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Have you ever been rereading your work and you see something that, between your buttery fingers and MS Word's annoying auto-correct feature, turns into something amusing?
Today I read the following sentence buried deep within my novel:
"She hung up the phone and looked back at her computer scream."
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We had a good laugh over a mistake someone made on a sign at the hospital I used to work at. We had just survived Hurricane Isabel and the water was turned off by the city due to a failure at the water treatment plant. Hence, no public bathrooms that worked in the building. One of the Execs typed up a flyer that was supposed to say "Public bathrooms closed, please use port-a-potties outside." instead it said "Pubic bathrooms closed, please use port-a-potties outside." All of the signs had been posted before anyone figured it out. Of course we were all running on straight coffee and donuts by that time, so I guess we have an excuse. Posts: 579 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Well, these aren't in English, but they're still in the spirit of the thing...
Chevy had trouble marketing their Nova in Mexico, not understanding that "No va" means "It won't go" in Spanish.
Braniff was extolling the virtues of "flying in leather", but their translation came out "Fly naked!". The Mexican government was not amused.
And, not a typo, more like a HUGE FOOT IN THE MOUTH, but I was in Mexico a while back inspecting a laboratory to ensure that the methods and materials they used would meet my needs. I was particularly worried that they wouldn't have the correct preserving acid in the sample bottles, so I kept hammering away at the [female] lab manager, asking her if she had any "preservativo". She wouldn't answer and had a real funny look on her face, then her expression cleared and she asked if I was talking about "conservativo" instead. It turned out that although "preservativo" means preservative elsewhere, in Mexico it means "condom".
Oh, well.
[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited September 02, 2004).]
One of my Tech Writing profs told a story about how he had worked on a group project for a government document once. It was some sort of report that was going to be distributed and the public/pubic thing was missed by everyone and it wasn't until it was published and distributed (one to every home in the province ) that someone on the team noticed it. Nobody else ever commented on it so the team figured they'd dodged a bullet.
I used to have a list of all kinds of signs from around the world that had been poorly translated into English.
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Aw, Eric, now you've gone and debunked one of my favorite Marketing class tales! So sad, another myth bites the dust. Sniff.
There were other examples, and I honestly don't know how accurate they are either, but they are funny as hell. One was about Pepsi, who went into China with the slogan, "Pepsi -It gets you going" or something of the sort. The unfortunate Chinese translation came out to be, "Drink Pepsi - It makes your ancestors rise from the grave."
Another was in Thailand, where they use pictures on packaging to indicate what the contents are (that much is true). Supposedly, when Gerber went into that market with pictures of chubby, happy babies on their jars...well, you get the picture.
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I really don't think that anyone who sees a baby picture on the front of a food jar will think anything other than it is baby food. It is only funny to those who assume that anyone not from the "great" civilised countries are still barbarians.
Posts: 575 | Registered: Dec 2003
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With "barbarians" it helps if you prime the pump.
One anthropologist studying the Yananamo got tired of them always stealing his stuff, so he started telling them lies about how peanut butter was made. Whether they believed him at the time isn't clear (though it did keep them from stealing his peanut butter), but in any case their reaction to later physical anthropological studies involving the collection of stool samples...well, let's just say that there is no behavior so strange that members of the human race won't accuse other humans of indulging in such things.
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Funny you should mention your list, Robyn. I was surprised to see that they have books on the topic.
My brother has a book called - National Lampoons Totally True Facts. The book contains pictures of signs and marquees with errors on them. It also contains reprints of ads and newspaper articles that got flubbed somehow. They claim they are all real and are sent in by average folks for inclusion in the book. I'll admit it is pretty funny stuff. Some of the ads are so weird you can't help but laugh. The only one I can remember is an ad with a French poodle's picture. The ad reads:
"You finding Ling Ling's head. Ling Ling very good dog. Very much want head back."
I can’t understand exactly why that is so funny to me. I'm an animal lover and it is very sad that Ling Ling lost her head. I guess it makes me wonder about the story behind it. Poor Ling Ling. I wonder if they ever found it?
[This message has been edited by NewsBys (edited September 03, 2004).]
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I was working for Tears of Joy Theatre in Washington that had two really great typos. For a Christmas production called "Toybox," they sent out a press release with the headline, "Enjoy a Toyboy for the Holidays."
For an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) grant they mistyped their name as Rears of Joy.
And finally, one of the best pieces of revenge I ever saw was at the same theater. A disgruntled employee went into the artistic director's bio and deleted one zero. His new bio read, "Over the past twenty years, Mr. Bradly has directed over 4 productions." Oooo. So many.
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Man, Eric. That site pretty much de-bunked my favorite legend. Joanie loves Chachi. It was supposed to be the all-time highest rated TV premier in Korea, because Chachi is supposed to be slang for male genetalia. Oh well, I will find another unproven story to talk about. That site is pretty cool!
Posts: 471 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I once wrote about a character who, after sitting down, "placed one foot on the opposite knee." I decided that it would be better if he had both feet flat on the floor, but in editing, I messed up. I wound up with: "He place both feet on the opposite knee."
The funniest compilation of errors and related items I have ever seen is Richard Lederer's Anguished English. From headlines like "Iraqi Head Seeks Arms" to student mistakes like "Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper," this book is a riot. Lots of things I've seen floating around the internet are taken from this book.
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Saw a bumper sticker that announced the driver as an "Honor Roll Parent". Didn't know parents had an honor roll.
Posts: 497 | Registered: Jun 2004
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A childish prank at our local drive-in for some reason struck me as very amusing. Some person changed the marquee for Legally Blonde. They moved a couple of letters and for three days the sign advertised showings of 'illegaly boned'. I often wondered how that might of changed their audience...
Posts: 8 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I had a teacher who had a picture of a McDonald's sign that said "Now hiring all S***s"(supposed to be Shifts.) underneath it he wrote 'Justification for higher education'
There was a Bible once that said "Thou shalt commit adultery."
The absolute funniest I've seen was on a "365 of the stupedest things ever said." It's too long to post here but it was two articles mixed together. One about a Pastor receiving a gift from his congregation and the other about a new pig slaughtering machine.
And personally I once wrote Dissapated on an assignment for school and the spell check turned it into Decapatated. The teacher even complemented me on my word usage.
quote:There was a Bible once that said "Thou shalt commit adultery."
One of the characters in Pratchett/Gaiman's "Good Omens" collected bibles with misprints. It turned out that he had arranged this one by bribing the printer...
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That would probably be the best way to get one, since there are only 11 remaining copies of the so called "Wicked Bible" of 1631 printed by Robert Barker for King Charles (the king wasn't amused, Robert Barker was fined a lifetime's wages, and the bibles were ordered destroyed).
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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I wonder if they ever found it? 
