à la limite/à la rigueur

[DearPrudence]

Salut tout le monde

My last question for the road.
How do you translate:
'on ne peut pas dire "bla bla bla" mais à la limite/à la rigueur on pourrait dire "patati patata'''?
Yet I already suspect there's no translation.
Other example: 'à la limite, si on veut être poli on peut dire ...': if you REALLY want to be polite you can say ...'

Thanks again

 

[Benjy]

at a push sometimes works. but i guess it closer to "s'il le faut"

good luck with finding a good translation. i have to stop myself from saying à la limite all the time i am sure there is something in english.. it's just a case of making the connection.

 

[edwingill]

à la limite depending on context at a pinch or almost. à la rigueur also at a pinch

 

[DearPrudence]

Oh, sorry, I forgot; my dictionary said: 'at a pinch'. Does it work?

(and in English I keep on saying 'actually'. Non, je sais, ça n'a rien à voir. Mais je compatis )

Edit: so my dictionary is sometimes right. Thanks Edwingill

 

[charlie2]

Salut tout le monde

My last question for the road.
How do you translate:
'on ne peut pas dire "bla bla bla" mais à la limite/à la rigueur on pourrait dire "patati patata'''?
Yet I already suspect there's no translation.
Other example: 'à la limite, si on veut être poli on peut dire ...': if you REALLY want to be polite you can say ...'

Thanks again

My suggestions:
1st example: We cannot say ... but possibly (or if we have to) we could say ...
2nd example: Ultimately if you want to be polite, you can say...

 

[pieanne]

Or "at the worst", in some cases?

 

[Legorille83]

"bla bla bla" ultimately though we could say "patati patata'''?

 

[eonblu17]

"bla bla bla" ultimately though we could say "patati patata'''?

ultimately, at worst, in a pinch, or...

Not sure if I'd use this for à la limite/à la rigueur in general, but in the context of this sentence I find myself wanting to say "We can't say 'bla bla blah' but if nothing else we could say patati patata"

 

[Lucky19]

as a last resort ? en dernier recours ?

 

[ShineLikeStars]

You can't say bla bla bla, but at the most, you could say patati patata ?

 

[Itisi]

but you just could say...

 

[Jean-Michel Carrère]

à la limite, on pourra toujours se procurer des billets au stade le jour-même : if the worst comes to the worst, we will still be able to get tickets at the stadium on the day