Allez vous mettre là-bas

How colloquial is "allez vous mettre là-bas," and does it have any emotional content? If spoken to a hyperactive individual, "là-bas" here referring to the little table where naughty children are made to sit, does the expression suggest exasperation? Would this translation be too crude: "Park yourself (or park your behind) over there"?

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Permalink Reply by Benoît on December 20, 2010 at 12:06pm

Basically "allez vous mettre là-bas" doesn't have any emotional content nor suggest exasperation.
Well, of course a polite way of expressing this would have been: "allez vous mettre là-bas, s'il vous plait"...
But this is a matter of context. For example an adult, speaking to kids, won't use "s'il vous plais".

Possible translations: "take a seat over there" or simply "Go over there".

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Arthur Copeland on December 20, 2010 at 2:19pm

Thanks. This is the first instance of this idiom in La Dame aux camélias, the drama. The next time it occurs, Marguerite says to Armand, "Allons, venez vous mettre là." Why not "venez ici" or "approchez"? "Là" makes perfect sense with "aller" but less with "venir." The common element in both cases is that a young man is moving about like a jack-in-the-box and is asked to take a position someplace. In the first case, Gaston is asked, "Tàchez de rester tranquille," is then told to "vous mettre là-bas," and is finally commanded, "Allez vous asseoir et ne dites rien." In the next case, Armand "court à Marguerite" in her dressing room, is halted by Prudence, and then is told, "venez vous mettre là" by Marguerite. Is it possible that in both cases "vous mettre là" suggests that the boys get a grip and settle down? Armand responds as if this is how he interprets the remark, for he falls to his knees. I'd like to translate "Allons, venez vous mettre là" this way: "Come on, then. . . . That's far enough." Am I misrepresenting the meaning, adding anything inappropriate?