a litote - quite commonplace indeed in English - so that it all tends to point that, like Shakespeare, he chose to start with a negation to assert something thereafter. This particular stylistic choice is not deprived of meaning, on the very contrary. 

As you will see in this link, _I am nothiing if not critical _is translated with _Je ne suis rien si je ne suis pas un traître_. So of course, it means above all, but it starts with _je ne suis rien_, and this ought not to be overlooked.


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## perrynayum

How about: "The least you can say about Sarkozy is that he is a fast mover."


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## OuhlalaBird

JeanDeSponde said:


> Now, this _straddle_ thing is interesting - wouldn't _spécialiste du grand-écart_ fit here?...


En effet le grand-écart demande de l'agilité ...

Am I wrong with this last assertion :
"M.S. n'est rien moins qu'habile"
as on my opinion it keeps the style - the negative way - to put the emphasis on while being somehow ironical.


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## jmackny

wildan1 said:


> To me this expression _*nothing if not*_ is generally used when you have doubts about the breadth of someone's qualities. You say this indirectly by focusing on the one positive quality (agility in Sarko's case).
> 
> If it doesn't mean that to you, Keith, what does it mean? Your comment makes me wonder if there is a dfference in nuance between BE and AE here...


 
As a fellow American, I can weigh in here. When I hear, "John is nothing if not X," I don't hear any connotation that John might not possess any virtues aside from X. 

Denotatively and connotatively to me it sounds the equivalent of the following: "One thing's for sure: John is X." 

So in my opinion there's no difference between the BE and AE regarding this expression.


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## Already-Seen

> And in rhetorics, style is meaningful. Precisely because there are so many other phrases to convey this idea, the author has certainly not chosen this one at random.


I wholeheartedly agree with you on that. (In rhetoric, litotes is a figure of speech in which, rather than making a certain statement directly, a speaker expresses it even more effectively, or *achieves emphasis, by denying its opposite*. wiki definition)
What I didn’t agree and was commenting on was that there was an ‘underlying hint at his flaws.’ The point I was trying to make was that the phrase itself wasn’t negative at all but extremely positive. The construction (_nothing if not_, again, not unlike _nothing short of_) was “used to emphasize the quality mentioned” (quote from the dictionary) not a hint at a flaw. I agree that we should try to keep the same style in the translation if at all possible, but by doing so we should be careful not to end up with a faux-sens by implying a flaw that isn’t implied in the original.



> Now, this _straddle_ thing is interesting - wouldn't _spécialiste du grand-écart_ fit here?...


 (I forgot to comment on that last time) That’s a very funny image. It seems to be in the same tone as the article.


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## Cath.S.

lastrana said:


> Et que dire de:
> "on peut tout reprocher à M. Sarkozy, sauf de ne pas être agile/habile?"
> ou
> "Si M. S. a une qualité, c'est bien l'agilité/l'habileté/la souplesse"?
> Cela va peut-être un peu loin mais il me semble qu'il y a une insistance dans la phrase anglaise...


J'aime bien l'idée de _ne pas pouvoir reprocher_, qui contient àma toute la légère ironie nécessaire (désolée Karine ! )
En revanche, je modérerais un peu le mordant :
_On ne peut pas reprocher à M. Sarkozy de manquer d'habileté / de souplesse._


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## FPeron

The phrase "..is nothing if not agile" does not convey anything at all about any quality other than agility.  It expresses no doubt or reservation regarding other qualifications.  It is an emphatic statement of agility, and has no further meaning.  In Mrs. Palin's case, it is funny to point out that she is so diligent in her preparation for her debate that she goes so far as to slaughter an animal effigy of her opponent's party.

I am no native speaker of French, but I think that Gil's interpretation was the most elegant rendition: "Sarko(zy) est d'une souplesse indéniable."  In my opinion this is very, very close to the meaning of the original English.


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