Feed this into ChatGPT
English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
41–50 of 147 posts
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#42One of my Iranian colleagues back when I worked in an office had many entertaining phrases, like: "I go make some shoppings" "Time for go" Naturally, the rest of the gang picked them up and used them. I still say them to the consternation of others.
In a similar vein, "do the needful" has become so entrenched in some of my friends' vernacular that it's now used almost completely unironically.
Also, "like such as," from the old "Miss Teen USA" viral video, has stuck in my craw to the point that its use is unconscious (though still intended humorously).
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#43The Idiotisms and Proverbs section is one of the more hilarious and I wonder how many of them can be mapped back to originals. The only one I could trace is A horse baared don't look him the tooth , which presumably maps back to Don't look a gift horse in the mouth . Probably quite a few of them are no longer common in English either by now, which makes computing the inverse harder.
I could decode these, because there are equivalents in my native Russian:
>"With tongue one go to Roma"
= you can achieve anything with good communication skills
>"It want to beat the iron during it is hot"
= seize the opportunity while you can
>"to come back to their muttons"
you say "let's go back to our sheep" when you realize you digressed
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#44Heaven forbid I disagree with Mark Twain, but star war: backstroke of the west[0] is another great example in this uh genre. [0]: https://web.archive.org/web/20170115091456/http://winterson....
I find that grammar perversions like this have a direct line to my funny bone in a way that almost nothing else does. Must have something to do with the subversion of expectation with something so incredibly basic as language.
Even after seeing it many times, this old classic still makes me laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EShUeudtaFg
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#45Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#46Definitely a classic.
Some friends and I used to use "spits in the coat" to express the superiority of one thing over another, e.g.
"Framework 1 spits in the coat of Framework 2". "Sports Team 1 spits in the coat of Sports Team 2."
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#47I think this highlights some differences between now and the 19th century. Global communication and travel, to say nothing of media consumption, is much easier today. Many more Portuguese or Brazilian people have easy access to English. But back then, someone who didn't even speak English could publish this phrase book and appear credible.
There are still plenty of topics in which one can "appear credible"—and given chatGPT's skill in bullshitting about various topics, it's easier than ever.
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#48Galactic Pot Healer by Philip K. Dick has some examples of this too
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#49The Idiotisms and Proverbs section is one of the more hilarious and I wonder how many of them can be mapped back to originals. The only one I could trace is A horse baared don't look him the tooth , which presumably maps back to Don't look a gift horse in the mouth . Probably quite a few of them are no longer common in English either by now, which makes computing the inverse harder.
I could decode these, because there are equivalents in my native Russian: >"With tongue one go to Roma" = you can achieve anything with good communication skills >"It want to beat the iron during it is hot" = seize the opportunity while you can >"to come back to their muttons" you say "let's go back to our sheep" when you realize you digressed
We have the exact same idioms in French for the last two (battre le fer pendant qu'il est encore chaud, and revenir à nos moutons) !
Re: English as She Is Spoke (1884) [pdf]
#50My favorite mistranslation came from the first time the Olympics were in China. One of the food vendors hung up a banner "401 Not Found".
Other examples here, including the famous Welsh road sign translation ("I am not in the office at the moment"): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21502019
Or this picture which was posted on Reddit today: https://i.redd.it/2duk9a273o9a1.jpg
