English-to-English Translation: from England to Australia
October 3, 2013 in Australia, Oceania
Sometimes lost in translation moments are hilarious.
We’re quite used to being illiterate, and unable to communicate by conventional means. With creativity, we figure it out. Sign language goes a long way; as does smiling. Once we were at a complete impasse, only to have a little thai lady whip out her ipad, pull up google translate and before long we were all laughing and “talking” back and forth. Technology is a beautiful thing.
And then there are those english-to-english lost in translation moments when you realize that something isn’t quite right. In which you find yourself grasping at the end of a literacy rope that’s slipping through your fingers and you realize that you’re about to drown in a very deep sea of confusion and, most probably, embarrassment too!
Case in point:
It was our first long day of cycling on our bike trip. We rode out of London and past Windsor Castle. It was an idyllic day. Tony’s friend Tim met us half way and rode us to his home, where we were to spend a few days getting to know his family and touring the countryside. It wasn’t a long ride, but it felt it. I was dragging Ez behind me on his trail-a-bike, and fully loaded, my rig weighed more than I did. I hadn’t found my groove yet.
We rolled into Tim’s yard and the kids tumbled from their bike seats all over the grass, rolling around, and relaxing. I unfastened my helmet and lifted my posterior gently off of the bike seat, “Whew! What a ride, my fanny is sore!” I smiled. Instantly I knew that something was amiss. Tim, the epitome of polite English manhood didn’t say a word, but I notice his eyes widen just a smidge and he cocked his head to the side ever so slightly. I registered the change, but it passed as quickly as it had come and we had a lovely afternoon.
Too much a gentleman to embarrass me, Tim whispered to Tony, later, “I know what she meant, I get it, I’ve spent time in America. But you might want to mention to your wife that “fanny” doesn’t mean “backside” on this side of the pond…” I nearly died of mortification when he told me.
I was laughing about that with Jacqui the other day after she’d given us a present:
The Australian Slang Dictionary: The essential guide for all international visitors.
It’s her contribution to our international linguistics education.
Selections include:
“She’s got kangaroos loose in the upper paddock!” …. she’s crazy
“bickie”… biscuit… cookie
“bluey” … nickname for someone with red hair (???)
“bum nuts” … eggs
“Let’s Captain Cook it!” … let’s have a look
“carpet grubs”… children
“driza-bone” … waterproof jacket
“get a wriggle on”… hurry up
“do your lolly” … lose your temper
“shark biscuit”… new surfers
“shoot a fairy”… fart
“face like a festered pickle”… has acne
“off like a bucket of prawns in the sun”… to leave quickly
Those are the clean ones, there are many more that are side-splittingly hilarious! Incidentally, if I’d had this book in the UK, it would have sorted me out on my faux-pas with Tim.
We keep flipping through the book and finding new things to giggle over. What are your favourite “lost in translation” moments?
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I had the “fanny” and “bum” moment as well, but, thankfully, it was with my Kiwi husband shortly after we first met. I mentioned something about a “fanny pack” meaning one of those touristy, belted wallets and he nearly busted a gut laughing at me. Apparently, “bum bag” is the proper term!
Another funny moment was not really a lost in verbal translation moment, but a moment of cultural confusion. My husband was introducing me to his Maori cousin ( in London) and when this young man came up to me, it looked like he was about to plant one right on the kisser! As it turns out, he was just greeting me with a hongi – the traditional Maori greeting in which the parties rub noses. Phew. Wish I had seen that one coming! LOL
Post some more funny translations!!! Those are hilarious!!
My kids are going to love “shoot a fairy”!!!
One of my favorite “lost in translation moments” was when my best friend in college (who attended British school), was sitting on the side of me while we were taking a quiz. She turned to the guy on the other side of her and asked for a “rubber.” “Excuse me,” she said in her posh British accent, “do you have a rubbuh?” The guy looked at her strangely and asked “what???” several times until she pointed to someone’s eraser. He looked nervous and confused and gave her his eraser. She has not lived that one down.
Emily… ahahaha indeed… being Canadian (British English influence) I’ve done the same thing and then quickly added, “err… I mean ERASER!”
Melissa… that is GREAT… yes, the fanny pack, rofl. I love the hongi moment too… so funny
My children find it very amusing to speak to me in “Americanisms” (if that’s even a word), and take great pleasure in asking me to take out the trash, and can we go to the store or the mall; can I go and play in the yard when quite clearly they mean the piece of land at the back of our house that is grassed and is known as a garden! 😉 I keep telling them I’ll stop them from watching so many American TV shows but they just tell me to shut up or they’ll kick me up the fanny………..ok, I made that bit up, but I am just waiting for the reference, which by the way, is the only translation I cringe at. I’ve actually found myself writing a lot more American/Canadian English as more of the people who I connect with are from there, and on the whole it sounds and flows a lot better for everyday speech. I particularly prefer ass instead of arse, and you guys instead of you lot! Whew, didn’t mean to write an essay.
Mine’s not English to English, but it is definately a translation miss (or more like almost…)
It was close to Christmas time and i was sending my daughter a package in Guatemala while we were waiting for her. I had just finished typing a note to her Foster Family and using Google Translate so it could be printed in English and Spanish. One of my co-workers came in the lounge and asked me what I was doing. I proudly showed her the note I had typed and set for translate. The co-worker read the English part and the Spanish part. Her eyes went big for a moment and told me that writing “I hope you are well in and in good spirit.” in English turned into “I hope you are are full of alcohol.” on the Google Translate. Mortified, I ripped up the note and typed “I hope you are well” so the translate would be more correct.
I haven’t heard the shoot the fairy one before, but I used to work in a very male-dominated workplace, so learned a lot of colloquialisms for unattractive women – ready? “She could scare a dog out of a butcher’s shop,” or, “she’s got a head like a half-sucked mango”. Some other faves are “he/she’s acting like a secondhand lawnmower” (usually when your child is misbehaving), “he/she’s a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic basket” – there are so many more – dog and bone (phone); get an eyeful of that (look at that); I’m stuffed (usually means you’re tired, but according to a fellow traveller, it does not mean the same thing in the U.S.?) I hope you have fun reading that book!
Yes. I semi-wish this was my story…but I was only witness to it. I was on a medical mission trip in Honduras with my friend Heather. Heather was assisting the dentist and it was her job to pass instruments while the dentist worked. She had watched the dentist ask the patient to lay down and then would request “Abierta”, which is spanish for open. The dentist turned around for a second and Heather was left alone with a new patient. Feeling confident, (and not knowing any Spanish…just going on recall) she laid the patient down, looked into their eyes and requested, in a slow somber voice, “MUERTE”. If you could have seen the eyes of the lady turn to saucers! The dentist quickly spun around and reassured the patient that she was not, in fact, about to die : )