by "Pierre Hallet" <pierre.hallet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Dec 4, 2007 at 07:27 PM
kkwweett :
> I'm French and I'm looking for an english translation
> of a french expression ("usine a gaz") which is
> literally [gasworks] but which means a working device
> or machine so complicated that it is highly probable
> that it crashes very soon and that it is almost a
> miracle that it is still working.
> Is there an equivalent phrase in English ?
My /Robert-Collins/ proposes "huge labyrinthine system".
(Une manière comme une autre de suggérer qu'il n'y a pas
d'équivalent convaincant. Mais attendons ce qu'en diront
des anglophones natifs.)
You might have also "Rube Goldberg machines" (should this
not ring any bell, just Google it). But then I suspect it
is not exactly what you had in mind. "Usine à gaz" is used
in French to refer to organizations or to administrative
processes, not to physical devices as such. I would say
that a Rube Goldberg machine works--in an absurdly complex
way, but it works--while an "usine à gaz" works by an
unlikely constant supply of miracles.)
Pierre Hallet
