# raser les murs



## missy flam

Hello,
       I'm having some trouble trying to translate the end bit of this phrase.

 Les jeunes filles se sentent prisonnières d'un machisme qui les constraint à raser les murs.


surely it can't mean shave the walls?!?!!?  can it?

Thanks!


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## Petronille

I think in English you don't shave them, but you hug them...  Right?


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## Papymaj

raser les murs = to hug the walls ;-)


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## Tinah

moving stealthily along the wall ?


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## edwingill

to skim the walls?


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## mgarizona

In this context, perhaps "to be wallflowers."


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## Petronille

Basically, raser les murs means to be walking as close as possible to the walls. And by metonymy, it means trying to go unnoticed...


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## jetman

missy flam said:


> Les jeunes filles se sentent prisonnières d'un machisme qui les constraint à raser les murs.



I am reading this differently.

The young girls feel like prisoners of a male chauvenism which forces them to raze the walls.


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## Petronille

Male chauvinism, that is. Chauvinism is completely different.


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## zam

jetman said:


> I am reading this differently.
> 
> The young girls feel like prisoners of a male chauvenism which forces them to raze the walls.


 
“Raze/rase the walls” would mean that these women knock the walls down as they walk about.... I am sure they are very strong (and you would have to be to put up with so much injustice) but that would be quite something!  (but admittedly a good reason for the men to be scared of them… ).

“Raser” has four basic meanings =

1) to shave (tondre/(se) raser)

2) to pull down/raze to the ground (démolir)

3) to bore (ennuyer –colloquial)  –un raseur: a (crashing) bore

4) to graze/scrape/skim/etc. (effleurer)

Obviously, is the latter we need to focus on.

Here the inference is that we have young women who are made to feel subservient and second-class citizens because of this rampant machismo or male chauvinism (more contemporary term but basically the same). 
We can stick to “hug the walls”, as per papymaj; it’s not as popular a phrase as “raser les murs” (far from it) but it would be understood in the context of the french sentence. These women are prisoners of this world that forces them to go unseen and unheard (go “underground” as it were). They have a duty to be totally unobtrusive. 

It is a strongly-worded sentence and we must keep it this way in English. I feel that “hug the walls” does indeed render well the same mixed feeling of shame and fear that “raser les murs” implies; a feeling that these women must experience when they go about their business if we look carefully at the pointers in this short sentence (“prisonnières d’un machisme”, “contraint”). 
So, if the rest of the text allows it of course, I would probably keep the same metaphor in the English translation. 

Below is an example found on google.

*...* or on a village street, where the men stride down the center while the *women* *hug the walls*, unseeing and unseen, is strikingly perceptive. *...*
query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E6DB1238F93BA35756C0A965948260 - 28k - Cached - Similar pages


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## sacchan71

Raser les murs = to keep a low profile !


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## mgarizona

Petronille said:


> Basically, raser les murs means to be walking as close as possible to the walls. And by metonymy, it means trying to go unnoticed...


 
If we accept this explanation of _raser les murs_ then I again suggest using 'wallflower' ... in the example shown perhaps 'forcing them to play the wallflower' or 'forcing them to behave like wallflowers' ... because in English 'to hug the wall' simply does not suggest the meaning offered.

See here for a better explanation of the use of wallflower: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallflower_(people)


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## missy flam

*Merci beaucoup!!! *


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## zam

mgarizona said:


> If we accept this explanation of _raser les murs_ then I again suggest using 'wallflower' ... in the example shown perhaps 'forcing them to play the wallflower' or 'forcing them to behave like wallflowers' ... because in English 'to hug the wall' simply does not suggest the meaning offered.
> 
> See here for a better explanation of the use of wallflower: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallflower_%28people%29


 

I am not with you on this one Mgarizona.

As the Wiki definition suggests, “wallflower” (= faire tapisserie) would be fine in a party-like context or atmosphere, for some sort of social function/get together or the like where the girls in question can’t/won’t dance or socialise.
However, it does not have the connotations that “raser les murs” conveys, these mixed feelings of shame and fear that these women experience daily and that force them to be as invisible as possible (OP= “prisonnières d'un machisme qui les contraint à raser les murs”).
The “wallflower” girls are shy and probably a little gauche but no-one coerces them into taking a back seat and shunning the fun! They would join in if they were not socially inhibited and full of hang-ups (or if men picked them!).

By contrast, the girls who live in the sort of society alluded to in the OP are forced to go about their business in the most unobtrusive ways, unseen and unheard, they cannot exercise a choice. They may well be brimming with confidence and assertiveness, but are reduced to silence by the weight and shackles of their society’s traditions/customs that act as a crushing force.
Petronille’s definition is fine but incomplete, and the missing bit matters a great deal here, as does the context (now, where have I heard that before?!!!). 
It should really be “walking as close as possible to the walls, out of X, Y or Z (reasons)”. Here, it is out of fear/terror/shame/etc.” which obviously gives the phrase a different slant and tenor (undeniably a more focused and powerful one).

