History is a Bitch - a weblog by Jeanne Kalogridis

As a linguist, I get a real kick out of the unintended consequences of translating text from one language to another. (One of my favorite books is ENGLISH AS SHE IS SPOKE, an amazing tome written some centuries ago by two Portuguese gentlemen who spoke no English, but possessed a lot of faith in their technique of using a Portuguese-French dictionary, then a French-English dictionary, to come up with... ta daa! An English primer for Portuguese speakers. It's been a long time since I read the book, but I do fondly recall the expression "address you to your hairs" being offered up in place of "comb your hair" and the mysterious phrase "to craunch the marmoset.")

In that spirit, I'd like to offer up a lovely list from moronland.net: the Top 13 Worst Slogan Translations Ever. My favorite concerns the nature of the relationship between Frank Perdue and his chickens.

I've been thoroughly enjoying Dan's posts over at ourboldhero.com -- specifically, the copy-editing page. I got a chuckle out of the Batman/Robin exchange.

Robin: "You can't get away from Batman that easy!" Batman: "Easily." Robin: "Easily." Batman: "Good grammar is essential, Robin." Robin: "Thank you." Batman: "You're welcome."

Batman: "Cattail Lane and Nine Lives Alley. The Grimalkin Novelty Company is on that corner."
Robin: "Grimalkin? What kind of a name is that?"
Batman: "An obscure but nevertheless acceptable synonym for cat, Robin."

Dan's site led me to the delightful Futility Closet, described as an "idler's miscellany of compendious amusements." Indeed it is. Scroll down to read the "Rimshot" post -- a terrible pun. As a child of an inveterate terrible punster -- who back in 1976, got my first (and last) short story published in ISAAC ASIMOV'S SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINE as a result of winning a terrible pun contest -- I much appreciated it.

This post has absolutely nothing to do with historical fiction, women, writing or reading. I don't even own cats, but...

Dem kittehs over at I Can Has Cheezburger iz sooooo cutes!