# pull off (succeed)



## regal

Hello!
What does "She is trying to pull off Madonna" mean? That she is trying to look like her? That she would like to replace her? Something else?
Thanks in advance and have a nice week!

*Moderator note: *multiple threads merged to create this one.  For other usages and meanings, please see:
pull off (a look)
pull off (the road)
pull off (remove)


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## Idiha

Hi 
"She is trying to pull off *a* Madonna", she is trying to imitate Madonna


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## regal

You could say "Elle se la joue à la Madonna" or "Elle se prend pour Madonna".
Bon week-end !


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## weirdrubik

bonjour à tous !

quelqu'un pourrait-il me dire ce que signifie l'expression "pull it off" ?

contexte :

"Just when you thought you had the whole thing figured out, there's a plot twist. Good screenwriters or directors can pull it off."

merci !


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## Trisia

to pull it off = réussir à faire quelque chose (parfois illegale; ou embêtante )


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## ottawaguy

I would say 
can pull it off in this contexte could be ... 'peuvent réussir à le faire'


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## Christen

"Pull it off", c'est un peu comme 'arriver a faire... quelque-chose'... mais il y a peut-etre une meilleure facon de le traduire.

Par contre, "put it off", comme dans le titre du thread, ce n'est pas du tout pareil...


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## Rafinio

Hi !

I've heard in "Friends", Joey telling to Chandler that "he wasn't cool enough to pull off the name Clint"... I don't know if i've heard the right word. Can we use pull off to say "porter un nom" in French?


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## maarri

Yes, you did hear the right phrase.  To _pull off _doesn't mean _porter un nom_, however.  _To pull something off _means to succeed in doing something, and is colloquial.

So what Joey meant was that he wasn't "cool enough to succeed in having the name Clint".  

M


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## corvallis08

how to translate this sentence, I having some trouble! thanks

At least, it gave it to her something to do besides toss and turn, wondering how she's going to *pull this job off*.

Au moins, ca lui donna quelquechose à faire hormis se trourner les pouces, se demandant comment elle va *reussir ce travail.
*
Je pense que c'est plus ou moins correcte, n'hesitez pas à me corriger, thanks


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## ced0802

Hello , here is the context..A guy says a liar , and the girl says :

Oh stop , you can't pull it off.

Thank you for your help


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## Isabelle1650

Hi,

[...]

to answer your question, you could say "comment elle allait venir à bout de cette mission"


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## ced0802

hi , 
What does ''pull off'' mean in that context please:

Druma pulls off record attempt.

Thank you


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## Chris' Spokesperson

ced0802 said:


> hi ,
> What does ''pull off'' mean in that context please:
> 
> Druma pulls off record attempt.
> 
> Thank you


 
réussir


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## ced0802

Hi , 

I'd like to know how do we use ''Pull off''  in the meaning of succeed something.
For instance , is that correct to say :

Did you pull off your interview?
Did you pull off to run in spite of your sprain.?


Thank you in advance


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## pieanne

I don't think "pull off *to do something"* is correct...


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## Squiggle

You are correct Pieanne, it is not!

You usually _pull off_ something when you successfully do something that would be beyond your normal capabilities or it is a questioning of convincing someone that something false is true. So Joey would have to be very cool to assume the name Clint (which is only cool when refering to Eastwood). 
In an interview for a job for which you have neither the qualifications or the experience, you can talk about _pulling it off_ if you actually get the job.
These are just a couple of examples, there are many more out there I am sure!
Is there a French equivalent?


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## Keith Bradford

No, I think "to pull something off" usually means to succeed in a risky/dishonest venture.  I think it's always followed by a direct noun/pronoun object.

_*The bank thieves managed to pull off a major robbery.*_
_*He tried to lie about crashing the car, but he couldn't pull it off - he blushes too easily.*_
*It's been a hard struggle, but I finally pulled off the Saudi deal.*


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## mec_américain

A common phrase: "He pulled it off," or "He managed to pull it off."  In other words, it was a difficult task but he succeeded.

