# Faits divers



## galoolg

Does anyone know a proper translation for "Faits Divers" ?

I have "News in brief" or "News Items" as a translation in my dictionnary, but none of them sound as "bloody news" or "weird news " as it does in French...

Thanks


----------



## PhilFrEn

Bonjour,

dans le monde de la télé, je crois que "_spot news_" est utilisé. Pour un journal, ca serait bien "_news items_" à mon avis.


----------



## Teafrog

Yup, "news items" is good. Also "news in brief" (or "news briefs"), "news round-up". The BBC (TV, as opposed to radio) gives the main news, then follows with the 'lesser' news by announcing "… and now, for the other news"


----------



## liulia

"Other news in brief" is commonly used. 
But "faits divers" implies that the news is about criminal activities of various sorts. As galoolg mentioned, it is "bloody news"!


----------



## Teafrog

The way I understand it, "faits divers" isn't about criminal activities, it is "general" or "other, less important" news, such as "la rubrique des chiens écrasés"
"Bloody news" is, IMO, completely off the mark and wrong.
"Other news (in brief or otherwise) is my vote. How do people in the USA and Oz/NZ say this?


----------



## galoolg

Thanks All!

I've actually choose News Items, and have introduced it as"unsettling news items"

How about that?


----------



## liulia

"Bloody" may not be the best translation, however here is how *Le Petit Robert *defines "faits divers":

*"Les évènements du jour ayant trait aux accidents, délits, crimes sans lien entre eux..." *
And the example it gives is the following: _" tous ces horribles faits divers: enfants martyrs, enfants noyés par leur propre mère"._

Is this bloody enough?


----------



## galoolg

it is indeed!


----------



## Sepia

liulia said:


> Is this bloody enough?


I think it is bloody enough, but imagine you're working at a newspaper and you want to say "J'ai encore un article de 7 lignes pour les chiens ecrasés/fait divers", that would be too long. Nobody has a long time to talk when editing a newspaper and deadline is getting close.

There must be some nice short word for it - as a former and still occasional newspaper man I'd like to know too.

Does anybody know somebody from a newspaper?


----------



## hconreaux

And what do you think of "miscellaneous news"?


----------



## Teafrog

liulia said:


> "Bloody" may not be the best translation, however here is how *Le Petit Robert *defines "faits divers":
> 
> *"Les évènements du jour ayant trait aux accidents, délits, crimes sans lien entre eux..." *
> And the example it gives is the following: _" tous ces horribles faits divers: enfants martyrs, enfants noyés par leur propre mère"._
> 
> Is this bloody enough?



I think "Robert" is bloody wrong, IMO, and should grow up  . If you use that expression, in the UK, it is considered a rather impolite "adjective". Do you think the "faits divers" in France are "bloody" or "weird" news?
I noticed, in your example 





> " tous ces horribles faits divers: enfants martyrs…


 that "horribles" is the adjective of "faits divers" > would you translate that as "horrible bloody news" in, say, a newspaper. I have my doubts…


----------



## liulia

Sepia, I would simply say "Other news" as in "In other news, today, a dog was bitten by a rabid journalist ...etc. etc. etc."

The "_horrible_" is not my invention - it is part of a quote from Simone de Beauvoir used by Robert to illustrate the use of this expression.


----------



## Sepia

hconreaux said:


> And what do you think of "miscellaneous news" !!!!!!


If that's all they have, I can live with that.

I had hoped for something more ... whatever.


----------



## royalaxaton

"Nouvelles en trois lignes" is a book recently published in English by the noted early 20th century art critic/anarchist Felix Feneon. Feneon compiled faits divers for le Matin in 1906. He imbued this traditional form with an ironic and poetic wit, distilling dramatic narrative into three lines.

In his introduction to the book that he translated, Luc Sante translates "faits divers" into English as "sundry events," and states that a figuative translation is all but impossible.

In an article published in the London Review of Books, author Julian Barnes notes that "faits divers" remain a common fixture in news around the world, but America seems to have forgotten the form. I would disagree with Mr. Barnes. Many weekly local papers, particularly in small-town America, compile and publish the weeks' law-enforcement records. There is also the "News of the Weird."

I could go into greater detail, but I suspect I'm writing this for my eyes only.


----------



## Xavier11222

And I just read a great subtitle translation for "et on va le retrouver un jour dans les faits divers": _and he'll end up being a statistic_. 

I think it carries in AE the part of "faits divers" that _news_ don't really cover - the fact that it all gets lost in a sea of routine miscelania. 

Also, _local cable tv news headline_ in all its sensationalist vacuity is _faits divers_.


----------



## wijmlet

Police Blotter?


----------



## Frenglish teacher

"In brief", it is true that in France it suggests something odd, on yahoo news page they have a section called "oddly enough"!!


----------



## chumbawumba1604

Bonjour à tous,

I am translating a passage from a publication about youth gangs in France. The following sentence has come up when talking about the media coverage of clashes between various gangs.

