gagner

[hotjava]

I saw the following sentence in a grammar exercise book. Does gagner here mean to win or to earn (make money)?

Je gagnais pourtant à être connue!

I had won (had earned money) but to be known!

Either case, I still cannot understand the meaning of the whole sentence.

 

[Micia93]

it means that at first sight, it was not obvious, but after a while knowing you was worth it

 

[Gérard Napalinex]

Hi hotjava - may I have a cup ? ,

The core phrase is "gagner à être connu(e)(s)".
Only paraphrasing Micia's explanation: you use this when talking about something or someone whom first contact is not promising, but who reveals interesting if you try to know more about them.

 

[BAlfson]

Alors, par exemple:
"Je me suis fait écrasé par Rafael Nadal à Roland-Gaross, mais je gagnais pourtant à être connue!"

"Rafael Nadal crushed me at the tennis tournament, but I won renown."

Cheers - Bob

 

[Gérard Napalinex]

Non, désolé: il ne s'agit pas de gagner de la renommée (ce que je comprends de to win renown).
En fait, personne ne gagne rien, ou alors un peu d'estime.
1. Tu rencontres quelqu'un au marché, un gars au regard timide, voûté, avec un visage austère - pas marrant.
2. De prime abord, tu penses que c'est un quidam, et qu'il n'y a pas a priori d'intérêt à t'en faire un ami
3. En l'entendant commander son poisson devant toi, tu remarques qu'il semble connaître très bien les poissons halieutiques et leur cycles de reproduction.
4. Il se trouve que c'est ton dada aussi: tu l'invites à prendre un café, la discussion est palpitante et vous ne vous quittez plus.
5. Ton opinion initiale ("ce mec ne ressemble à rien, aucun intérêt") est balayée maintenant que tu le connais mieux

Tu diras alors: malgré son air timide et peu engageant, il gagne à être connu.

Got the picure ?

 

[BAlfson]

OK, I agree that "renown" is a little strong. I used it like that because that was the comment made about me when I lost a fencing bout 4-5 in 1976 to Christian Noël. I also lost 4-5 that day to Harald Hein who won the gold at the Jeux Olympiques that year. It was one of my best days ever in fencing.

Cheers - Bob

 

[hotjava]

Hey, guys, your discussion is too abstract for my understanding. Could someone explain the expression in simple English. I know it is idiomatic, and thus hard to translate word for word. But is there an equivalent English expression or idiom.
To win fame, celebrity. To court fame??

 

[Micia93]

Aren't Gerard's explanation and mine enough to clarify ?

 

[BAlfson]

No, none of those. It simply implies that he got to be known, that someone was aware that he existed.

John sees a girl sitting alone. He sits down across from her, and they briefly seem to have a pleasant conversation. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she sees her boyfriend approaching, and says loudly, "Go away! Quit bothering me! Who do you think you are?"

John stands up and walks back over to sit with his buddy who says, "Man, she really shot you down!"

"That's possible," John says, "Je gagnais pourtant à être connue!"

Cheers - Bob
PS In my story about fencing in post #6, it was Noël and Hein that knew my name after that day (although I trained at the same club as Noël, he knew my name in a different way after that ).

 

[Micia93]

sorry Balfson,
but your example is a bit confusing
it's much more simple than that : it is only the idea that, at first sight, somebody doesn't appear to be very interesting, but when you know him better, you realize that he is actually worth to know
badly expressed maybe ?

 

[BAlfson]

I don't think I disagree. In my sports examples, the champions certainly had seen the pretenders before, but were not conscious of them. Even though the pretenders were unsuccessful, the champions now recognized them. I've already admitted that I'm not much of a story-teller, so I think I'll forego future attempts at invention and just stick with reality.

Cheers - Bob

 

[hotjava]

OK, I got the idea from the examples given. But let me rephrase my original question, how do you translate this expression simply into English. Assume you are the simultaneous intrepreter for Obama when he meets Sarkorzy. Then Sarkorzy uses this French idiom. How do you translate this for Obama? No time to give elaborate examples of fencing, dating, etc.

 

[Roman Age]

If you I was an official interpretor, it would still depend on the context, however in most cases I would translate it as:
It is worth knowing him/her.
or:
It is worth getting to know him/her.

 

[mgarizona]

Some English versions:

I grow on people.
To know me is to love me.
I'm an acquired taste.

 

[Micia93]

I don't think I disagree. In my sports examples, the champions certainly had seen the pretenders before, but were not conscious of them. Even though the pretenders were unsuccessful, the champions now recognized them. I've already admitted that I'm not much of a story-teller, so I think I'll forego future attempts at invention and just stick with reality.

Cheers - Bob

yes of course, I didn't intend to hurt your feelings you know

 

[hotjava]

OK, I think Obama will understand Roman Age's elegant "It is worth knowing him" )

Merci beaucoup

 

[hotjava]

Pardon, Roman Age, shouldn't it be 'it is worth knowing me'. From Je gagnais pourtant à être connue!, the 'Je' seemed to indicate me, and not him. Just in case, Obama knows the word 'Je' actually refer to I or me.

 

[mgarizona]

It would sound more English (AE at least) as: "I'm worth getting to know" or "It's worthwhile getting to know me."

 

[BAlfson]

yes of course, I didn't intend to hurt your feelings you know

Not at all, but thanks for your concern. I reread my little creative gem and realized that it spoke the right message only to me at the moment I wrote it. A day later, it was clear to me that the feeling of "at least, now he knows who I am" was lost.

Cheers - Bob

 

[egremoq]

I improve on further acquaintance (altough usually referring to someone else, not yourself).

 

[BAlfson]

It's clear to me now that I never understood this construction before today, and that the several times I heard it, I completely misinterpreted what was meant. Thanks, Gérard, Micia93, mgarizona, Roman Age and egremoq for countering my misunderstanding.

I was unaware that gagner à être is used in the sense of improves with. I'll start another thread to explore this in depth.

Cheers - Bob

 

[mgarizona]

Think "Un poème gagne à être lu à haute voix."