# Pas vu, pas pris !



## lenightowl

Hello!
Does anyone know of an English equivalent to this French expression?
Merci d'avance!


----------



## Old Novice

Literally, "not seen, not taken"?  Perhaps, "nothing ventured, nothing gained"?


----------



## lenightowl

Well, of course I could use "not seen, not taken", but I was hoping for a more picturesque idiom


----------



## Iznogoud

I don't have an idiom, but I might use "surreptitiously".


----------



## lenightowl

"surreptitiously" wouldn't fit (as much as I like the suggestion) as I want to use this in a dialogue. 

"Faites attention de ne pas laisser de traces de votre passage (mégots de cigarettes ou emballages de sandwiches)... vous connaissez le dicton: pas vu pas pris"

Any more suggestions?


----------



## seawasp

As in politicians and journalists, then perhaps "Out of sight - out of mind"?


----------



## lenightowl

seawasp said:


> As in politicians and journalists, then perhaps "Out of sight - out of mind"?


 
Maybe just a tad too romantic, given the context?


----------



## RocketGirl

lenightowl said:


> "Faites attention de ne pas laisser de traces de votre passage (mégots de cigarettes ou emballages de sandwiches)... vous connaissez le dicton: pas vu pas pris"


Bonjour lenightowl. I've been pondering this one for a while trying to come up with a nice English expression for this context, and here's what I've come up with:

"Be careful not to leave anything behind (no cigarette butts or sandwich wrappers)... remember: we were never here"


----------



## Tresley

Is this for use at a picnic site or something similar?  If so, then at picnic sites in the UK there are signs that say things like:

"Leave nothing behind but your footprints".
"Please leave this site as you would expect to find it".
"Please take your litter home with you".

Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?


----------



## la_cavalière

"Pas vu, pas pris" is the name of a documentary that explored the relationship between French journalists and politicians and the lack of objectivity on the news. 

Maybe "No see, no do"?


----------



## la_cavalière

How about: 

to get away with it


----------



## zam

"not seen, not caught" (not a set phrase as such, but it would probably be understood by most with a bit of context).


----------



## Coppers

_Cover our tracks_?


----------



## jetman

In the sense here I believe it would be "Carry in, carry out."


----------



## Coppers

Not for objectivity in the news though.


----------



## la_cavalière

lenightowl said:


> "surreptitiously" wouldn't fit (as much as I like the suggestion) as I want to use this in a dialogue.
> 
> "Faites attention de ne pas laisser de traces de votre passage (mégots de cigarettes ou emballages de sandwiches)... vous connaissez le dicton: pas vu pas pris"
> 
> Any more suggestions?


 
Whoops... I just saw the context, so forgive me for going off on a tangent in my earlier posts.

How about: You know the saying: Leave no evidence behind.


----------



## Tresley

Oh! After seeing other people's answers, I understand a little bit better now! A little more context might have helped from LeNightOwl. Is it to avoid being detected by the police? So how about:

"If we leave no traces, then we won't be found out"!
"no tracks, no set backs"!
"if not seen, we escape clean"!

[Please ignore my previous post].

Before this thread, I had only seen this phrase used in translations I have done with a marketing context:

"If it's not displayed, then no trade"!
"If it's not on show, then it won't go"!

I hope this helps.


----------



## lenightowl

After reading all the replies made after I left last night, I want to thank all the contributors to this thread. 
That was a hard one indeed, and I think I will go for one of Tresley's suggestions:
*"Leave nothing behind but your footprints".
*Id adds a touch of humour, which is exactly what I had in mind.
Thanks again everyone


----------



## lenightowl

Tresley said:


> Oh! After seeing other people's answers, I understand a little bit better now! A little more context might have helped from LeNightOwl. Is it to avoid being detected by the police? So how about:
> 
> "If we leave no traces, then we won't be found out"!
> "no tracks, no set backs"!
> "if not seen, we escape clean"!
> 
> [Please ignore my previous post].
> 
> Before this thread, I had only seen this phrase used in translations I have done with a marketing context:
> 
> "If it's not displayed, then no trade"!
> "If it's not on show, then it won't go"!
> 
> I hope this helps.


 
The police has nothing to do in my snippet, nothing that sinister about it


----------



## Richard Tomlinson

No one will be any the wiser.  (No one will ever know.)


