what do they mean?

Cela crée des situations douloureuses, injustes, inégalitaires et abracadabrantes.

I think it says 'It creates situations of pains, injustice, inequalities and ..............

what is abracadabrantes? This word appears very strange to me. Does it means 'Mumbo Jumbo'?

C'est donc une bataille au cas par cas.

Does it means ' So it is a battle case by case' - is this correct?

On est dans le bricolage - does this means ' one is in the Do it yourself '

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Permalink Reply by Erwan on March 7, 2011 at 9:43am

Abracadabrant means "unlikely","extravagant"

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EducatorPermalink Reply by stu harris on March 7, 2011 at 6:49pm

Don't forget the noun-adjective order is very often different in our two languages. I'd render your sentences as:

It creates painful, unjust, inegalitarian and frankly bizarre situations.

So it's a case-by-case battle.

The last one probably means We're engaged in home improvement. (DIY would be fine for British, not so for American)

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Permalink Reply by yong leong on March 8, 2011 at 2:19am

Merci Stu, your translation sounds good, 'frankly bizarre situations' it seems to fit into the context, because this sentence came from the article that describe the Gay marriage and how the french government deals with it.

DIY would be fine for British not so for American, what does that mean? Please elaborate, merci.

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Permalink Reply by Neil Coffey on March 8, 2011 at 3:12am

"bizarre" could work, although it's just worth bearing in mind that it may be straying slightly from the usual meaning (for comparison, Larousse suggests "difficile à croire")-- from this point of view, Erwan's suggestion of "unlikely" is a bit closer.

I wonder about "far-fetched"?

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EducatorPermalink Reply by stu harris on March 8, 2011 at 3:22am

far-fetched is pretty good, I'd have no problem with that.

Yong: DIY -- of course -- stands for Do It Yourself, and it's shorthand recognised by everyone UK-side. It's much less common in USA, though, and I wouldn't use it if translating for an American client. They tend to talk about home improvement, or "chores".

On the comical side, men in the USA talk about "Honeydew lists." This means lists of home improvement tasks provided by the wife... starting "Honey, do...."