The New Hobbit Hole

[RosieCotton]

Some here would debate that...sneaky dwarf...

[RosieCotton]

He's going to take it anyway...

[Corin Stormhands]

Should we let the dwarf have it?

"Let" has nothing to do with it...

[RosieCotton]

See what I mean?

[Overtaxed]

Well we just let you have it because you're leaving.

[Corin Stormhands]

If you'd tell the idjits downstairs to get off the phone, I'd be leaving NOW...

[ksen]

My son's French teacher just called. He isn't doing his homework, and he's been telling us he didn't have any!

Hhmm, time to apply le conseil d'éducation to le siège d'apprentissage. French translation courtesy of freetranslation.com.

[Corin Stormhands]

I'd prefer to Donnez un coup de pied son âne.

I can never get freetranslation.com to work I use Babelfish

[ksen]

"Give to a kick its a$$?"

This must be where "all your base are belong to us" got its start. ;^)

[Corin Stormhands]

What I put in was "kick his a$$."

There's something to be said for "loses a lot in the translation."

[RosieCotton]

My brother and I have spent hours over the last few years playing around with babelfish...trying putting in song lyrics and translating them to, say, Japanese and back. It's highly amusing!

One of the more insteresting translations I've seen was for a Y2K document. I was in Germany at the time, and in preparation for Y2K we were finding out what contigency plans our utility companies (which were actually based in various countries) had in place.

The French power company had a line which translated as something like, "in the event of the loss of computer capability, the man will take charge", meaning systems would be switched to manual. We had a good laugh over that, though..."you the man! Take care of our powah!"

[ksen]

I got what you meant. I thought the reverse-translation was kind of funny. ;^)

[Corin Stormhands]

I have a watch that I'm wearing that shows the correct analog time, but the digital has never been correct because we can't read the instructions (printed in eight different languages, one of which is presumably English). The little one likes to push the buttons (because the face lights up), so at the most inopportune times the alarm will go off...

Maybe I should input the instructions into Babelfish.

[RosieCotton]

Maybe I should input the instructions into Babelfish.

Hey, it'd be good for a laugh!

You could always try putting in, say, the Italian instructions and translating to English - maybe that'd make more sense that the supposedly English instructions!

[Corin Stormhands]

My wife did a short-term missions project in Japan during college. She was playing piano for a church service one night (that was conducted in English). The song leader had written down the hymn numbers and the names.

The first song they sang was (as he had written), "Peace Like a Liver."

I am not making this up.

[ksen]

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

In French: "Un Anneau pour les gouverner tout, Un Anneau pour les trouver, Un Anneau pour les apporter tout et dans l'obscurité les lie."

Back to english: "A Ring to govern them all, A Ring to find them, A Ring to bring them all and in obscurity secures them."

Hmm, doesn't have quite the same impact.

[Corin Stormhands]

It may just be best to buy a new watch...

[Corin Stormhands]

You know, over on that "other" forum, you could use that as an object lesson for those who think they've got the exact meaning of a passage...

[ksen]

We used to sing a song whose chorus went, "Glory, I'm saved! Glory, I'm saved!....."

Our pastor had a young boy who would belt out at the top of his lungs, "Gore me, I'm saved!! Gore me, I'm saved!!...."

[RosieCotton]

To Korean and back: In order to bring they all inside darkness and they also the low of discovering lok all, one ring governs they, one ring one ring ties they.

Okaaayyyy...