# téter (bébé)



## elsab

Bonjour,

Je voudrais traduire cette phrase qui décrit les activités d'un nourrisson:
"Ses activités préférées : téter, gazouiller, gigoter".

Je propose "His hobbies: to suck, to babble, to wriggle" mais je crains un peu les double-sens de "to suck" (il me semble que ça peut être vulgaire selon le contexte). Est-ce que je ferai mieux d'utiliser "to eat" ?

Merci

Elsa


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## mehoul

Il y a aussi le verbe to suckle, dont je ne sais pas s'il a une connotation sexuelle (?)


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## moustic

Yes, suckle is a better choice.
I would also use the -ing form of the verb: suckling, babbling, wriggling.
And I don't think you can say that a baby has "hobbies"


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## elsab

Thanks, I didn't know this verb.

Moustic, I try to make a joke saying hobbies for the baby!


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## moustic

OK - no problem then!


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## Soleil_Couchant

yes, use "suckling" instead of "suck" to avoid any possible awkward connotations.

[Edited after ainttranslationfun's comment to avoid another repetitive post from me]


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Use the -ing form. A baby "suckles" at its mother's breast, "drinks" from a bottle, and "eats" solid (puréed, etc.) food.


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## pyan

Maybe: suckle, gurgle, wriggle? Suckling, gurgling, wriggling? (Late edit, my English is dated British. "Babbling" means "real" words used incoherently, to me. "Gurgling" sounds like the early sounds babies make, whatever language they hear, from which we often attribute the meaning. Sorry, I'm babbling.)


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## Soleil_Couchant

I think we do call babies throwing out sounds that resemble words "babbling," like "baby babble." Though yeah, babbling on and on could be someone rambling real words. So the definition of an adult "babbling" and a baby "babbling" would be different from the other.  Gurgling works too, if it's a really young baby (too young to make word-like sounds).


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## Language Hound

"Suckling" sounds somewhat dated to me.
I prefer:
_...favorite activities: *nursing*,..._


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## Soleil_Couchant

.........good point, Language Hound.


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## Keith Bradford

Surely it's the mother who nurses the baby, while the baby suckles?

[Revised in #14 below.]


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Keith Bradford said:


> Surely it's the mother who nurses the baby, while the baby suckles?



I'm not sure we can't say "The baby nurses at its mother's breast." as well as "The mother nurses her baby."


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## Keith Bradford

I'll revise what I just wrote in #12.  According to the OED, the baby *sucks *or (rare) *nurses*, the mother *suckles *or *nurses* her baby.

I just think people have become too prudish and increadingly try to avoid using the correct terms in favour of vague euphemisms.  And thereby erode the language.  Aroint!


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## Language Hound

From _the American Heritage Dictionary_: *nurse*


> *a. To take milk from the breast or teat; suckle: The baby is nursing. Puppies nurse for a few weeks.
> b. *To feed an offspring from the breast or teat: a mother who's nursing; what to feed cows when they're nursing.



It's not at all rare in the U.S. to say a baby is nursing; that's what I always hear.
In fact "suckles" just sounds old-fashioned to my AE ear.
Personally, I don't think it's a case (in the U.S. at least) of being prudish or favoring euphemisms.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Keith Bradford said:


> I just think people have become too prudish and increadingly try to avoid using the correct terms in favour of vague euphemisms.  And thereby erode the language.  Aroint!



I agree (the replacement of the biological "sex" by the grammatical "gender", for instance). And then there's the discovery (invention?) of "micro-aggressions...


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## Soleil_Couchant

"suckling" first makes me think of a suckling pig, which is why "nursing" might be nicer (and I used to work in healthcare, and "nursing/to nurse" is indeed the term used/heard  nowadays). But "to suckle" sounded nicer and more apt than just plain "to suck." That was the evolution in my head; it's not that deep.


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## Language Hound

Soleil_Couchant said:


> "suckling" first makes me think of a suckling pig...


Ditto!
In fact, that's the only way I hear it used nowadays.


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## Soleil_Couchant

I mean, you might hear a reference to "a baby suckling on its mother's teat"...or something... but suckling by itself makes me think of a suckling pig. And I do think your choice of "nursing" is the best and most modern to use!


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## DePorAhí

I very much agree with "nursing." 

"Suckling" likely did fall by the wayside among parents and the general public for prudish reasons as discussed above, but the fact is still that it's in disuse, and therefore sounds odd (except in professional / scientific circles.)  In fact, in my 25+ years working with breastfeeding mothers, no client of mine has ever used "suckle." Moms all say they're "breastfeeding," "nursing" or simply "feeding" their babies, and that the baby is also "breastfeeding" or "nursing" -- or just "eating."


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## Soleil_Couchant

ainttranslationfun I think you're being facetious, but for the sake of not confusing the francophones, "breastfeeding" is perfectly normally used, currently.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Hi, S_C, My second sentence was ever so slightly facetious, but I see you agree with me that "breast-feeding" (rather than as a single word, I think) is common. But "suckling/nursing, babbling and squirming (about)" is a good suggestion in answer to the OP. 

Edited.


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## Soleil_Couchant

Haha yeah. And as for a hyphen or not, that kind of thing so often comes down to what "style guide" you're following. Where I used to work, we always wrote it as one word, breastfeeding. But I can't say it's never written as breast-feeding...


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## Nicomon

I personally would have understood _nursing_ as _« allaiter » _or_ « allaitement »._  Which is the mother's doing.

What's so wrong with "_sucking_"  (without the added "l") to translate _téter_?  

In my opinion, it would take a very sick mind to think of anything else than "sucking on his mother's breasts/the nipple of a bottle"...  when talking about baby activities!


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

I think "sucking" would require an object nonetheless. - Yes, a mother "allaite" her baby, not vice-versa.


Soleil_Couchant said:


> "suckling" first makes me think of a suckling pig, which is why "nursing" might be nicer (and I used to work in healthcare, and "nursing/to nurse" is indeed the term used/heard  nowadays).



(According to AHD, "suckle" is "Probably a back-formation from "suckling". It sounds Shakespearean to me.)


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## Nicomon

For the record... this is copied from the WR dictionary.   



> *suck [sth]*_vtr_
> (dissolve by sucking) (_un bonbon,..._) sucer _vtr_
> (_lentement_) suçoter _vtr_
> * (le sein, un biberon)  téter vtr *


  Appelons un chat, un chat.


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## wildan1

While _suck_ and _suckle_ are both quite legitimate translations for _téter,_ it seems some native speakers on this discussion have expressed some reservations about using _suck _as an intransitive verb in this context.

Probably because of 1) the sexual connotations related to fellatio; and/or 2) its more recent colloquial usage to describe a bad situation (_"That sucks!"_). And for some (including me), 3) _suckle_ sounds archaic.

Hence the suggestions of alternative, some euphemistic, translations.

Personally I would probably only use _suck_ here as a transitive verb with an appropriate object:_ His hobbies include sucking his fist, his thumb,_ etc.


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## Nicomon

Thanks for the additional info.

Once again, I think it would take a sick mind to associate _sucking_ with _fellatio_, when talking about a baby's activities.

Tant qu'à y être, éliminons aussi le verbe _sucer_ du français.


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

I still just don't think "sucking" sounds right, although I too don't see any possibility of mistaking "fellatio" as being among a baby's activities.


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