lost in translation, very lost.
Saturday March 11, 2006; part of: Blather

This is too silly for words: a Chinese menu with literal word-for-word translations done from a colloquial dictionary. It gets steadily more surreal and vulgar as you scroll down until the characters meaning "Hot and spicy garlic greens stir-fried with shredded dried tofu." are translated into English as "Benumbed hot vegetables fries fuck silk."

Found via Language Log which also has a nicely laid out explanation of how that particular mistranslation came about.

Now back to the politics of British Islam.

Posted by andrewb at March 11, 2006 09:34 PM
Comments

This reminds me of the story of the Ford Pinto, which had to be renamed for sale in Brazil because 'pinto' in Brazilian Portuguese means not horse (nor 'coloured') but 'tiny penis'.

Posted by: Fragano Ledgister on March 12, 2006 10:45 PM

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