# a person who always break promises...



## czhellemoone

how do you call "a person who always break his promises" in Frech?

thanks


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## LV4-26

I'm afraid I can't think of any specific word for that. I don't think there exists any. So let's see what we  have.
a promise which is broken is "une fausse promesse" or "une promesse de Gascon" (don't ask me why "gascon")
to break one's promise is "ne pas tenir sa/ses promesse(s).
So I would say :
_quelqu'un qui ne tient jamais ses promesses_.


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## sophievm

éventuellement on peut dire "un homme (ou une femme) de peu de parole" mais ce n'est pas vraiment une expression consacrée...


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## ran

on peut aussi dire : quelqu'un qui n'a pas de parole, quelqu'un qui ne tient jamais parole


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## Benjy

de mauvaise foi? butI suppose thats a little too general.. :s


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## RODGER

What do you call a person who always breaks his promises in English ?


Rodger


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## sprentic

A liar, a scoundrel, miscreant? But I agree, we don't really have such a word in English either.


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## beri

maybe you mean "unreliable" ? in this case: peu recommandable, peu fiable, indigne de confiance


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## timpeac

beri said:
			
		

> maybe you mean "unreliable" ? in this case: peu recommandable, peu fiable, indigne de confiance


 
Or "untrustworthy" which is a bit harsher.


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## fetchezlavache

we aren't looking for an english word here, but for a french one. rodger has twisted the problem with his post. grrrrrrrrrrr.

i doubt there is a single french word that fits though... 

i mean, we have to use an expression


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## beri

nope!
I did good, Ma'm!


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## fetchezlavache

hahaha !!


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## RODGER

fetchezlavache said:
			
		

> we aren't looking for an english word here, but for a french one. rodger has twisted the problem with his post. grrrrrrrrrrr.
> 
> i doubt there is a single french word that fits though...
> 
> i mean, we have to use an expression


 
I have not "twisted" the problem. I resent that accusation. I hope rather that I have highlighted it. It seems to me that the question is ambiguous. "How (what) do you call ""a person who always breaks promises"" in French".

The presence of the quotes around "a person etc...) may lead us to believe that the questioner is interested in finding a French noun for this phrase in quotes. Because the presence of quotes here signifies that the phrase is a circumlocution, a substitute for a missing word which the questioner has not found.

However the questioner may also mean "what is the translation for "a person etc." And some participants clearly thought this, since they provided translations. 

This explains my approach which, was to first find an English noun for such a person and then find a translation for it.Quite a legitimate approach I think, and one which does not seek to "twist" anything ! 

In my opinion, the moderators have a role to play here on receipt of such questions, not only to insist on context as a condition of acceptance, but also to disambiguate such questions on arrival.


Rodger


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## gaer

In fact, there IS a word in Enlgish. Welsh, the verb, has two meanings:

1) to avoid payments (welsh on debts)
2) to break one's word (welsh on promises)

The noun form is "welsher".

So if any of you have dictionaries that contain English slang, you might look up "welsher" and see what you find in French.

I understand that the goal is to find the best French word or phrase, but sometimes finding additional words in the language being translated gives clues.

Gaer


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## lainyn

Welsh?

Well colour me _____(I honestly can't remember the rest of that expression in English). Doesn't such a verb strike you all as extremely politically incorrect?


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## RODGER

Gaer is absolutely spot on here, "a welsher" exactly describes this person, so there's no need to be squeamish.


Rodger


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## fetchezlavache

RODGER said:
			
		

> I have not "twisted" the problem. I resent that accusation. I hope rather that I have highlighted it. It seems to me that the question is ambiguous. "How (what) do you call ""a person who always breaks promises"" in French".
> 
> The presence of the quotes around "a person etc...) may lead us to believe that the questioner is interested in finding a French noun for this phrase in quotes. Because the presence of quotes here signifies that the phrase is a circumlocution, a substitute for a missing word which the questioner has not found.
> 
> However the questioner may also mean "what is the translation for "a person etc." And some participants clearly thought this, since they provided translations.
> 
> This explains my approach which, was to first find an English noun for such a person and then find a translation for it.Quite a legitimate approach I think, and one which does not seek to "twist" anything !
> 
> In my opinion, the moderators have a role to play here on receipt of such questions, not only to insist on context as a condition of acceptance, but also to disambiguate such questions on arrival.
> 
> 
> Rodger




if the question was that ambiguous, RODGER, why haven't you asked czhellemoone to clarify it for you (us) ? i see your point in describing the ambiguity, but i see it _only now_ that you have posted the above. so if you felt attacked, i beg you to accept my most humble excuses.

*gaer*, thanks for pointing out that word... nice word, but on the verge of extinction, due to the poison of political correctness spreading all over the place.