----------



## John Tittensor

What about (depending on context)

"vanished without trace"


----------



## ChaperonRouge

I heard this US expression: _No harm no foul_


----------



## tartopom

John Tittensor said:


> vanished without trace


John, can we also say 'vanished without *a* trace'?


----------



## Enquiring Mind

Alas, since 2013 John has _vanished without (a) trace , _but the answer is yes.
The relevant Ngram seems to suggest that the version *with* "a" is (possibly) a bit more common, and that AmE speakers may prefer this version, but it's much of a muchness.  
My perception is that if anything, the version *without* "a" is (possibly) slightly higher style, thus more suited to literature than conversation.


----------



## trans-latour

The english equivalent could be:
"No face, no case".


----------



## Enquiring Mind

Depending on the specific context, I think I'd go with _remember: we were never there!_
Maybe also (depending on the specific context): _Don't do the crime and you won't do the time!  "_Do the time" means "spend time in prison".


----------



## Graine de Moutarde

What about "no trace, no case"--somewhat a spin-off from some legislation for murder trials saying "no body, no case"--meaning you can't charge someone of murder if no body has been found.

Also, I remember reading in a French comic a girl sneaking in and out of someone's house and saying "ni vu, ni connu." Is that pretty much the same as "pas vu, pas pris"?


----------



## Enquiring Mind

Why not? It immediately brings to mind Georges Brassens' ditty about the poor gravedigger. He just goes about his rather morbid task, and nobody ever knows he's even been there (though he rather blows his cover by leaving behind evidence in the form of a big hole in the ground). 
All together now:
_Ni vu ni connu, brave mort adieu
Si du fond de la terre on voit le Bon Dieu
Dis-lui le mal que m'a coûté, la dernière pelleté
Je suis un pauvre fossoyeur_ ('Le fossoyeur', Georges Brassens)


----------



## rrose17

ChaperonRouge said:


> I heard this US expression: _No harm no foul_


That doesn't really work here. The meaning of no harm, no foul is that there's no real harm done, usually said by someone or about someone who's just done something that would usually lead to some bad consequences but doesn't this time. Like if you fall down the stairs but jump up and exclaim "No harm. no foul!" meaning you're not hurt. 
I was thinking of that well known drawing/ sculpture showing three monkeys one covering its eyes, one its ears and one it's mouth which is often described as "See no evil, hear no evil." as well as the longer "See nothing, hear nothing, say nothing".


----------



## ChaperonRouge

tartopom said:


> John, can we also say 'vanished without *a* trace'?


Indeed! Your sentence is the correct one! John made a mistake forgetting the article 'a'.


----------



## Enquiring Mind

No mistake, Chaperon, the "a" is optional - see #24 .


----------



## Locape

Graine de Moutarde said:


> What about "no trace, no case"--somewhat a spin-off from some legislation for murder trials saying "no body, no case"--meaning you can't charge someone of murder if no body has been found.
> Also, I remember reading in a French comic a girl sneaking in and out of someone's house and saying "ni vu, ni connu." Is that pretty much the same as "pas vu, pas pris"?


'Ni vu ni connu' is very commonly used when you don't want people to know what you have done, no matter what it is, usually not something really bad or harmful. Yes, like your example or when you're slipping in the classroom/concert hall so people won't notice that you're late.

'Pas vu pas pris' is a little stronger because _pris _means _caught_, not _unseen_. Caught by any kind of authority, from the teachers to the police, as when you're cheating on/at an exam or when you're stealing something from your workplace. This expression was much used when the media revealed the doping scandal in cycling, during the Tour de France. As long as there wasn't any proof, the cyclists couldn't be excluded or punished, and the person responsible, like the team doctor, arrested.

I've read things like 'Les cyclistes croyaient pouvoir continuer à s'en tirer suivant le principe du "pas vu pas pris" or 'L'équipe Festina a pris pour tout le monde. Quant aux autres, pas vu pas pris, comme on dit'. I guess 'No trace, no case' would fit. As for the OP, I would have said 'Ni vu ni connu', unless they didn't had the right to go there, so they shouldn't leave any trace, otherwise they could get a fine.


----------



## Graine de Moutarde

Ah, thank you for explaining!  So then, for "pas vu pas pris" could it maybe be translated (although it's not as catchy) by "you're only in trouble if you get caught"?


----------



## Locape

It could be, maybe more as an explanation.


----------



## ChaperonRouge

Enquiring Mind said:


> No mistake, Chaperon, the "a" is optional - see #24 .


Thank you.


----------

