# un coucou en passant



## iaorana

Bonjour,
Comment diriez-vous :
"Un petit coucou en passant"

Que pensez-vous de :
- a little hello while passing through
-a little hello by passing by 

Je vous remercie,
Iaorana


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## adjkale

"A little hello while passing through." <--- C'est parfait
(aussi: "A little hello while passing by")

"...by passing by" insinue "le petit coucou" est seulement possible avec des certains circonstances.


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## misterk

Welcome  to the Forum, ioarana !

Can you please describe in more detail the context in which this is said? Who says it to whom, in what situation?


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## Nicomon

I personally would say :  _Just dropping by to say Hi!_


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## iaorana

Merci beaucoup de m'avoir répondu. C'est très gentil à vous.

Pour le contexte:
C'est tout simplement moi qui voulait saluer une amie américaine et je voulais lui envoyer le message sms suivant: "un petit coucou en passant" mais je me suis rendu compte que je ne savais pas le dire d'où ma question sur ce forum. 
Je voudrais aussi féliciter les concepteurs de wordreference et les participants qui répondent aux questions posées sur le forum comme vous.


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## broglet

bjr iaorana - dans votre contexte vous pouvez envoyez le message "thinking of you!" ("je pense â vous")


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## iaorana

Merci beaucoup!


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## Saints22

Nicomon said:


> I personally would say :  _Just dropping by to say Hi!_


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## broglet

in the current context it would seem there is no 'dropping by' - just a text message


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## Nicomon

I'd still say "dropping by" - to render the same idea as « en passant ».
As on this card  (one of many of the kind). The person sending it is not really "dropping by". 

Just as you can "drop a line",  I think you can "drop a text message".


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## Saints22

Hello Broglet, 

I am not a true native english speaker but I always thought that it didn't matter if we were truly dropping by and that it was just one of these set formulas that everyone says. 


In the expression above, I like the rhyming tones which is why i voted for it.


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## broglet

Saints22 said:


> Hello Broglet,
> 
> I am not a true native english speaker but I always thought that it didn't matter if we were truly dropping by and that it was just one of these set formulas that everyone says.
> 
> 
> In the expression above, I like the rhyming tones which is why i voted for it.


If it is a set formula for a casual greeting it's not one I've ever come across. If I received a message "Just dropping by to say 'Hi' " I'd reply "When?"


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## christelleny

Nicomon said:


> I personally would say :  _Just dropping by to say Hi!_


 

I agree. I actually purchased greeting cards with exactly the same message!


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## iaorana

Merci bcq


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## Itisi

Nicomon said:


> Just as you can "drop a line",  I think you can "drop a text message".


Ok, but that's nothing to do with dropping _by_, which is intransitive!

I would say, 'Just to say hi/hello!' or 'Just saying hi/hello!'


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## fripwoman

I agree with Itisi. Dropping by implies physical presence for me.


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## fripwoman

As an anglophone, I would never say "just dropping by" unless I was physically present.


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## Itisi

Nicomon said:


> Of course we can say :  _Just wanted to say hi/hello_ (_je voulais juste te faire un petit coucou_)  but it's missing « _en passant_ ».


Yes, that's what I like about it!


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## wildan1

I wouldn't _"drop by"_ via text message, either. It definitely suggests a physical presence--perhaps the card is acting that presence, but that's not what people would say spontaneously in a text message exchange.

_Just saying hi while I'm at it_ comes to mind for that context.


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## Nicomon

Itisi said:


> Ok, but that's nothing to do with dropping _by_, which is intransitive!


 You're right.  Wrong example.  However - I'm writing it for those who might not know, not you Itisi -
while _drop by_ is intransitive in "_Just dropping by to say Hi!_"  it can also be used transitively. 





> *intransitive verb
> :  *to pay a brief casual visit
> *transitive verb
> : *to visit casually or unexpectedly _<drop by a friend's house_>





Saints22 said:


> I am not a true native english speaker but I always thought that it didn't matter if we were truly dropping by and that it was just one of these set formulas that everyone says.


 Same thing for this francophone.  But it apparently isn't the case. My mistake.

Still... I wouldn't bet my last dollar that nobody says - or rather writes - "Just dropping by to say this or that" unless they are physically present.
May be those who do are all "non natives". 

I deleted my two previous posts. Sorry for those who quoted me.


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## Itisi

*Nico*, sorry, but _<drop by a friend's house_> is not a transitive use; 'house' is not the object of 'dropping by'.

