# wrapped in air



## rosa82

Bonjour à tous.

Qu’elle serait la meilleure façon de traduire wrapped dans ce contexte ? Merci d’avance.

“Why?” My plea sounded as if it were wrapped in air.


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## misterk

More context would help.  I have never heard the expression before, but I would understand it to mean that my plea was uttered weakly; it was difficult to hear. (I.e., it was the opposite of a loud, forceful, demanding plea.)


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## rosa82

Moi non plus, mais je ne crois pas que d’avantage de contexte apporte plus lumière.

“Why were you at the gym tonight? Why were you with _him_?”

She blinked rapidly at me while forcing air in and out of her lungs at a hurried pace.

“Why?” My plea sounded as if it were wrapped in air.

A été prononcé faiblement, c’est ce que je comprends aussi.  Mais il faut changer complètement la phrase.

Merci beaucoup misterk.


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## Itisi

'She was forcing air in and out of her lungs' : est-ce que ce n'est pas que les paroles de la personne sont comme prises dans le souffle fort et bruyant de l'interlocutrice...?


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## Phil512

I am unlikely to suggest a decent translation for this expression but let me refer to the CD "wrapped in air" by TRUE (a duo). You'll find that at least through the website of their record company which I may not give you a link to (commercial).
The comments are full of words such as air, breath, breezy, whispering (certainly at the end of it)... which will help you ....or not. The bad news is that the record company's own comment is that almost all the lyrics have a double meaning. So... Good luck !


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## Itisi

*Phil*, I don't see how this explains the meaning_ here_...


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## Phil512

I don't either, *Itisi*. But I saw everybody in doubt and clueless. Obviously, I won't find a solution myself, but I found this "word by word" copy of the thread title, so I thought I'd mention it for you folks. There could have been a chance. When I see how far some contributors can go to find a solution/translation, I thought I *had to* mention it. Not more than that. Sorry if it does not help.


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## Nicomon

This is what the duo _True_ said about the title of the album  _Wrapped in Air_ : 





> *What does the album's title refer to?*
> Rico: Air is invisible, it's close to nothing. To be wrapped in air means to be naked, but not exactly. You could say almost everything in our world is wrapped in air and it's true.
> Dani: But we wanted to describe things between the lines, between persons, that you feel, but you can't touch, like air. And that's something that's very important to us in music too.



J'ai trouvé le contexte de rosa82 (je n'ose pas mettre le lien direct) mais la suite n'aide pas vraiment : 





> Instead of answering me, she shook her head and tried to look away. Her avoidance birthed my frustration until unrestrained heat licked up my skin, my face flaming with the temper I’d released from its cage five years ago.


 Enfin moi, ça ne m'aide pas.

Est-ce qu'on pourrait faire quelque chose avec des adjectifs comme *feutré, voilé, enveloppé, étouffé, ouaté... ? *

Ou bien - mais je le suggère sans conviction et ce serait à peaufiner - adapter (plutôt que traduire) avec quelque chose comme :
_- C'est comme si j'avais parlé dans le vide / comme si ma requête était tombée dans le vide ?   _(Puisqu'elle ne répond pas).


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## Soleil_Couchant

Phil512, don't feel bad. We often never know what is relevant or not. Keep contributing!

Misterk, I agree with your interpretation.  And, "wrapped in air" is a colorful, "showing rather than telling" way of expressing the person had a tiny, weak or muffled voice. So the French would be along those creative/visual/figurative lines too, I feel....try to come up with something similar that evokes the same mental idea instead of explaining it literally / straightforward ...n'est-ce pas? Because the English was purposefully not straightforward, either...


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## Itisi

I think it means: 'C'était comme si ma requête s'était perdue dans l'espace entre nous'.


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## Phil512

Soleil_Couchant said:


> Phil512, don't feel bad. We often never know what is relevant or not. Keep contributing!


*Thanks for the kind words ! *This is exactly my point of view....and I don't feel bad. So true  (some humor doesn't hurt) that, if I could go back in time, I'd do exactly the same again, for the reason that we both mention. I was not able to do more, so, at least, I did that.


