Funny translation errors.

Post Reply New Topic

The same word is used in several Romance languages for ‘ruler’ and ‘rule’, the latter sense working as a euphemism for ‘menstruation’. According to Wiktionary, that word is règle in French, and the ‘menstruation’ sense is expressed in the plural, règles, which, of course, is pronounced exactly the same as the singular, since the final -s is silent.

The same happens in Portuguese with regra (‘ruler’ or ‘rule’), used in the plural (regras) to mean ‘menstruation’, though this time the final -s is not silent, so you can actually hear the difference between the two forms. In Spanish, the word is regla, and it can mean ‘menstruation’ when used in the singular, not the plural (unless you’re talking about more than one menstruation).

I’ve read something, somewhere about prepubescent girls believing they’ll have to expel a ruler through their vaginas every month.

In Brazil, when people say "ménage" they always mean "threesome", in the sexual sense, because of the expression "ménage à trois". But in France, ménage means just "household". So, it's always funny (and awkward) when Brazilians go to Paris and hear hotel employees ask if they can "faire le ménage" - "do the ménage".

King?

Or yardstick?

The Chevy "Nova" failed in Spanish-speaking countries. "No va" means, "no go," or "doesn't go."

Weird product names around the world:

Zit (Greece)
Pipi (Former Yugoslavia)
Plopp
Fokkink

In Dutch, the product Pledge means p*ss.

There’s a picture of a Chinese restaraunt menu on the internet with the dish 干爆鸭子 [gan bao yazi], which is supposed to be something like ‘dry fried duck’. However, they translated it as ‘f**k the duck until exploded’.

Turns out, 干 [gan] means ‘dry’, but in some slang it can also mean ‘f**k’. And 爆 [bao] usually means ‘explode’ but it can also mean ‘quick fry’ in some cases.

Exactly.

"Tongue" is often used in a nonliteral way in English to mean "a language". And as a matter of fact English speakers on both sides of the Atlantic are more likely to say "his native tongue is Polish" to mean "his native language is Polish" than to use the latter nonliteral phrase. So if a Brit or an American sees "my father's tongue is Polish" in print it would be assumed that the word "native" just got left out as a typo, and most of us would understand it without missing a beat.

Its not the same kinda gaffe as that notorious moment when President Jimmy Carter toured Poland, and his American translator translated his words as "I am horny for the Polish people!" .

Carter meant to say "I love the Polish people" and the translator picked a word that meant "to lust for carnally" for the word "love"

I’m not sure I understand your question, but I guess the latter: I meant ‘ruler, instrument for drawing straight lines and possibly measuring lengths’, not ‘ruler, one who rules, sovereign’.