French term
demi-dizaine
| 5 +5 | around the five tonne mark/about five tonnes |
mckinnc
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| 3 +9 | (roughly) half a dozen / five |
Colin Rowe
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| 3 +3 | five or six |
Carol Gullidge
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| 4 | about 6 tons |
David West
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| 5 -1 | half of one tenth (5) |
Enrique Huber (X)
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| 4 | five |
schevallier
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| 3 | half ten |
Gustavo Silva
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Mar 26, 2008 14:09: writeaway changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Bus/Financial" , "Field (specific)" from "Idioms / Maxims / Sayings" to "General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters" , "Restriction (Native Lang)" from "eng" to "none"
Non-PRO (1): writeaway
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Proposed translations
around the five tonne mark/about five tonnes
| agree |
liz askew
: Most definitely. It is "Dizaine" and not "Douzaine"..
1 hr
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| agree |
Colin Rowe
: Nice solution. It retains the APPROXIMATE nature of the half-dizaine (5) as opposed to half-dozen (6), without sounding stilted.
2 hrs
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B D Finch
2 hrs
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Anne de Freyman (X)
: Indeed
3 hrs
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| agree |
Carol Gullidge
: I lkie this one as well
7 hrs
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Portugal
The best value for your money
Native in: Portuguese
Works in: French to Portuguese, English to Portuguese
half ten
| neutral |
writeaway
: half ten is 10.30 am or pm
9 mins
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(half ten) tonnes = 5 000 kilograms in Google ; half past ten = 10.30
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Colin Rowe
: Atenção! The Google hit in question is merely offering a calculation for half of ten tonnes, and is the ONLY Ghit for "half ten tonnes"!
1 hr
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yes, but not half a dozen(demi-douzaine)!
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B D Finch
: "Half ten" is widely used colloquially in UK English for 10.30 am or pm. I'm sure it must confuse German speakers. However, one would never say "half ten tonnes".
23 hrs
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"half ten tonnes" halb zehn? Danke! :-)
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United Kingdom
poetically precise prose with... panache
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, English
five or six
I was going to suggest "a handful", which is fine number-wise, but a handful of tone/tonnes is rather an odd metaphor!
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Colin Rowe
: Nice, simple solution! I wish I'd added it to my own!
1 hr
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thanks, Colin! there are so many possibilities for this vague expression
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cmwilliams (X)
: also possible depending on context
1 hr
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thanks, cmwilliams! I see writaway has withdrawn her (?) comment, so I need to repeat my response here: it COULD be, eg, in a conversation, "It must have weighed five or six tonnes"
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B D Finch
: Or four? Vagueness can be downwards as well as upwards.
2 hrs
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true, but that doesn't make "five or six" wrong, does it? Depending on the context, if it's in a conversation, then it's far more likely to be an exaggeration than otherwise. And we must credit the Askers with being able to work some things out themselves
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Jeanette Phillips
: yes, five or six; it's unusual to say five or four
2 days 6 hrs
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thanks Jeanette - that would sound odd :)
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A Man of My Word, Word Power to Share
Native in: English
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English, Russian to English
about 6 tons
| neutral |
Colin Rowe
: If going for the "about + number" approach, surely 5 not 6...
2 hrs
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half of one tenth (5)
| neutral |
Colin Rowe
: ? demi-dixième ?
4 mins
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| neutral |
Carol Gullidge
: Hi Enrique: half on one tenth (1/10) is one twentieth (1/20) :)
1 hr
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U R right with fractions. I meant it as dizaine from dix, as in numbers, like in spanish: dozena (12) decena (10). Thanks.
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Joshua Wolfe
: half of one tenth would be something more like "le demi d'un-dixième"
6 hrs
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Germany
Par Excellence Translations
Native in: English (Variant: British) 
Works in: German to English, French to English, Italian to English, and 3 more.
(roughly) half a dozen / five
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Note added at 2 hrs (2008-03-26 16:36:18 GMT)
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"-aine": approximation is the name of the game. Demi-dizaine = ROUGHLY 5; half a dozen = ROUGHLY 6. The difference of 1 is probably negligible. If the speaker meant exactly "5", he would have said "5" and not "demi-dizaine". Since the English language has no expression for "half a ten", but does allow for half a twelve, this is a good approximation.
And yes, I can read the difference between "demi-dizaine" and "demi-douzaine".
| agree |
Bourth (X)
: I'm a great believer in converting dizaines 2 dozens, & v.versa, unless precession is required, which "-aine" implies not. As CH says, the French are metric, so "douzaine" is out. It's actually quite rare. Still exists,like livre,pouce,once,pied,pinte.
6 mins
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Many thanks! Like "Pfund" in German, also.
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Victoria Porter-Burns
: Yes, 'half a dozen' was my first thought
8 mins
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Thanks!
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Patricia Fierro, M. Sc.
: five
9 mins
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Thanks!
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Katarina Peters
10 mins
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Thanks!
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Patrice
10 mins
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Thanks!
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Jennifer White
: half a dozen
20 mins
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Thanks!
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Cervin
: half a dozen!
50 mins
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Thanks!
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tatyana000
: half a dozen
1 hr
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Thanks!
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cmwilliams (X)
: half a dozen
1 hr
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Thanks!
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liz askew
: I don't think it is negligible, otherwise why would the French have the two words "douzaine" and "dizaine"?
1 hr
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"douzaine": approx. 1.5m Ghits, over 200k referring specifically to eggs; "dizaine": over 5.5m Ghits. It is a matter of usage rather than exact mathematical precision. IMHO, dizaine and dozen are close enough in most contexts involving APPROXIMATION.
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B D Finch
: As liz comments, if they meant douzaine, they would have used it and the variation could be downwards too. If we are talking tonnes, then the implied variation is liable to be much less than a whole tonne.
3 hrs
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See my reply to Liz
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Carol Gullidge
: you did say "roughly half a dozen" as your first option, and "roughly five" as yr 2nd option - nothing wrong with either!///I know that feeling, one can get really frustrated at times :)
3 hrs
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Ah! Someone actually read the whole of my answer! Many thanks!
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Charles Hawtrey (X)
: 'half a dozen', as many have said before me. I've often translated using that term, and nobody's ever complained. I've always assumed "dizaine" is used because of enthusiasm for decimalising everthing. If they mean 5, and exactly 5, they'll say 5.
3 hrs
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My point precisely - many thanks!
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Try me!
Native in: French
Works in: English to French, Spanish to French, French, and 1 more.
Discussion