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## Nucleos

Personnellement, je lis que la question est dite en chuchottant, comme un murmure déconcerté, ou alors c'est une référence à une façon de parler de plus en plus courante aux états-unis, le «vocal fry» : http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2011/12/vocal-fry-creeping-us-speech


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## Itisi

Je pense que s'il s'agissait du volume de la voix (ce qui a été suggéré à plusieurs reprises), l'air/l'espace ne figurerait pas dans la phrase...


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## Nicomon

Itisi said:


> I think it means: 'C'était comme si ma requête s'était perdue dans l'espace entre nous'.


 Tu l'as mieux tourné, mais c'est ce que je tentais de dire en parlant d'adapter en « tombée dans le vide ». 

Mais je vois que t'as changé d'idée entre temps.


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## Phil512

Crossed posts with Nico


Itisi said:


> 'She was forcing air in and out of her lungs' : est-ce que ce n'est pas que les paroles de la personne sont comme prises dans le souffle fort et bruyant de l'interlocutrice...





Itisi said:


> I think it means: 'C'était comme si ma requête s'était perdue dans l'espace entre nous'.





Nicomon said:


> C'est comme si j'avais parlé dans le vide / comme si ma requête était tombée dans le vide


Vraiment très intéressant !
En s'inspirant de tout ça, on peut aussi essayer (on est loin du littéral, d'accord) :
- ma requête parut se perdre dans son souffle (cf Itisi #1);
- ma requête se perdit dans son souffle (cf Itisi #1);
- le son de ma question resta comme emprisonné dans l'air nous séparant (cf wrapped, emballé);
- le son de ma question resta comme flottant dans l'air nous séparant (cf wrapped, emballé);
- ma requête resta, en suspens, comme piégée dans l'air nous séparant (cf wrapped et Nico).;
- ma requête resta suspendue dans l'air entre nous (cf Itisi #2 et Nico)
- le son de ma question mourut dans l'air ambiant (cf Itisi #2 et Nico).

Quelles que soient les critiques que l'on peut adresser à cet espèce de "brain storming personnel", on notera que j'ai essayé de rendre, d'une façon ou d'une autre (non littérale donc), les concepts d*'air *("souffle" en fait partie) que j'ai préféré à "espace" et de* wrapped.*
A vous la main, si nécessaire


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## Nicomon

Excellent exercice de remue-méninges à mon avis, Phil. 

C'est aussi en tentant - peut-être gauchement - de rendre l'idée de *wrapped* que j'ai suggéré (en pensant au ton de voix) des adjectifs comme :
*feutré, voilé, enveloppé, étouffé, ouaté...
*
L'autre suggestion était une idée d'adaptation, associant _air_ à _vide_, inspirée de la phrase suivante que j'ai citée plus haut.
(si elle ne répond pas... c'est comme s'il avait parlé dans le vide).

Plus loin dans le texte, le ton monte et il devient plus agressif.   
On peut lire entre autres : “Why were you there tonight?” I gritted out through clenched teeth.
Et plus loin encore :  Just answer my fucking question!


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## Soleil_Couchant

Nicomon said:


> C'est aussi en tentant - peut-être gauchement - de rendre l'idée de *wrapped* que j'ai suggéré (en pensant au ton de voix) des adjectifs comme :
> *feutré, voilé, enveloppé, étouffé, ouaté...*



Yes, I think keeping it simple and using one of those would be enough (especially enveloppé or voilé.) Comme d'habitude I like translations that are as faithful / loyal as possible to the original text without re-inventing or adding meaning based on a guess of what the original text means, when it's not necessary (because yes, I know, some things do not translate between languages at all thus need an adaptation...but I don't see that here). So there's no need to add "entre nous" etc. Maybe the English wasn't 100% clear, but then, neither should be the French, n'est-ce pas ? That's how I see it. Since "wrapped in air" isn't idiomatic in English, but colorful a description, I suggest the translation just translates that (in the correct syntax/grammar French way) without adding other descriptors to try to pin down or sway exactly what was meant.


