Literal translation
to go/end up at the dates
Meaning
to fall back on some menial, poorly paid job
Explanation
The word dàti, date, evokes modest, poorly paid work, tied to small port or market jobs handling this imported fruit, a task considered quite thankless. Ana or feni ei dàti thus means falling back, for lack of anything better, on a menial, dead-end job, after perhaps having known better days. By extension, the expression can also describe, more broadly, ending up badly, watching one's situation decline to a low point from which recovery is hard. It carries a connotation of social or professional decline, used with a certain gravity or a touch of sympathy toward someone whose path has taken a turn for the worse. The register is familiar, rooted in the vocabulary of Provençal harbor work and small trades, and the expression still bears the trace of a local economy where certain tasks clearly marked the bottom rung of the social ladder.