Some Help Please - from Clair !!!

[Gardian]

A pal of mine back in the UK is a bit of a model car 'nut'.  I've cut and pasted his email which requires no further explanation.  Can anyone help please?  (I said that I'd ask on here, because my neighbour Michel just wouldn't get it!!)  Thanks in anticipation.

 

I have a collection of Citroen models that I want to build into a diorama...........it will be in the form of an exhibition.

I need a subtle title for it.

I have the word "exposition" to start..........exhibition.

The cars are IDs and DSs..............I gather ID in French is e-day or idea........while DS is dayess or goddess.( got this info from off the net on a Citroen site as to the meaning of ID and DS.......and of course there was the Citroen Pallas (greek goddess) ).

So I am looking for a motto that says........Exhibition of  (the) ideas of the goddesses (of?) (by?) Citroen.......in French..

I have got as far as.........Exposition des idees par les deesses de Citroen....can't show the accents on this machine.

Do have a think about it and perhaps mull it over with Michel

[Chancer]

You would need a French person to answer but I think that they recognise the DS and its predecessor the ID as just two letters representing the series and not necessarily as a contraction of a word. Your clever play on words may well be lost on most enthusiasts like your neighbour.

Mind you Toyota werent taking any chences when they renamed the MR2 (think about it) the MR for the French market [;-)]

[cooperlola]

I'm afraid I have to disagree, Chancer, as for as long as I've known about the DS - the fact that it was a pun was known to me also (and I was 9 years old when I first rode in my - French - friend's!)  I reckon most Citroen enthusiasts would get it.

Gardian I would contract it to "les idées des déesses" myself.  But we need Clair really.

[allanb]

As you know, it's a long time since the names ID and DS were introduced, and the puns are well-known among French people with an interest in cars. 

I would make it very simple -

Exposition : les idées et les déesses de Citroën

Just a suggestion.

[Âme]

Gardian, French isn't my first language but I'd like to make a suggestion too. [:)]

What about using 'des'?  ...because it can mean some or of

Exposition des idées des déesses de Citroën

Stylistically I like the colon in allanb's version.

Exposition: des idées des déesses de Citroën

[Chancer]

Well I have learned something yet again!

Is this exposition to be shown in France or England?

If England then maybe your friend is taking the subtlety too far.

[Clair]

I like Allanb's idea.

The ID and DS are often called les déesses de la route.

I seem to remember a similar exhibition at Le Mans a good few years back, but with full-size models [:)].

[Gardian]

Many thanks to all for your interest and helpful replies. I'll be sending all the replies to my pal in the UK and he can decide for himself, though I do agree that Allanb's is the best idea.

It'll be for showing in the UK and it's true that the subtlety might be lost.  I'm just rather surprised that he's going for a Citroen display, because he's always been a diehard Jaguar man.

Thanks again.

[allanb]

I'm sorry, I just assumed it was for a French audience.  Can I now make a supplementary suggestion?  How about adding a line for the English speakers, so that it looks like this -

Exposition : les idées et les déesses de Citroën

Exhibition : IDs and DSs by Citroën

In that way, English speakers who know a bit of French will get the little joke; and if they don't know any French but are familiar with the model names, at least they will know what the exhibition's about.