pitfall

Jul 18, 2007 18:13

Pitfalls of speaking English as a second language...

If you don't get out of here, I'm gonna blow you!

~ a Montreal bailiff (as shown - without comment - on the local news this evening)

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Comments 5

felis_ultharus July 19 2007, 00:14:00 UTC
When I worked for The Link at Concordia, our news editor was francophone. His formal register of English was perfect, his grammar flawless, but he didn't know his English colloquialisms as well as he should.

Once, the big news story was that Concordia had promoted yet another man to senior administration, this time as Vice-Rector of Services. When asked why no women had yet been promoted, they explained that they only promoted from within, and there were no women in the mid-level administration. Strangely, this even more disturbing news scarcely caused a ripple.

Anyway, our news editor gave the story a marvellous headline -- and the copy editors were so tired they didn't spot it until The Link went to print:

Vice-Rector Services Another Male

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pinkville July 19 2007, 01:41:16 UTC
Ha ha! I missed that particular headline, unfortunately...

Concordia's administration is truly appalling... And has been for as long as I can remember.

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yumemisama July 19 2007, 00:15:06 UTC
Pitfalls of speaking French as a second language: Most dictionaries tell you that "embracer" means "to embrace" and "baiser" means "to kiss".

The actual, practical meanings of these two verbs is not usually something you want to find out the hard way.

Runner-up was the guy who went to France and tried to find natural wine without preservatives, only to discover that "preservatif" is not a cognate.

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pinkville July 19 2007, 01:48:13 UTC
Ha ha, very good examples!

The film Baise-moi* should have put to rest the tamer notion of the verb's meaning...

I love that in England a condom is a French Letter, while in France it's a Capote anglaise...

*Translated (badly) in North America as Rape Me, rather than Fuck Me.

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С уважением ваш друг Влад

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