I've never heard "He pulled off to run" in this sense.  It's possible to say "He pulled [the car] off [the road] to run," but in the latter, it's a different sense of "pull off," meaning "exit."  Maybe something like, "Although he had a sprained ankle, he pulled off the race with a competitive time."

On the subject "Did you pull off your interview?" that sounds a bit awkward.  It seems to me that interview isn't quite le mot juste, because you only perform half of an interview.  People would understand what you meant.  "Did you pull off a great performance at your interview?" or something along those lines is more accurate.  I don't like "performance" in that sentence because that makes it sound like it's an act, but it's closer.  But you wouldn't use it if the person had a good chance at the job...pulling something off implies that the odds were against you and through a supreme performance, you succeeded.


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## Squiggle

I stand by my interview!!
"How did the interview go?"
"Great, I pulled it off and they gave me the job."

This doesn't contradict what you're saying Keith. There is still a sense of being slightly dishonest in managing to convince someone you can do something that you are not qualified for.
But I disagree that dishonesty is a requisite. You also talk about someone "pulling off" an outfit. It just means they are managing to wear something that most people would look awful in.


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## ced0802

I'm really grateful to you guys , but it's still quite hard to understand 
If a french person have an equivalent ?

Thank you


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## mec_américain

Squiggle said:


> I stand by my interview!!
> "How did the interview go?"
> "Great, I pulled it off and they gave me the job."
> 
> This doesn't contradict what you're saying Keith. There is still a sense of being slightly dishonest in managing to convince someone you can do something that you are not qualified for.
> But I disagree that dishonesty is a requisite. You also talk about someone "pulling off" an outfit. It just means they are managing to wear something that most people would look awful in.



I still think you pull off your half of the interview. You can't pull off what you don't control, which would be the questions the interviewer asks and so on.  But it's a nitpicky distinction.

I wouldn't say dishonesty was a requisite but rather, a possibility that people may read between the lines.  It's also possible that the person merely spoke with great polish, presented his accomplishments appropriately, and so on.  Without being strictly dishonest, it's also possible to be manipulative, redirecting the conversation to an area where the applicant shines for instance.


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## vaniochka

Hey,

So a guy commented a photo in which a friend of mine has got weird eyes, and he said " he looks like he is trying to pull off blue steel", what does that mean ?

Thanks !!


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## zobrappa

This is a reference to the American movie _Zoolander_. In the film, Ben Stiller plays a dimwitted model named Derek Zoolander. Blue steel is Derek Zoolander's best pose. Very funny movie.


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## SteveD

vaniochka said:


> Hey,
> 
> So a guy commented a photo in which a friend of mine has got weird eyes, and he said " he looks like he is trying to pull off blue steel", what does that mean ?
> 
> Thanks !!


 
"To pull off" in this context means to manage to do something or to get away with something.  For example:

Before I saw the play, I didn't think that this actor would be able to pull off the role of Hamlet, but he played it brilliantly.


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## vaniochka

Thanks a lot !


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## Inigrive

Bonjour,

Un fonctionnaire dit à un couple qui vient de divorcer à peine marié qu'heureusement qu'ils n'ont pas consommé leur union... Or I'd never be able to pull off an annulment. 
Il n'aurait pas pu obtenir (procéder à) l'annulation?
Merci


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## franc 91

réussir à obtenir


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## hirondelled'hiver

Une mère  vient de perdre la garde de sa fille au profit du père qui est homo. 
Un collègue de boulot commente le truc en disant: 
- that's tought to pull off. 

Pull off what? 
je ne comprends pas le sens de "pull off", dans ce contexte.


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## pointvirgule

_To pull off stg._ signifie réussir quelque chose de difficile.

À mon avis, le sens est ironique :_ faut le faire_. 
Car _ce n'est pas un mince exploit_ que de perdre la garde de son enfant au profit d'un homme homosexuel, vu les préjugés.


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## hirondelled'hiver

Merci point virgule, très judicieuse proposition aussi


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## bcha

Bonjour
j'ai du mal à traduire cette phrase lors de la traduction d'un article sur les fraudes comptables:
"To pull off a fraud that humiliates the cream of the global financial elite, you need to have some friends. 
Ma tentative:
"Pour réussir à effectuer une fraude humiliant la crème de l’élite financière mondiale, il est important de pouvoir compter sur ses amis."
Any other suggestions?


