# bon public



## coquelicot1966

what does it mean "une personne bon public" ?


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## suffert

a person that is always keen to hear what she is told, who always laugh when one tells a joke (even if it is not very funny)


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## coquelicot1966

thank you ! is it currently used ? (par curiosite )


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## weird me

yes! quite often! it is the same when you watch a lot of movies and like them all, it means you are bon public!


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## braz

Hi there!

What would be the equivalent in English?

Thanks!
braz


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## sankara

braz said:


> Hi there!
> 
> What would be the equivalent in English?
> 
> Thanks!
> braz


yes, i'd like to know the equivalent in english too.

thanks in advance.


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## xiancee

this kind of person is "easygoing"!


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## mellow-yellow

Harraps: être bon public - to be easy to please


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## joval

On dit aussi:
facile à contenter, pas difficile, mais dans un sens plus général.


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## sankara

joval said:


> On dit aussi:
> facile à contenter, pas difficile, mais dans un sens plus général.


on peut également dire, en s'adressant à la personne: "il t'en faut peu..."


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## xiancee

I think we're looking for an equivalent in English here ... ain't we?


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## Guill

Bonjour,

Je me permets de remonter ce post, la traduction n'étant pas claire à mes yeux. Peut-on traduire "bon public" par "easygoing" ou y a-t-il une meilleure traduction ?

Cette personne est bon public = Elle rit à toutes les blagues, même celles qui ne sont pas drôles, et, plus généralement, montre les émotions voulues lorsque quelqu'un raconte une histoire, même s'il n'y a pas réellement lieu d'être.
This person is easygoing ?


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## quillerbee

More than just easygoing.

"She is a good audience."


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## Guill

By-the-word translation then, easier to remember  Thank you for this precision


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## JeanDeSponde

_He is easily pleased_ would accurately translate _il est bon public_.


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## Guill

Dans la notion de "bon public" en français (à mon sens), il y a aussi l'idée que ça fait plaisir au narrateur qui, même si l'histoire qu'il raconte n'est pas spécialement marrante ou horrifiante, ou quelque autre émotion, la personne "bon public" réagira tandis que d'autres non... Je me trompe ?


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## JeanDeSponde

Guill said:


> Dans la notion de "bon public" en français (à mon sens), il y a aussi l'idée que ça fait plaisir au narrateur [...] Je me trompe ?


Ben - _être bon public_ renvoie quand même à l'auditeur / spectateur, non pas au narrateur ?...
Si je dis _moi, pour les vannes sur les belges je suis bon public_, aucun narrateur n'est concerné...?


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## Guill

Aucun narrateur désigné n'est concerné, mais il y a quand même une relation entre vous et le narrateur (ou la blague), non ? Je veux dire, puisse le narrateur raconter aussi bien que possible la blague, si elle n'est pas drôle, et que vous riez quand même, vous êtes bon public, sans pour autant trouver la blague marrante (et donc, "be pleased"). Enfin peut-être que j'utilise à mauvais essien cette expression


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## LART01

I am easily entertained by all these translations!


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## mellow-yellow

Oxford-Hachette French-English unabridged: 
   être bon public = to be easily pleased; être mauvais public = to be hard to please;

HarrapsPro:
  être bon public = to be easy to please


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## Guill

mellow-yellow said:


> Oxford-Hachette French-English unabridged:
> être bon public = to be easily pleased; être mauvais public = to be hard to please;
> 
> HarrapsPro:
> être bon public = to be easy to please



My mistake then, I seem to unfortunately misuse the expression in French


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## Cybèle

Hello! If a friend ask me for a critique of something she wrote (in the hope it will help her make it better) and I tell her I'm not sure I can help because I'm so "bon public" I'm not likely to notice anything wrong except for typos or grammar mistakes, can I use "easily pleased" or is there a better way to word the sentence?

Also, I wanted to say that I've never heard "bon public" used in other contexts than about people who rarely dislike a book or a movie because they're so caught in the story they just don't see the flaws if no one else points them out, but I guess it could be used for someone who laughs at every joke too. I wouldn't use it about a person who only pretends to like something, though.


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## mellow-yellow

Corinne Maier, Tchao La France: 
Certes le Français est imaginatif, il s'émerveille facilement devant ses propres idées et celles des autres. *Il est bon public, quoi.*

Maybe:
He's not one to rock the boat. 
He's fine with whatever.
He goes along for the ride.


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## mellow-yellow

Also, 

he doesn't want to make waves.
he's going along with the crowd.


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## franc 91

He's/she's always ready to laugh at a joke (suggestion)
Every time you tell a joke, he/she falls for it, every time.


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## LivingTree

Performers generally talk about a "good crowd" to refer to an appreciative audience.

Is that not what the expression _bon public_ is getting at as well?


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## franc 91

I imagine that was the original meaning, but it has since become a cliché to describe someone who is easily amused.


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## LivingTree

"Easily amused" is exactly what I would have said! The various answers here just seemed to stray further and further from that simple notion.


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## pcgoodie

Sorry to reignite this one, but I have to ask: i bon public a complimentary or critical term? The translation would be very different depending on the answer to this question. In English, a term like "easily pleased" is a criticism of a character, whereas a term like "affable" might be a more positive version. Interested in usage of "Bon public" (and a little worried as I was described as Bon public and am unsure if I was being criticised!!


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## franc 91

It's usually meant in a positive sense - about someone who is always ready to laugh at a joke, if you say it about yourself, you could be mocking yourself as someone who is vaguely naïve - it's as if you're including yourself in the joke.


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## Michelvar

Hi, and welcome, pcgoodie.

franc91 is right, but it can also be used to say (in a polite way) that you don't have a good judgment about what the others are doing.


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## lorenzogranada

I first heard this expression when I was complaining to a French friend, after seeing what I thought was a shoddy theatrical performance of a Sacha Guitry play in Paris, that the audience stood up to clap ecstatically to make the cast return again and again to take deeper and deeper bows. "Ah oui", he laughed knowingly, "les français sont bon public!". He clearly meant more than just "responsive audience", but rather naive and easily carried away, like children. At that time I had never thought of the sophisticated, skeptical French as being naive and childlike, but I have since seen that he was right - they can suddenly drop their high standards to praise the most perfect rubbish, especially if it comes from abroad. As long as they feel that the actor or singer on the stage is "one of them" either socially or politically or even philosophically they will forgive the worst failings professionally. 
There is also the unique phenomenon of French unswerving fidelity to their entertainers and pop heroes right up until they breathe their last - in other countries stars are born and fade from one year, even one season to the other without a thought, except for purposes of nostalgia-mongering. But the French go on applauding, and paying for, singers who have lost their voices, swains who have gone to fat, femmes fatales who remind you of Sunset Boulevard, just as they did when they were young - "au temps de leurs vingt ans...".


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