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In the movie Blind Date/Un peu, beaucoup, aveuglément, there is the following line: "Mon père était concierge à l'opera. J'ai bouffé du classique toute en mon enfance." Is "J'ai bouffé du classique" similar to "I ate up classical music my whole childhood?"

Related to the paragraph above, would "line in the movie" be loosely translated as "dans le scénario de film" or is there a more precise term for script line?

Also, the Netflix subtitles are not accurate. Instead of "toute en mon enfance" (which is what I heard), "enfant" was the subtitle. I believe that "toute" instead of "tout" is correct because of the agreement with the feminine "enfance." If it should be "tout" so as to agree with the possessive "mon", please let me know.

jlliagre
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J.J.
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    Toute en mon enfance is not correct, it may rather be pendant toute mon enfance. If you give the exact moment this line can be heard, I can go on Netflix and check it. – Greg Jun 17 '20 at 03:56
  • Thanks Greg. Went back to look for the exact moment and now hearing it as "toute mon enfance." My brain added the "en" (literal translation, I suppose). It is 1:09:58 to 1:09:49. I believe that pendant before toute is missing. Please verify after you look at the clip. Thanks again. – J.J. Jun 17 '20 at 06:23
  • Unfortunately, it looks this movie is not available on Netflix from my country... But "toute mon enfance" makes perfect sense as well, it is the same as "pendant toute mon enfance". Maybe the subtitle read "enfant, j'ai bouffé du classique": that would also be correct ((it is then "as a child"). Remember that subtitles (even if they are in the original language of the movie) are not transcripts: there are practical constraints (length, pace, etc) that force the subtitle editors to sometimes shorten some dialogues. So what you will read in the subtitles may not match 100% what the actors said. – Greg Jun 17 '20 at 07:53
  • The subtitle read "j'ai bouffé du classique, enfant." Thanks for looking into it. Have a good one. – J.J. Jun 17 '20 at 08:31

2 Answers2

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I believe "I ate up classical music" necessarily means you appreciate it while j'ai bouffé du classique means you were served quite a lot of classical music in your childhood without presuming it was a positive, neutral or negative experience.

As usual, the context helps figuring out if it is the case.

I have found the very same phrasing in a forum with a surprisingly close context where the experience was undoubtedly positive (emphasis mine):

Mon père étant un retraité de l'Opera de Paris, j'ai bouffé du classique pendant toute mon enfance. Le repertoire est tellement vaste qu'il y a toujours quelque chose de nouveau à écouter. Je pense que l’œuvre classique qui m'a le plus marqué est la symphonie Concertante pour violon, alto et orchestre en mi bémol majeur (K.364).

In the next sentence, Vincent Cassel experience was at best neutral, unless he is a masochist. He says he's been hit a lot by partners, not that he ate a lot of potatoes...

En tant que "vieille actrice de composition", j'en ai bouffé des patates et des coups de flingue !

That common expression:

J'en ai bouffé du bitume.

often means that you have hit the road a lot of times in the past.

Here is an excerpt of a page where a certified translator introduces himself:

*Renégat de l’Éducation nationale, où j’ai exercé pendant douze ans comme professeur de français, formateur, maître de stage et enseignant en classes préparatoires, spécialisation orthographe, grammaire et vocabulaire.

C’est dire si j’en ai bouffé, du Grevisse et du Littré !*

About your second question, I would use the word réplique:

Dans le scénario, il y a cette réplique.

Your last question has been sorted out by Greg in comments, the right wording is :

J'ai bouffé du classique toute mon enfance.

A special thanks to everyone who left a comment and help clarifying what bouffer du implies or not!

jlliagre
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    I'd say that it doesn't imply that you want something different now. It's just slang to say that you were exposed to a lot of classical music. Now, you could use it positively to justify your knowledge in classical music for example. – beauchette Jun 18 '20 at 15:41
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    @beauchette Yes, it doesn't necessarily imply you were force-fed/overfed but my impression is that it is more often used a neutral or negative way. I consider j'en ai bouffé closer to j'en ai été gavé than to je m'en suis régalé. My point is more about "to ate up" only having, as far as I know, a positive meaning, a little like j'ai dégusté which is definitely not the case with j'en ai bouffé. – jlliagre Jun 18 '20 at 16:27
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    Agreed about the slight bias towards the negative or indifferent side. I believe a feeling of thankfulness for being very exposed to classical music in childhood would more often be expressed by “J'ai nagé toute mon enfance dans la musique classique” or “J'ai dévoré du classique toute mon enfance” than by “J'ai bouffé du classique toute mon enfance”. – Pas un clue Jun 18 '20 at 17:34
  • I agree with beauchette, there's no negative bias at all, and the expression doesn't imply you would want something different now. It means only that you've had a huge amount of exposure to it.

    An example is the expression "bouffer du code" which is often used to describe the huge amount of exposure to computer coding some of the tech geniuses of silicon valley have had.

