more blunders

Remember when we talked about severe (and hilarious) mistranslations? Well, here's a short article documenting some of the worst blunders cross-culturally. Some of my favorites:

-a sign in a Japanese hotel: “You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid"

-a laundromat in Rome: “Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time"

-the Coors beer campaign “Get Loose with Coors" translating into “Get the runs with Coors" in Spanish

-Coke's “Coke adds life" campaign translating to “Coke brings your ancestors back from the dead" in Japanese

Check out the article here to see them all--it's only a page long, no fear. 

some fun with semantics

Here's another fun post that has been circulating the web. I'm not sure of the original source since it's all over the place, but enjoy reading it here until I am forced to take this blog down for improper citing!

“No English dictionary has been able to adequately explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. However, in a recent linguistic conference held in London, England, and attended by some of the best linguists in the world, Samsundar Balgobin, a Guyanese, was the clear winner.

His final challenge was this: Some say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED. Please explain the difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED in a way that is easy to understand.

Here is his astute answer: “When you marry the right woman, you are COMPLETE. But, when you marry the wrong woman, you are FINISHED, and when the right one catches you with the wrong one, you are COMPLETELY FINISHED!”

His answer was received with a standing ovation lasting over 5 minutes and it entitled him to receive an invitation to dine with the Queen. He won a trip to travel around the world and a case of 25 year old Eldorado rum for his answer.”

(Just for fun, I entered complete and finished into dictionary.com, and here are the results: 

complete: finished, ended, concluded

finished: ended or completed

Looks like Samsundar Balgobin really did deserve such high praise.)

cracking up

Here's my favorite meme that's been circulating since Election Day:

ryanair

My friend Luc preparing for our flight to Sweden

Dreading my surely imminent demise

During my year abroad, I took the budget airline Ryanair all over Europe. Besides being a great way to get places cheaply, it was just about the worst thing ever. Pretzel crumbs in my seat because they were too stingy to clean up the cabin between flights; no complimentary cups of water; no seat trays or even seat-back pockets; ads blasting throughout the entire flight; hidden fees at every turn; flight attendants that looked like they would rather break the windows and suffocate at 30,000 feet than help you secure your carry-on luggage in the overhead bins. So here are some hilarious quotes by the very outspoken CEO of Ryanair, Michael O'Leary, a man whose life goal is to make a Ryanair appear under Webster's definition of “utter crap.” He has voiced intentions to abolish the last 10 rows of seats to have standing room only (thus cramming in more passengers); to get rid of two out of the three bathrooms in order to add six more seats; and to charge passengers to use the bathroom on board. This man makes my frugal parents seem like reckless spenders in comparison, and after reading these quotes I'm just grateful that I made it through all my travels on Ryanair alive. 

“Seatbelts don't matter.”

A woman who complained about having to pay a steep fee for printing her boarding pass at the airport “should pay a 60 euro fee for being so stupid.” 

Last year, commenting in his idea for in-flight porn, O'Leary said: “I'm not talking about having it on screens on the back of seats for everyone to see. It would be on handheld devices.”

“An airline is nothing more than a bus with wings on.” 

On service: “Our flights are noisy, full and we are always trying to sell you something.”

“No we shouldn't give you a bloody cup of coffee. We only charge 19 Euro for the ticket.”

(All quotes from this San Francisco Chronicle article.)

dirty minds

It's confirmed: college students are no more mature than pre-teens. When my Phonetics professor showed us all a picture of human vocal chords, the class broke out in muffled giggles and squeamish squeals. Everyone's mind is in the gutter.....literally everyone's.

(Yours is too, isn't it???)

victory

             I voted for the winning team in my first-ever presidential election! Although Obama's first election was amazingly exciting and historic, I felt even more thrilled about this time around because I could actually participate. And what's more, it seems like California voters actually made a difference, since we helped Obama clinch the popular vote! 

            I can finally let out a huge sigh of relief, and can at least temporarily postpone the desperate attempt to find and marry a European man for citizenship.