# le nerf de la guerre



## Kelly B

Bonjour, 

I understand that this literally means "the nerve of war," and that according to the proverb and TILFi, it is money, ; but money doesn't work here, and "the nerve of war" sounds really odd in American English:

*rapidité est le nerf de la guerre face a une concurrence de plus en plus agressive

*Any suggestions for the English? or descriptions of the meaning in French? Does "the essential element" convey the proper meaning, although with less flair?

Merci!
**


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## edwingill

sinews of war


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## Aupick

Would it be too much of a cop-out just to say "the key": "Speed is the key..."?


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## CARNESECCHI

Hello,
I think you're right Aupick, because "nerf de la guerre" is always "money". So, in this case I agree that "key" or something like "weapon" is more suitable.
Enjoy !


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## timpeac

CARNESECCHI said:
			
		

> Hello,
> I think you're right Aupick, because "nerf de la guerre" is always "money". So, in this case I agree that "key" or something like "weapon" is more suitable.
> Enjoy !


 
I don't understand this - if "nerf de la guerre" is always "money" how can "key" or "weapon" be a more suitable translation than "money"?


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## Aupick

I suppose if money _has_ to be in there, you could say, "Time is money when the competition gets aggressive", or some such thing.


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## Agnès E.

Tim, on utilise normalement l'expression _nerf de la guerre_ comme synonyme du mot _argent_, en raison d'une citation célèbre : *l'argent est le nerf de la guerre* (c'est-à-dire ce qui permet de continuer à faire la guerre, un élément crucial sans lequel aucune guerre ne saurait exister). 

Ici, l'idée d'argent disparaît au profit de la signification première de l'expression. D'où l'excellente suggestion d'Aupick. Mais celle de Kelly était également très bien !


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## timpeac

Oui - merci Agnès - il s'ensuit donc que "le nerf de la guerre" n'est pas toujours l'argent alors ? Ah, oui, je vois, c'est justement parce que _d'habitude_ l'argent est le nerf que la phrase de départ a sa force.


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## bernik

"sinews of war"

"Nerf" now means "nerve", but it used to mean "sinew".
So, in "nerf de la guerre", I suppose it is a figurative sense of sinew.

Anyway, we don't really need to know if it is a nerve or a sinew (both a little strange) as long as we can guess the global sense: money (or speed, or whatever) is what counts in a war (or any other enterprise).

My french dictionary says the figurative sense of nerf (sinew, ligament) is: vigueur, ressort.
And we still say: avoir du nerf, manquer de nerf.


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## syskoll

The quote comes from "Le Bal", a play by Jean-François Regnard, an obscure 17th century French playwright. The full quote is a sentence about money: "C'est le nerf de la guere ainsi que des amours". The French don't seem to remember the second part, yet many a young broke guy wondered why his girlfriend/wife left... 

Here, the author of the original sentence does not seem to have a clue about the meaning of the words he uses. We're then forced to read between his mixed metaphores, and I confirm that he seems to think that "nerf de la guerre" is a sort of synonym for "most important" or, as suggested above, "key".

So two conclusions:
1. Like Aupick, I'd translate "Speed is key against an increasingly aggressive competition".
2. I'd blacklist this French author who doesn't know his metaphors (from what publication is this horrible phrase quoted by the way?)



			
				timpeac said:
			
		

> Oui - merci Agnès - il s'ensuit donc que "le nerf de la guerre" n'est pas toujours l'argent alors ? Ah, oui, je vois, c'est justement parce que _d'habitude_ l'argent est le nerf que la phrase de départ a sa force.



"Le nerf de la guerre" est toujours l'argent. L'auteur a écrit une phrase maladroite, pas "forte". Les Français cultivés sont particulièrement impitoyables pour les gens qui utilisent les métaphores de travers. Il y a des personnages de comédie qui font rire en multipliant les phrase de ce genre, et je ne recommande pas de s'en inspirer...


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## hald

A mon sens l'auteur de la phrase d'origine détourne sciemment l'expression, je n'ai pas l'impression qu'il s'agisse d'une maladresse, mais bien d'une volonté de souligner ici l'importance de la rapidité.
D'autres ont déjà joué sur cette expression :


			
				Théophile Gautier said:
			
		

> L'argent est le nerf de la guerre, de l'amour et du théâtre.


Aupick, tu as écrit "Would it be too much of a cop-out", que signifie "cop-out" ici ?

Edit : Création d'un nouveau fil pour ma question.
Re-edit : pas assez rapide 
Merci Aupick


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## Aupick

"Cop out" veut dire esquiver le problème plutôt que de l'affronter. Selon mon dico, "a cop-out" est donc une dérobade, un défilage. 

J'ai dit ça parce que je n'ai essayé de garder ni l'argent, ni le nerf, ni la guerre. (Mais quel lâche !  )


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## CARNESECCHI

Hello,
Désolé, j'ai raté toute l'histoire ! Dans mon idée, soit l'auteur a fait une petite erreur dans le choix de son expression (pas d'offense, pas de moquerie!) , soit il voulait dire que, dans le contexte de concurrence où "ils" se trouvent, ce n'est pas l'argent qui est décisif (sous entendu, il ne manque pas !) mais la rapidité ! Si je me permets d'intervenir après tous ces échanges, c'est parce que ce genre de discours est souvent tenu dans le groupe (grand et international) où je travaille; je cite texto : "Ce n'est pas l'argent qui fera la différence, c'est votre rapidité à fournir à votre client le produit dont il a besoin, au moment où il en a besoin"
Après ça, "y a pus qu'à bosser!"


