# высосать из пальца



## Sniegurochka

Does anybody know an English and/or French idiom with a similar meaning?
I am trying to express the idea: to create a story out of nothing, out of very few facts and very few reasons for writing this story, out of a scarcity of information available.
Thanks!


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## niko

Hello,

In French, you could use "en partant de rien" with "écrire", even though it isn't that pretty. Neutral, at least ! Otherwise, there are plenty of possibilities (improviser une histoire ? sortir une histoire de son chapeau ?.. ) but it actually depends on the tone you want to give to your sentence.
Regarding English, except "from scratch", I have no idea and I'm not even sure it can work in this context.


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## heleona

I think in English you can say 'out of thin air'


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## palomnik

I don't know whether "from scratch" does it quite right, since this phrase in English implies that you did something from the very basics, like "to bake a cake from scratch" means that you didn't use a prepared mix to make it, to build a house "from scratch" means that you did all the work yourself, including the wiring, etc.

There are phrases like "to pull something out of nowhere", "to make up out of thin air", but they are not standard and I'd hesitate to call them common idioms.

If the connotation is negative, there is the phrase "to pull something out of your a**", and this is idiomatic enough, although not for polite company.


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## Q-cumber

As a matter of fact, the expression *высосать из пальца* means "to fabricate"; it is usually used in relation to completely groundless allegations.
*palomnik*
What do you think about "to make something up"?


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## Sniegurochka

"To make something up" really captures it, in my opinion. But for my context "to pull something out of nowhere", "to make up out of thin air" are even more precise, since I meant "blowing up, exagerrating, very few facts and making a story out of them which includes much more events that happened in reality."

Can anybody think of a good French expression for that?


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## palomnik

Q-cumber said:


> As a matter of fact, the expression *высосать из пальца* means "to fabricate"; it is usually used in relation to completely groundless allegations.
> *palomnik*
> What do you think about "to make something up"?


 
I suppose it depends on the context, Q.  "To make something up" is emotionally a pretty neutral expression, just implying the exercise of imagination.


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## niko

Sniegurochka said:


> "To make something up" really captures it, in my opinion. But for my context "to pull something out of nowhere", "to make up out of thin air" are even more precise, since I meant "blowing up, exagerrating, very few facts and making a story out of them which includes much more events that happened in reality."
> 
> Can anybody think of a good French expression for that?



The verb "broder" do carry this meaning and is widely used, but I can't think of an expression. Maybe a periphrasis with "enjoliver", "romancer" or something with "agrémenter" could do... Nothing as is, though. You'd better ask on the French/English forum, maybe some more inspired foreros will find something


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## Sniegurochka

Thanks to all, that really helps!


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## Nanon

Sniegurochka, maybe "raconter des histoires" could work. It is rather idiomatic and it implies that the speaker is affabulating.
However, if you are talking about a _writer _creating a _story_, "raconter des histoires" could be confusing if taken literally.
I was thinking of "construire sur du vent", but it implies criticism. It means that there is absolutely nothing to build on, even scarce. "Créer de toutes pièces" also means "making the whole thing up".
Does any of those help?


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## Sniegurochka

Nanon, thank you soo much for your clear and nuanced explanation!  I think, "raconter des histoires" works best for my context, because I speaking about a writer who does have some "buiding blocks", some skeleton of real happenings, though scarce. Yet, he is adding flesh to the skeleton presenting a story much richer in events and intensity than what happened in reality. You could say, he adds details and changes emphases for his own purposes. I am not endorsing this as creativity, but rather speak of this critically.


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## Nanon

Then maybe you could also use "il brode" as suggested by Niko, or "il en rajoute".
Bon courage !


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## Sniegurochka

ça marche, merci mille fois !


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## elephas

English: *out of the blue*


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## Sniegurochka

Thanks, Elephas! That's a good one!


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## Q-cumber

Nanon said:


> I was thinking of "construire sur du vent", but it implies criticism.


As a matter of fact, the original Russian idiom also implies some criticism and, perhars, an irritation.


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## Nanon

Q-cumber said:


> As a matter of fact, the original Russian idiom also implies some criticism and, perhars, an irritation.



So do all the variants I suggested, but how much criticism is implied may vary, as well as the veracity of the building material...


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## Sniegurochka

Thank you greatly, I've learned so much about all the three languages, including my own! If I were to pick just one, that captures most of the Russian idiom, I'd say, "construire sur le vent." But, really, a choice should be made in every particular case, depending on a broader context, since so many nuances can be read into the idiom. Hence, thank you so much for offering me such a variety of nuanced options!


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