In the context of the French Presidential elections, I keep coming across the word “surenchère”. Whilst I understand the meaning of this word in its entirety, I have been struggling to find an english equivalent that carries across the meaning well. Here are some possibilities:
Overbid, higher bid, overstatement, oneupmanship; escalation
Here are some contextual examples of the word:
J’ai enfin réussi à faire une surenchère sur Paul – I finally succeeded in outbidding Paul.
Il est roi de la surenchère – He’s the king of overstatement.
Je préfère que tu ne fasses pas de surenchère – I prefer that you don’t play at oneupmanship.
To sum up, the word surenchère is generally used figuratively – in the sense of one person always trying to outdo another. If one person proposes one thing, the other feels he/she has to beat it.
Hopefully I’ll add to this post as I find more examples and meanings. Has anybody got any other suggestions for good translations?