"Comme souvent pour les faits divers, la source policière est incontournable."

I am having trouble conveying the meaning of faits divers here. The version closest at the moment is as follows:

"As is often the case for trivial news, a source from within the police is essential."

The problem lies in the fact that I am not sure gang warfare really is 'trivial' news and whether 'short news items' would be more accurate. The problem with the latter is that it is quite long winded and I'm not sure it sounds appropriate.

Help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance


----------



## Momerath

A common term is "public interest stories"


----------



## trickshot251

My suggestion would be "non-headline news" or "non front-page news"


----------



## Keith Bradford

Surely, given the context, it's _*crime stories*_.


----------



## Gorthaur36

"Faits divers" are minor news stories (a baker has been murdered in a little town, a cat is missing somewhere, a new library has been built in a city, etc...). No real big consequences for most of the readers then. 
I've once seen "human interest stories" as a translation.


----------



## LART01

This is tricky. As "fait divers" as nothing to do with "miscellaneous". it is about "news" and "society" everyone could be concerned..that's the spirit


----------



## Gorthaur36

I was just saying that "faits divers" is a "fourre-tout" in French...


----------



## wijmlet

Perhaps "police blotter" ?


----------



## Debnc

After reading many posts, as I was asked this question from one of my French students last night...
When we talk about "Faits divers" in French, it does _*usually *_refer to non-headline crime stories.  But I wouldn't put the word "non-headline" into the translation, as sometimes the crime warrants main headline news    Sometimes it refers to human interest stories, which are more like brief, sideline news.

So the translation should be different according to the context.
For me, the best ones to depict (non-headline) crime news are:  *crime news / crime stories, or crime in brief.  *
Different media outlets, papers etc give different titles to these "faits divers", like Police blotter  police beat (Australia) that hint that it is just about non-headline crime news.
For the context about the cat being saved from a tree, these types of stories could just be referred to as *human interest stories*.  But you could definitely adapt to the actual content, and it may be more exact to say "*other news in brief*"


----------



## Locape

Welcome to WR, @Debnc! 
I agree with you, 'fait divers' is a catch-all term, while you need several words in English for the different situations. A 'fait divers' can be horrible, banal, weird or even amusing.


----------



## pcy0308

Serait-il possible de supposer que "faits divers" ont tendance à faire preuve de sensationnalisme, de presse jaune (pas toujours, mais assez repandus comme ça)? Par exemple, des articles qui sont un peu tape-à-l'oeil?


----------



## Locape

Tu veux dire que quand on parle de 'faits divers', c'est en général dans la presse à sensation ? Je ne sais pas ce qu'est la 'presse jaune'. Ce ne sont pas toujours des sujets tapageurs, ça peut aussi être sur des choses banales qui vont intéresser les gens dans leur quotidien (arnaques, escroqueries...).


----------



## pcy0308

@Locape Merci beaucoup! (La presse jaune veut dire un type de journalism qui compte sur des nouvelles tapageurs sans avoir profondeur ou contenu qualité, soit en inondant les articles avec des images accrocheuses, soit en utilisant des titres provocants qui peuvent susciter une réaction forte chez lecteurs. Je constate que certains journaux ont tendance à être saturés de ce genre d'articles, mais comme vous avez dit, "fait divers" ne le sont nécessairement pas toujours.)


----------



## Locape

D'après ta description, on appelle ça en France la presse de caniveau, la presse à scandale ou la presse-poubelle. Je connais 'gutter press' ou 'tabloid', mais je n'avais jamais entendu parler de 'presse/journalisme jaune',  même s'il y a un article de Wikipédia dessus.


----------



## catheng06

Locape said:


> D'après ta description, on appelle ça en France la presse de caniveau, la presse à scandale ou la presse-poubelle. Je connais 'gutter press' ou 'tabloid', mais je n'avais jamais entendu parler de 'presse/journalisme jaune',  même s'il y a un article de Wikipédia dessus.



En français, on dit aussi de "la presse de bas étage"

(Je n'ai jamais entendu -French native- la presse de caniveau, même si une une Recherche Google donne des réponses...)


----------



## pcy0308

@Locape @catheng06 Mille mercis à vous! 🙏


----------



## CeNEstPasMonVraiNom

Faits divers à mon avis peut avoir deux catégories de traduction:
- soit une traduction qui ne contient pas de jugement de valeur, lorsqu'on fait référence à la rubrique "faits divers" comme une rubrique parmi d'autres ;
- soit une traduction qui implique un jugement de valeur, lorsqu'on fait référence à la rubrique "faits divers" comme regroupant ce qui n'a pas réellement d'intérêt et qui est confié aux petites mains, les chiens écrasés, ce qui provoque chez le lecteur des émotions de mauvaise qualité, comme une femme coupée en morceaux dans une valise, etc.


----------

