Lost in Translation
A few months ago I sat beside a guy with one of those personal dvd players on the train. He had a second headphone jack so i joined him in watching the very mediocre film, Poseidon. What was great though, was that it was an illegal copy which had obviously been subtitled into japanese, and then had the subtitles retranslated into english so the every time i got bored with the movie, i would try and follow along by reading the subtitles. For instance:
Kurt Russel: I'm your father and I say we're going now.
Subtitle: You are the offspring of my mother's son. Haste will be required. Now is the time haste is needed.
Now, we all know about engrish, but this was my first actual encounter with it. My second came yesterday. My dad had been to the wedding of the daughter of the guy who owns the Mandarins(don't ask), and was given a shirt. The shirt is in a bag which says:
"Classic wear
This garment is soft comfortable and srunk
THROUSH SPECIAL WASHING
Process natural andunique look actieved."
Fair enough. They could have used a dictionary, but at least I can understand it. What really impressed me was the note at the bottom:
"As if this change to there is man impersonation of too many role necessity in the tidewater life. "
Read it again. Now here's your question of the day, and I'm not being facetious. Is that a philosophical exposition, or washing instructions?
Kurt Russel: I'm your father and I say we're going now.
Subtitle: You are the offspring of my mother's son. Haste will be required. Now is the time haste is needed.
Now, we all know about engrish, but this was my first actual encounter with it. My second came yesterday. My dad had been to the wedding of the daughter of the guy who owns the Mandarins(don't ask), and was given a shirt. The shirt is in a bag which says:
"Classic wear
This garment is soft comfortable and srunk
THROUSH SPECIAL WASHING
Process natural andunique look actieved."
Fair enough. They could have used a dictionary, but at least I can understand it. What really impressed me was the note at the bottom:
"As if this change to there is man impersonation of too many role necessity in the tidewater life. "
Read it again. Now here's your question of the day, and I'm not being facetious. Is that a philosophical exposition, or washing instructions?
posted by A Horse(wo)man at 4:47 PM
2 Comments:
It most definitely is a philosophical expression. What better then a garment wearable for every moment during the daily changing tides of life?
On that note, that phrase sounds quite a bit like something that you would find in a fortune cookie. My favourite fortune ever recieved was this: "You will find oil in your backyard." I'm serious. And I'm still waiting for it to happen... literally
one time, i recieved a cookie with no fortune in it. i figured - hey, that sucks...what are the odds? then, the next two times i had chinese food, i went fortuneless AGAIN!...i'm still waiting for a piano to fall on my head.
Cas
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