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## Agnès E.

Bonjour à tous,

I found, in my little slang dictionary :
"to welsh on s.o." : faire faux bond à quelqu'un, lâcher quelqu'un

Je suggère donc, pour "welsher" : lâcheur


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## beri

ben dites donc! on dit filer à la française, en anglais, mais là ils s'en prennent aux Gallois ou quoi?  Manquerait plus qu'ils aient l'équivalent de nos blagues belges et ils seraient fâchés avec tout le monde  (d'ailleurs ils ont pas des blagues sur les Ecossais?)


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## timpeac

Moi je dirais "to welch" (tch) plutôt que "to welsh" (sh), mais avec la même signification.


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## RODGER

"Un lacheur" me semble très bien, qu'il soit gallois ou autre, sinon "beri" détrompe-toi il n'y pas que les français à s'en prendre à leurs voisins francophones "Taffy was a Welshman Taffy was a thief, Taffy came to our house and stole a piece of beef" C'est dans l'histoire, ça n'a rien à voir avec cette nouvelle et très bête frilosité outre-atlantique. Donc, vive "to welsh" and "a welsher" n'en déplaise aux responsables de tout cela, morts depuis belle lurette !

Rodger


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## semiller

I know the original question was asking a _French _ rather than an _English _ translation of this kind of person, but I thought I might add my two cents. In very colloquial English slang, you can also call someone who breaks their word as "flaking out" on someone or somewhat worse, "to have been shafted by someone."  *First Example*:  One Friday John said he would go to the concert with me, but he *flaked * out again.  *Second Example:   * Pierre said he would meet me for dinner at 6, but he failed to show up.  He has *shafted * me again. 

     Again, these two are *very * colloquial, but very common at the same time. FYI


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## gaer

lainyn said:
			
		

> Welsh?
> 
> Well colour me _____(I honestly can't remember the rest of that expression in English). Doesn't such a verb strike you all as extremely politically incorrect?


My last name is Lloyd. I am Welsh. If it's not PC, I should be the first person to be insulted. 

But it did run through my mind that someone might take offense.

Gaer


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## gaer

fetchezlavache said:
			
		

> *gaer*, thanks for pointing out that word... nice word, but on the verge of extinction, due to the poison of political correctness spreading all over the place.


Fetchez, as I said, I thought a "Welshman" might get away with explaining the word. 

I don't want anyone to be discriminated against, belittled, etc., but I do fear (as perhaps you do) that we can become so paranoid about language that we no longer have fun with it. 

Gaer


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## RODGER

Well exactly Gaer and anyway it is not for us to apologise for the insensitivity of our ancestors who invented the verb "to welsh". It's a historical fact for goodness sake. As far as i can see it's the only word for this type of person. So don't lets welsh on ourselves !

Rodger


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## LV4-26

So it seems that "welsh" has something to do with the "promesse de Gascon" I was mentionning in my post #2.
(Les Gascons are the inhabitants of La Gascogne, in the south west of France - D'Artagnan, Dumas' famous "mousquetaire" was a "Gascon" and Cyrano de Bergerac as well)


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## gaer

RODGER said:
			
		

> Well exactly Gaer and anyway it is not for us to apologise for the insensitivity of our ancestors who invented the verb "to welsh". It's a historical fact for goodness sake. As far as i can see it's the only word for this type of person. So don't lets welsh on ourselves !
> 
> Rodger


Rodger, I'd still be careful. Historical fact or not, I'd avoid using a word if I don't think it is absolutely necessary and if I think it might insult someone.

You see, I can't speak for myself. I have never experienced any kind of discrimination due to my background. Would this be equally true in the UK? I truly do not know. This could POSSIBLY be why the word "welch" exists, as a variant. In fact, I thought "welch" and "welcher" were the correct forms until I checked. 

But it does seem odd that we have no other word for someone who continually backs out of promises, and I find that quite odd.

Gaer


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## RODGER

I agree it is odd. Maybe we shouldn't get too hung up on the origins of the word, I expect most people who use it don't even make the connection with Wales . I recently found "bilker" and of course "defaulter" although the latter is perhaps a bit too legal as a description. More annoying is this insidious political correctness thing which threatens to strangle self expression.

Rodger


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## timpeac

gaer said:
			
		

> You see, I can't speak for myself. I have never experienced any kind of discrimination due to my background. Would this be equally true in the UK? I truly do not know. This could POSSIBLY be why the word "welch" exists, as a variant. In fact, I thought "welch" and "welcher" were the correct forms until I checked.
> 
> 
> Gaer


 
Certainly that's what we say where I come from, and I wasn't aware of it being for politically correct reasons. In fact we must have said it long before we even knew what "politically correct" was.


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