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## doodlebugger

_Pour monter une fraude_...


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## Jasmine tea

"Manigancer"


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## Itisi

to pull off = mener à bien, avec l'idée que c'était difficile ou risqué.  Donc votre tentative est bonne.


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## Nicomon

[...]

Le contexte *est ici*. À mon avis, cette suggestion conviendrait mieux pour le "_exposed_" du deuxième paragraphe. 



Itisi said:


> mener à bien, avec l'idée que c'était difficile ou risqué. Donc votre tentative est bonne.


 L'idée y est, sauf que... ne trouvez-vous pas un peu curieux de dire « _mener une fraude à bien_ »?  

Suggestion de variante : « _arriver à commettre une fraude_ ». 

Je pense comme Itisi que ta tentative initiale est bonne, mais je ne dirais pas « _effectuer_ _une fraude_ ». 
Je préfère (simplement)... « _réussir à_ _faire_ »... ou_ « réussir »_, tout court, comme multua gentes le suggère plus bas. 
 Et je dirais _qui humilie (_plutôt que le participe présent)... question de préférence personnelle. 

*Edit :* en passant, bienvenue sur le forum, bcha.


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## bcha

Thank you so much for your help.
So if I take all your comments into account, this is my try:

"Pour réussir (ou: commettre?) une fraude humiliant (ou: qui humilie) la crème de l'élite financière mondiale, il vous faut des amis."

does it sound better with réussir or commettre?
 
Thank you again for helping me


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## Nicomon

J'ai en fait suggéré « _commettre _» pour remplacer « _effectuer_ », qui ne convenait pas à mon avis. Et _qui humilie_... simplement parce que je suis allergique au participe présent. Tu peux peut-être aussi parler _d'une fraude humiliante pour_ xyz. 

_"To pull off_ "= _réussir/réaliser/mener à exécution _est un peu l'équivalent de "_to manage to do"/__"__succeed in_ _doing_"... d'où ma suggestion de la variante « _arriver à_ _+ verbe _».

Je dirais donc ou bien «_ réussir _», tout court, ou bien « _arriver à commettre _». Mais au bout du compte, c'est vraiment une question de préférence personnelle. 

On peut penser à diverses autres tournures... mais ce forum ne permet pas de relecture complète.


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## doodlebugger

Given the tone of the paper, and to come back to my original suggestion, I would say:
_Pour monter une arnaque qui humilie..._


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## Itisi

Pour monter une arnaque qui arrive à humilier...?


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## Jasmine tea

Autre suggestion :

"Il faut des amis bien placés pour concocter une opération frauduleuse à même de (susceptible d') humilier/révéler les dessous de....


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## Nicomon

N'y a-t-il pas une différence entre une arnaque (rip off, swindle, racket, scam... selon le contexte) et une fraude (fraud)? 

Il est question ici de fraudes comptables/bancaires. Peut-on dire arnaque, dans ce sens? Il me semble que non, mais il se peut que je me trompe. 

Article source du New York Times et 

Article connexe en français, dont je mets un extrait ci-dessous (c'est moi qui souligne). 





> Une série récente de *fraudes comptables* dans des entreprises chinoises préoccupe les plus grands cabinets d’audit internationaux KPMG, Ernst and Young, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu et Price Waterhouse Coopers, *qui craignent de ce fait une atteinte à leur réputation.*


 Edit : Je continue de penser que "to pull off" = réussir / arriver à xyz. Comme dans "pull of a coup" = réussir un bon coup. Extrait de Larousse : 





> *pull off*
> 2.
> (informal) [accomplish - deal, stratagem, mission, shot] réussir
> [ - press conference, negotiations] mener à bien
> [ - plan] réaliser
> will she (manage to) pull it off? est-ce qu’elle va y arriver ?


 Quelqu'un peut « monter/concocter une opération frauduleuse » / sans réussir son coup, non?

Je passe à un autre fil. Je crois.


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