(Four anglophones here agree that to 'drop by' implies physical presence; that must mean something?  Still... it is true that people write all sorts of things...


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## Wordsmyth

Leaving aside the "dropping by" issues for a moment, I reflected on what I'd naturally say in iaorana's situation: probably ...
- "Just a quick hello". 
That's close to Nico's (now deleted?) _"Just wanted to say hi/hello"._

I wouldn't try to translate "en passant" directly. "Just a quick hello in passing" would be possible, but for me it would detract from the greeting, as if it were incidental and I sent it only because I happened to have my phone out for something else. For me, "Just a quick hello" covers both the ideas of "petit" and "en passant" in the original.



wildan1 said:


> _Just saying hi while I'm at it_ comes to mind for that context.


I guess you and I use that phrase differently, wildan. If you sent that to me, I'd wonder "while he's at what?" I might use it in a context such as _"I'm updating my contacts list, and I thought I'd just say hi while I'm at it."_



Itisi said:


> *Nico*, sorry, but _<drop by a friend's house_> is not a transitive use; 'house' is not the object of 'dropping by'.


I agree with Itisi. (Where did you find that definition, Nico?)

Actually, explaining "drop by a friend's house" grammatically is quite a challenge. _Drop by_ is a phrasal verb, so the "by" is part of it, and isn't acting as a preposition to introduce the next phrase. But "a friend's house" isn't the direct object of the verb "drop by". On the other hand, "by the house" is a prepositional phrase, but it doesn't tell us where someone dropped! It's almost as if it's
really "drop by, by a friend's house" (which would sound very odd), and the two occurrences of "by" have been fused into one, having two separate functions. Anyway, as you said, Nico, that doesn't apply to iaorana's example.

Ws


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## wildan1

Wordsmyth said:


> I guess you and I use that phrase differently, wildan. If you sent that to me, I'd wonder "while he's at what?" I might use it in a context such as _"I'm updating my contacts list, and I thought I'd just say hi while I'm at it."_
> Ws


I understood that the original question was  just that, Wordsmyth--during a text message exchange (which I assumed was about some topic or piece of business), a greeting was added _"while she's at it."_


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## Nicomon

Wordsmyth said:


> Leaving aside the "dropping by" issues for a moment, I reflected on what I'd naturally say in iaorana's situation: probably ...
> - "Just a quick hello".
> That's close to Nico's (now deleted?) _"Just wanted to say hi/hello"._


 I like that solution, Ws.  Incidentally, I reacted the same way you did to Wildan's "while I'm at it".

I regretted deleting my post. So for those interested, this is what I had written.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good point, Itisi. My example (to drop a line) wasn't a good one.

And I'm well aware that "To drop by" usually means this :





> *drop by*
> To stop in for a short visit.


  But it is by extension that we say it (at least on this side of the Atlantic) even if we're not actually "_dropping by_" physically.
Which is also the case for the French « _en passant_ », by the way.

This is copied from *this page* of the WR dictionary:


> *Drop by* _vi informal_ (pay a casual visit) = *passer *(chez qqn)



Of course we can say : _Just wanted to say hi/hello_ (_je voulais juste te faire un petit coucou_) but it's missing « _en passant_ ». 


Itisi said:


> *Nico*, sorry, but _<drop by a friend's house_> is not a transitive use; 'house' is not the object of 'dropping by'.


 The example didn't come out of my mind.  I copied it from *this page**.*  Now if we can't trust dictionaries... 

Given her initial attempts, I thought iaorana was looking for a way to translate « en passant ».
Since I didn't like the literal "while passing by / in passing", I tried something else.

Would  "*Just* *popping in to say Hi!*" have been a more suitable possibility ?


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## broglet

Having seen all the ensuing discussion I'm now more convinced than ever that a message simply saying "thinking of you!" should suit iaorana's purpose perfectly.  All this talk of "dropping in/by", "popping in" and "while I'm at it" (at what?) seems quite inappropriate.

Another possibility would be "Hi! " or even just a minimalist " "

None of the words in iaorana's original phrase needs to be translated literally.  It's the usual challenge for translators - what needs translating is the ideas, not the words, and the words can often lead you up the garden path.


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## Carcassonnaise

I agree with broglet (to stick an oar in)!


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## Nicomon

Had iorana wanted to write « _Je pense à toi_ » or _« Salut ! »,_ she wouldn't  have enquired about « _Un petit coucou en passant_ ».

