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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
>>Promoters of a major Hollywood production have encountered linguistic problems in Japan. Japanese uses a "phonetic" language where words are made from a set of sounds rather than letters. When foreign words are used in Japanese, they are altered to the closest equivalent that can be produced from this set of sounds.
This means the film title "Troy" appears on posters above star Brad Pitt as "Toroi". Unfortunately, when read out loud, the word sound the same as the native Japanese word for slow and dim-witted.<<
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
And the problem is .... ?
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
That Plain English email also went into a hissy fit about:
Students who walked out of Headlands school in Swindon (Report, May 18) were advised by the council's head of education to "re-engage with their learning environment". It might have been more effective to tell them to go back to school.
As is often the case with the much maligned modern usage, it expresses the meaning better than the preferred oldpseak. You can go back to school from now till the middle of the next century; if you don't re-engage with the learning environment it isn't going to do you a bit of good.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Oddly enough it's been reported that more teenagers are having sex in the back of Toyotas after seeing Troy. I think it's time we had a Congressional investigation of Troy, lust and Cressidas.
TEd
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<and the problem is...?>>
lol!
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
This problem (of Troy menaing something else in japanese) is not new, of course.
I remember that when Fess Parker was a big star (that'd be as Davy Crockett?) back in the 50s, they had to change his name to "Fier" on the adverts for the film in France. Fier means 'proud' in French: fess means "ass." (Or "bum", if'n you're a Brit)
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,475 |
Problem I've always had with Troy is that the Latin Troja sounds an awful lot like the Italian troia 'furrowing sow; whore'. Reminds me of the funny (and confirmed with a native Farsi speaker) story of the unfortunate transliteration of Sen. Dole's surname into Farsi. Dol in Farsi is an expletive for the membrum virile. Ironic in light of the senator's advertising career.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
...Ironic in light of the senator's advertising career.
Yeow!
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