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## Kelly B

Merci à tous! le provenance de la phrase, vos idées, vos commentaires, je les apprecie beaucoup. En fin du compte, je reviens à key ou un tel expression car je pense qu'il garde l'avis de l'auteur, même sinon son facon de s'exprimer, surtout lorsque vous le trouvez maladroit et comme "sinews of war" ne me dit rien en tant qu'expression.


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## cheshirechat

Just a question: could one use the word currency instead of money for "le nerf"?


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## CARNESECCHI

Hello,
No, no! "Currency" is "money" and "nerf" is "nerve". "nerf de la guerre" is a specific expression for "money".
How supprising! I never realized that we had, at the beginning, mixed "nerf" and "money" so intricately that the question could rise! Good lesson for me, I will try to be more cautious when it's so obvious to me!!
Trying to help!!


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## \\\///

Speed is of the essence when facing increasingly aggressive competition


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## Sirène

> "sinews of war" ne me dit rien en tant qu'expression.


Both _money is the sinew of war_ and _l'argent est le nerf de la guerre_ are translations of a latin proverb, n_ervi belli pecunia_.
_L'argent est le nerf de la guerre_ is not a _very _common expression in French either. So if you want to keep the same level of language you have to keep the reference to the original saying. JMO.


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## hald

Aaaah merci Sirène, ça me titillait depuis que j'avais lu le sujet : il me semblait bien que l'origine du proverbe était à Rome !


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## Kelly B

Sirène said:
			
		

> Both _money is the sinew of war_ and _l'argent est le nerf de la guerre_ are translations of a latin proverb, n_ervi belli pecunia_.
> _L'argent est le nerf de la guerre_ is not a _very _common expression in French either. So if you want to keep the same level of language you have to keep the reference to the original saying. JMO.


 Argh. In a general sense I agree. Key might be a cop-out after all
Maybe something like "speed is the root of all...?" ce qui rappelle "money is the root of all..." aux oreilles anglophones. Ou bien "time/speed is money" d'Aupick. Je devrais y réfléchir encore.


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## Sirène

Kelly B said:
			
		

> Argh. In a general sense I agree. Key might be a cop-out after all
> Maybe something like "speed is the root of all...?" ce qui rappelle "money is the root of all..." aux oreilles anglophones. Ou bien "time/speed is money" d'Aupick. Je devrais y réfléchir encore.


I think you're right, the main point imo being that the chosen expression should remind the reader of any expression he already knows, and that involves money.


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## timpeac

It's speed that makes the world go round when that world is engaged in an ever more bitter struggle.

A bit far from the original...


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## GentillyJoe

Please don't use "key" as an adjective!


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## arte501

Kelly B said:


> *rapidité est le nerf de la guerre face a une concurrence de plus en plus agressive*


I think it's as simple as that The Essential element. Thank you for that


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## syskoll

arte501 said:


> I think it's as simple as that The Essential element. Thank you for that



No, use the equivalent English proverb: *Money is the sinews of war*.


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## orlando09

Just thought I'd comment on here, in my opinion, l'argent est le nerf de la guerre is a better-known expression in French than the proposed equivalent in English. I'm native English speaking but have come across the French expression before but not the English one. As for the original post, I like the suggestion of 'speed is of the essence', which captures the meaning, whereas 'speed is the sinews of war' would confuse quite a lot of English-speaking readers, or at least sound very literary. I also think the original expression is deliberate, and is just a twist on the expression, because the writer knows the meaning relates to 'vital thing that helps you succeed in a war' (or other undertaking). But for it to work in English the reader would have to recognise the original expression, and I don't think that's as likely as it is in French.


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## Kelly B

Thanks!  Rereading all this, I wish I'd thought of something like _speed is the essential weapon _at the time. Esprit d'escalier is sometimes very slow indeed....

(I wonder what inspired you to find and open the thread?)


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## ain'ttranslationfun?

Hi, Kelly, Isn't "speed" "_vitesse_", and "_rapidité_" maybe more like "quickness" [of reaction]? "_concurrence_" makes me wonder whether the original context mightn't have been commerce, not war. Although "of the essence" sounds good, I'm not sure it means "essential/indispensible"; maybe "paramount"?


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## c_zenii

Hi Kelly B,

just a personal comment even if "après la guerre" ...
In my opinion, "nerf de la guerre" has definitely earned its own literal signification. 
It's (over)used in the news whenever there is a large issue that needs to be addressed. The "nerf de la guerre" is therefore the major axis of development that will lead you to victory.


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## AmaryllisBunny

I think something more colloquial nowadays would be, "Time is of the essence." In this case, "time" means "how quickly/soon (speed)." For patients suffering a stroke, time is of the essence (getting help as soon as possible is essential).

"Time is of the essence … more and more cut-throat."

I guess "hostile/fierce" could work as well.


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## wendyredredrobin

Well, I am wrestling with this phrase in a financial sense here "La trésorerie c'est vraiment le nerf de la guerre pour les PME.” and the “make or break” springs to mind.


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## Locape

Could you just say 'is really essential/crucial?


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## bni.b

I've seen it translated to, "the lifeblood" and think this is a great take on it!


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## Locape

Welcome to the WR forums, @bni.b! 
I think 'lifeblood' works very well.


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