The way “raser les murs” is used here corresponds to what I have touched on in this post and the one before: to literally have to “scrape” the walls not to be noticed, out of apprehension/fear, with possibly a tinge of shame (as feelings of humiliation may come into play, as well as disreputability and coercion). That is precisely what is strongly inferred in the OP’s phrase (“prisonnières”, “contraint”).
For those reasons, along with those explained in my previous post, I really think “to hug the walls” is best suited here, even if, contrary to appearances, it is not a perfect fit.

Below are several examples which are very similar to the OP’s:





> *... or on a village street, where the men stride down the center while the women hug the walls, unseeing and unseen, is strikingly perceptive. ...
> query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E6DB1238F93BA35756C0A965948260 - 28k -
> *


*

*


> Forbidden to walk in the streets alone, like shadows *they hug the walls* of sun-dried brick in groups of two or three. Wrapped in the chadri, *...*
> www.unesco.org/courier/1998_10/uk/dici/txt1.htm - 13k -


 


> Shadows of everyday life, *they hug the walls* with their heads bowed. One day they find out traces of a horrible traffic… In this film, Stephen Frears adds a *...*
> www.fifdh.ch/e/programme/Dirty_Pretty_Things_e.html - 11k -


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## fabfab

sacchan71 said:


> Raser les murs = to keep a low profile !





I very much concur!


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## RuK

The French image of skulking as close as possible to the wall when you're walking down the street is a lot more striking than "keep a low profile". Perhaps "to blend into the shadows".


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## janpol

"raser les murs" (pour ne pas se faire remarquer). On pourrait dire également "qui les contraint à se faire toutes petites".


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## wildan1

_keep their heads down_
_try to go unnoticed_
_slink along the walls_ (although that seems too literal to me)


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## xtrasystole

wildan1 said:


> _try to go unnoticed_


I like that one. 


À part ça, le titre du fil de discussion me fait penser à la devinette : 
_- Quel est le comble pour un coiffeur ?
_Réponse : _- C'est de friser le ridicule et de raser les murs_.


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## Piccolo_

Hi there,

[...]

I'd like to know if "hug the walls" can be used in a litteral, non figurative sense.
That is, to describe someone who walks close to the walls, but not necessarily in order to be unnoticed.
In French, I think we could say that someone "rase les murs" without necessarily implying that he does that to be unnoticed...

Thanks for your answer.

Moderator note: Concern about adding to an old thread on a topic of interest deleted--that is exactly the right thing to do, Piccolo_.


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## janpol

être agoraphobe...


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## Piccolo_

Hum, en fait je me demande si on peut utiliser "hug the walls" dans un sens primaire, pour décrire quelqu'un qui marche simplement près des murs, sans pour autant que cela signifie qu'il essaie de se faire tout petit.
Désolé, je suis probablement hors sujet. :/


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## LART01

Hello

to lay low?


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## wistou

sacchan71 said:


> Raser les murs = to keep a low profile !


 

This would definitely be my proposal as well.


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## wildan1

_to lie low _is also a good choice. 

(Please note the common confusion over _to lie_ and _to lay_)


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## Nicomon

Mais personne n'a vraiment répondu à Piccolo, qui a réanimé ce vieux fil.  Et en tant que francophone, je n'ose pas me prononcer. 

Les réponses données à la suite de sa question - confirmation de "keep a low profile" et "lay low" - correspondent au sens
« chercher à se dissimuler/passer inaperçu » de « raser les murs ».

Si c'était ce sens (moins courant, mais aussi possible) : 





> Marcher en se collant aux murs. Un passant qui rase les murs pour ne pas se faire mouiller par la pluie.


  Pourrait-on, ou non, dire en anglais "_hug the walls_" ? Sinon, que dirait-on?


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## pointvirgule

Piccolo_ said:


> Hum, en fait je me demande si on peut utiliser "hug the walls" dans un sens primaire, pour décrire quelqu'un qui marche simplement près des murs, sans pour autant que cela signifie qu'il essaie de se faire tout petit.


Dans cette phrase du _Washington Post_, on a employé l'expression littéralement :


> Sidewalks are mostly nonexistent, so pedestrians hug the walls on either side of the street or duck into the nearest open doorway whenever a crescendoing "braaaapp!" announces the approach of another [Volkswagen Beetle]. (Source)


Bon, c'est vrai que les piétons essaient de se faire tout petits, mais ici ce n'est pas par discrétion ou timidité. :–)


Entendu au Québec : _Il se promène entre le gyproc pis la peinture._


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## Wordsmith 01

I find that I have two ways of looking at the possible context

the subject is taking a defensive stance "like a shadow on the wall" (melding into the fabric to hide themself)

the subject is taking an offensive stance "scratching (like a tiger) at the (vitrtual) wall (which is holding her back)"
Just a thought to ponder!


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## wildan1

Les piétons ne s'accroupissent pas en "hugging the walls" mais ils se collent contre.


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## Nicomon

Merci, pv.


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