JClark a écrit :
> Hello Group,
Hi!
>
> Many years ago a french woman told me that there is a difference
> between "boulot sale" and "sale boulot". Could someone give me
> examples of the two used in appropriate context?
>
> I get the feeling that "sale boulot" means roughly "dirty work" in
> English and can therefore be used in this figurative sense. Is "boulot
> sale" then, a more literal expression, such as a type of work where
> one gets dirty, as in digging ditches?
I am not confident with the meaning of "dirty work" in English, but I
think "sale boulot" means the same: a work that is legally, morally or
ethically unacceptable. You could have the following line in a gangster
movie, for instance: "Si tu dois tuer quelqu'un, fais faire le sale
boulot à un complice, qu'on ne puisse rien te reprocher." (here, one can
imagine that, for the speaker, the problem is purely legal! ;-)
An ethical example would be: "Licencier un employé, même incompétent,
reste un sale boulot."
You would often read or hear this expression in "Faire faire le sale
boulot". Rather than saying "Je fais le sale boulot." you would say "X.
me fait faire le sale boulot."
I don't think "boulot sale" is an idiom. The "sale" adjective qualifies
the "boulot", so I understand it as a job that the speaker qualifies as
not good enough to be acceptable. Let us imagine, for instance, an
upper-class mother telling her daughter: "Si tu ne travailles pas bien à
l'école, tu finiras caissière dans un supermarché, c'est un boulot
sale." (Note that I personnally have nothing against ca****ers!)
To convey the idea of a work that gets you dirty, but nothing to be
ashamed of, one would use "salissant: "Le jardinage est un boulot
salissant, mais très agréable."
Bye,
Xavier
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Jack
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