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## Itisi

Nicomon said:


> c'est ce que je tentais de dire en parlant d'adapter en « tombée dans le vide ». Mais je vois que t'as changé d'idée entre temps.


J'ai changé d'avis à propos de ma première hypothèse à #4, seulement.


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## Nicomon

Je viens de me rendre compte que j'avais mal lu/interprété  ton post # 13.   
Allez donc savoir pourquoi j'ai compris que tu revenais à l'idée du volume de la voix.


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## Phil512

Soleil_Couchant said:


> Since "wrapped in air" isn't idiomatic in English, but colorful a description, I suggest the translation just translates that (in the correct syntax/grammar French way) without adding other descriptors


This is a way to do it the way you suggest :
*Ma requête resta, en suspens, comme piégée/enveloppée dans l'air*


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## Itisi

Soleil_Couchant said:


> Since "wrapped in air" isn't idiomatic in English, but colorful a description, I suggest the translation just translates that (in the correct syntax/grammar French way) without adding other descriptors to try to pin down or sway exactly what was meant.


If it were possible to do that and make sense at all, we would already have done it!


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## Soleil_Couchant

Itisi said:


> If it were possible to do that and make sense at all, we would already have done it!



Looks like Phil512 just did! Yay.  Phil, j'aime votre suggestion !


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## Itisi

Soleil_Couchant said:


> I suggest the translation just translates that (in the correct syntax/grammar French way) without adding other descriptors to try to pin down or sway exactly what was meant.


*S-C*, whatever merits* Phil*'s suggestion at #20 may have in other ways, I wouldn't have thought it corresponded to the criteria you set out...


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## marcolettici

rosa82 said:


> “Why were you at the gym tonight? Why were you with _him_?”


She blinked rapidly at me while forcing air in and out of her lungs at a hurried pace.



> “Why?” My plea sounded as if it were wrapped in air.


She's out of breath.  She is huffing and puffing.  Either from exertion at the gym, or from hurrying to where she is now. Her answer is "wrapped" in her own huffing and puffing... in "air."


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## Itisi

*marco*, it's not her answer that is 'wrapped in air', it's the question...In fact, she doesn't answer (see #8 and 16).


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## lentulax

Itisi said:


> *marco*, it's not her answer that is 'wrapped in air', it's the question...In fact, she doesn't answer (see #8 and 16).



Well, but for the continuation provided by Nicomon (#8) marco's suggestion (which assumes she simply repeats his plea 'Why' - a normal response to gain time in such situations) would make better sense than any of the other explanations offered ; indeed , the fact that the continuation reads 'Instead of answering me, she shook her head' etc. does not rule out that interpretation, since repeating a question does not normally count as answering it. (I'd disagree with Marco only insofar as , without further context, I assume her breathlessness to be caused ,not by physical activity, but by panic at being caught out).

I would say the author has simply failed to communicate his meaning clearly : he seems to suffer from the fault of overwriting, and as usual more is less.


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## Itisi

This bit seems clear enough: '*My plea* was wrapped in air'.  

Or perhaps I was right at #4... But as you say, the author could write more clearly, since we can't be sure what s/he means!


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## Nicomon

I figured that the sentence that I quoted in post #8 and the added ones (in blue) in post # 16,  would help people find the actual context.

I hope rosa82 won't be offended that I provide the link.  *Here it is*.
I'm pretty sure that it is the man  (Killian) and not the woman (Rylee) who said this... 
And that his tone of voice and/or frustration at her non answering keeps increasing.


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## Itisi

That is how I read it,* Nico*. It makes sense.


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## Chandosman

I think it is a metaphore and a pun on "airs" - it suggests that the expression is unclear - vacuus and  is wrapped up in vacuous space - what you maybe would expect from someone who has "airs and graces" - that's what it feels like to me - almost Shakespearean


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