     – Jonathan Jun 18 '20 at 22:35
  • Overall, I would expect more negative than positive use of the exact expression (bouffé), over a great amount of use. Saying there's no bias at all means there would be exactly the same amount of positive vs. negative use. Stating there's no negative bias at all would mean either the same amount of both, or more positive than negative. I still lean towards a SLIGHT negative bias. Beauchette's comment simply states that it is not necessarily negative, which is totally true, and doesn't involve it can't be negative, simply that it could also be positive. No controversy there. – Pas un clue Jun 19 '20 at 01:27
  • Agreed with the slightly negative rather than positive vibe. I wasn't accurate in my comment. jilliagre says in his answer that he probably wants something different now. I don't know the context, but using this expression doesn't imply that he now doesn't like classical music, just that he was force fed it. Another comment talks about "bouffer du code", and in this case, for example it could used to justify that you're now an expert at it, but having "bouffé du code" doesn't necessarily means that you now don't want to do it. Just that you made the effort to learn it (willingly or not) – beauchette Jun 19 '20 at 07:03
  • @beauchette I agree that bouffé du code for a programmer or j'en ai bouffé du bitume for a truck driver doesn't imply a current distaste. In the OP context, as we are talking about a child, the fact it is a positive experience or not is less obvious but your are right it is a possibility. I didn't saw that movie. – jlliagre Jun 19 '20 at 07:51
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    @beauchette I just found in a forum a post 10 years older that the movie but surprisingly close to its script lines: Mon père étant un retraité de l'Opera de Paris, j'ai bouffé du classique pendant toute mon enfance. Le repertoire est tellement vaste qu'il y a toujours quelque chose de nouveau à écouter. Je pense que l’œuvre classique qui m'a le plus marqué est la symphonie Concertante pour violon, alto et orchestre en mi bémol majeur (K.364). Here, the experience was clearly appreciated. – jlliagre Jun 19 '20 at 07:52
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    @jlliagre: I was talking about the expression itself, I don't know the movie at all. But I come back on my definition. example 1 : your parents make you play the piano from 6 to 18 everyday 2 hours, you could use "j'ai bouffé du piano toute ma jeunesse", it would seem negative. example 2 : "je connais par coeur, j'ai bouffé du Chopin toute ma jeunesse", would be more bragging about you know it very well, because you extensively studied it when you were young. – beauchette Jun 19 '20 at 09:10
  • I was also referring to the meaning of the expression "bouffer de", out of the context of this movie, which I haven't seen. That expression does not have any negative bias. Not even a small one. It indicates only a large exposure to something. I agree with beauchette's example in her previous comment: different contexts can add a positive or negative bias, however in my opinion the expression "bouffer de" does not, in and of itself, indicate any bias, positive or negative. – Jonathan Jun 19 '20 at 10:11
  • The original point still stands though - I'm not sure I'd use the expression ate up at all, but in any case it's hard to use it to describe something done unwillingly. This means that the expressions are not equivalent to each other. – Rhubarb Jun 19 '20 at 13:12
  • @Rhubarb Fact being, after jlliagre found the exact quote, it turned out the experience in the movie was a rather positive one, turning all earlier comments as a discussion over a more general case instead of the actual case of the question. And given the full (positive) context, ate up would be a rather fitting translation (I believe...). – Pas un clue Jun 19 '20 at 14:26
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    @Pasunclue What I found is not from the movie's script but a (surprising similar) post on a forum. Nevertheless, I now believe the experience was also positive in the movie. In any case, I still feel translating a slang verb and a potentially ambiguous expression by a non slang verb and unambiguous expression would make the phrase lose some of its flavor. – jlliagre Jun 19 '20 at 15:07
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    @jlliagre Agreed, though it wouldn't be the first time such a loss of flavour would be seen in translation :) – Pas un clue Jun 19 '20 at 15:15
  • @Pasunclue Sure, what I'm saying is that on a general level, the two expressions are different. Personally I find ate up a bit strange, but it does suggest something done willingly. You might compare it with I was brought up on classical music (probably positive), I was fed a diet of classical music my entire childhood (probably negative), I was fed nothing but classical my entire childhood[, and I lapped it right up] (definitely positive if the part in []s is included). Anyway the point about the French is clear. – Rhubarb Jun 19 '20 at 19:19
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I believe that "toute" instead of "tout" is correct because of the agreement with the feminine "enfance." If it should be "tout" so as to agree with the possessive "mon", please let me know.

Indeed, "toute" is correct because "Enfance" is feminine. Here "Mon" is an exceptional use of "mon", which is masculine, in front of the feminine word "Enfance". It is only for the sound. "Ma enfance" is harder to say than "Mon Nenfance" which is also more pleasant to hear.

It is the same with "Mon experience", "mon idée" or any feminine word starting with a vowel, and in certain cases with an h

You can check this post which is more accurate than me : Quelle est la règle pour utiliser « mon » avec des noms féminins ?

A. Ocannaille
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    "Ma enfance" is not difficult to say. We're just not used to say or hear it because that's not how it is said in French. Euphony is very much a thing in the French language, but it doesn't mean its settings are absolute by any mean. (eg. it's been very much stated that the imperfect of the subjunctive is ugly, but que nous observassions** is not much different from observation...) – Pas un clue Jun 19 '20 at 13:21
  • You're right, I'm too extrem in my answer, I will correct it to "Is harder to say than "mon Nenfance" :-) I never noticed the observassion/observation bias, but, in my honest opinion, I consider imperfect of subjonctive very beautiful, in particular in a play by Moliere, it makes wonderful rhymes! – A. Ocannaille Jun 19 '20 at 14:33
  • I have nothing to object to the imperfect of the subjunctive either, but it certainly can sound a bit affected nowadays in spoken language. Trying to make it funny instead of pedantic, I usually manage to insert it in conversations a couple times a week, and after a certain amount of years doing it, I find it more natural than I used to. Still, I better be careful: people could judge me on this type of usage. Keeping this in mind, I usually limit my use of the tense to very familiar verbs like Fallait-il vraiment que je dégueulassasse la table comme ça?. – Pas un clue Jun 19 '20 at 14:44
  • I Like you way of using it, I will consider using it too :-) – A. Ocannaille Jun 22 '20 at 09:34