So either we try to translate (and fail at that) or we give a course on how to send the proper sms message,
and remind old translators - as if they didn't know - that a literal translation doesn't always work.  

A real - and totally wrong - literal/word for word translation would have been :  _A little hello in passing_. 
But this is not what I initially suggested.

Note to self :  Nico, don't bother trying to translate French -> English.  Leave that to the anglophones who know better.
And don't trust all of those people (who I assume are not all francophones) who write on Twitter, blogs, forums, etc.  :
_Just dropping by / popping in to say Hi!  _

I move back to my : _Just wanted to say hi/hello_ (_je voulais juste te faire un petit coucou_).
I'm officially off this thread. And this time, I mean it.


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## Carcassonnaise

I think... to stick another oar in... that translation is not about "translating words as they appear on a page", but rather about translating a natural thought in one language into an equivalent (ish) natural thought in another.  So in French you say "un petit coucou en passant" as a casual greeting - but in English we don't say anything like those words to give a casual greeting.  So in fact although iorana didn't want to write "je pense à toi" or "salut!" in French that is what she would actually say in English...

So there you go   But not "donc tu vas là"...


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## Itisi

Wordsmyth said:


> "Just a quick hello".
> That's close to Nico's (now deleted?) _"Just wanted to say hi/hello".
> (Ahem, and to mine at #15)._
> 
> I wouldn't try to translate "en passant" directly. "Just a quick hello in passing" would be possible, but for me it would detract from the greeting, as if it were incidental and I sent it only because I happened to have my phone out for something else. For me, "Just a quick hello" covers both the ideas of "petit" and "en passant" in the original.
> 
> 
> I guess you and I use that phrase differently, wildan. If you sent that to me, I'd wonder "while he's at what?" I might use it in a context such as _"I'm updating my contacts list, and I thought I'd just say hi while I'm at it."_


Yes, to all of that!


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## Carcassonnaise

This comment will probably be deleted by a moderator but... what would the collective noun for translators be?  A quandary, perhaps?  Or a rumination?


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## Itisi

Nicomon said:


> ...those people who write on Twitter, blogs, forums, etc.  :  _Just dropping by / popping in to say Hi!_


I _suppose_ they consider forums, etc, as locations in space; but an sms, a letter, a card cannot be considered locations (well, that's how I see it...).




Itisi said:


> You know the rules, *Carcassonnaise*, you should open a new thread for this question!


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## Wordsmyth

wildan1 said:


> I understood that the original question was just that, Wordsmyth--during a text message exchange (which I assumed was about some topic or piece of business), a greeting was added _"while she's at it."_


 Ah, I see now. I'd assumed "Un petit coucou ..." would be the opening phrase of a message.



Nicomon said:


> The example didn't come out of my mind. I copied it from *this page**.* Now if we can't trust dictionaries...


Well, dictionary writers are only human, and therefore fallible (some more than others). In this case I think the 'transitive' definition must have been added hurriedly, or at least without much thought. But it doesn't really stand up to analysis.



Nicomon said:


> Would "*Just* *popping in to say Hi!*" have been a more suitable possibility ?


I know you said you're off this thread, Nico, but ... I'd have the same problem with "popping in" as with "dropping by" (the physical presence thing). But for people who happily drop by via card, mail or phone, then "popping in" would work just as well. 

Ws


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## Nicomon

@Ws : You know I keep writing that I'm off a thread... and then can't resist the urge to come back.  So, thank you. . 





Carcassonnaise said:


> I think... to stick another oar in... that translation is not about "translating words as they appear on a page", but rather about translating a natural thought in one language into an equivalent (ish) natural thought in another.


 I agree, of course. But I honestly thought from seeing all those greeting cards, and reading them on blogs and forums that expressions such as :
_dropping by/popping in_ _to say Hi !_ were "natural thoughts" as you put it.
That they were sort of "set formulas" as Saints22 wrote (post 11), with or without the physical presence.  Now, I know better.

Hence my writing - although it took me a while, I admit - that I should stick to English -> French (which is 95 % of my translator's job).
And mind my own business if the question is the other way round.

@ itisi : sms, cards and letters aren't locations by themselves, but they are usually sent to a location. Are they not ?
That said, I did write (post 24) that I like Wordsmith's solution of : _Just a quick hello_.  And I agree entirely with this : 





> For me, "Just a quick hello" covers both the ideas of "petit" and "en passant" in the original.


  More so than _Thinking of you_ or a simple _Hi!_ in my opinion.


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