1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much 3 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 1: for tuning in. Let's hear it for our super producer, 4 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:34,960 Speaker 1: mister Max Williams. 5 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, the. 6 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: Same in any language, a rose is a rose is 7 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:46,800 Speaker 1: a rose until it is translated incorrectly. You're Noel Brown, 8 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: I'm Ben Boland. Do you remember the last time we 9 00:00:48,840 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: talked about famous mistranslations? 10 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 3: You know, I mentioned in the last episode that I 11 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 3: did not remember, but now I totally remember because Jimmy 12 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,960 Speaker 3: Carter really stuck it to the entire nation of Poland 13 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,280 Speaker 3: by accident. And may I also add that arose, even mistranslated, 14 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:05,960 Speaker 3: still smells as sweet. 15 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 2: There we are. 16 00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: Yes, we talked about our buddy Jimmy pulling for you 17 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: for President Carter, as well as Pepsi's hilarious errors trying 18 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: to market Pepsi cola in Asia. 19 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 2: We had to do with ghosts, right, Yeah. 20 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: It was like Pepsi brings your ancestors back to life life, yeah, 21 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: or bite the wax tadpole, things like that. Check out 22 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 1: our check out our first Famous Mistranslations episode. As we said, 23 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,760 Speaker 1: this is kind of a continuing series. We've got way 24 00:01:43,800 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: more funny, strange, downright ridiculous mistranslations. And I bet there's 25 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: one in here. I know there is one in here 26 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: that you guys are gonna love. Let's dive in true 27 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: true story. Life on Mars. 28 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,200 Speaker 2: Is their life on Mars? David Bowie seemed to think so. 29 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 3: But for the purposes of this discussion, let us point 30 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 3: our mind canons backwards in time to eighteen seventy seven, 31 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 3: when an Italian you go. 32 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 2: When an Italian astronomer. 33 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:26,680 Speaker 4: By the name of Giovanni Virginio Sia per Parelli Chiaparelli, 34 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 4: there we go, who is the director of the Brera 35 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 4: Observatory in Milan, Milano, he accidentally created a situation rife 36 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,560 Speaker 4: for conspiracy theorizing that would be right at home on 37 00:02:40,680 --> 00:02:41,800 Speaker 4: our sister pod stuff. 38 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:42,639 Speaker 2: They don't want you to know. 39 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 3: This particular conspiracy Schmorgsborg had to do with a very 40 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:49,280 Speaker 3: famous mistranslation. 41 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,519 Speaker 1: Yeah, he is looking at the planet Mars. And so 42 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: while he's looking at this, and he's a smart guy, 43 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 1: as you said, he's working at this observatory, he says, well, 44 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 1: holy spokes, there are light and dark areas on the 45 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: surface and I'm going to call them sees and continents respectively. 46 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: And he said, oh, further, I see things that look 47 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: to be channels on the surface, and he called these 48 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,200 Speaker 1: canali because you know, he speaks Italian. 49 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:23,799 Speaker 3: Yeah, but unfortunately a lot of his peers in the 50 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:30,119 Speaker 3: scientific community translated that to canals, like man made channels 51 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 3: that would require some sort of intelligent life on Mars 52 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 3: in order to exists. Right, So canali, being Italian and 53 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 3: his translation meaning channel did not intend to describe intelligent creation. 54 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, But the issue is canali translated to canal 55 00:03:53,840 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: in English is more problematic because canal definitely implies some 56 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: sort of intelligent design, that's right. And then, of course, 57 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:07,680 Speaker 1: add to that for the average English speaking reader, it 58 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: implies there's a lot of water on Mars because of 59 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: all the canals. 60 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:17,480 Speaker 3: That's right, And it absolutely set the scientific world of flame. 61 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 3: US astronomer Percevale Lowell mapped hundreds of these quote unquote 62 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 3: canals between eighteen ninety four and eighteen ninety five and 63 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 3: published three books on Mars' illustrated works over the next 64 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 3: two decades, showing what he thought were artificial structure is 65 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 3: built to carry water by some sort of intelligent race 66 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 3: of like engineers, you know, like from what's that movie 67 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 3: that wasn't so good but had the cool engineer guys, Prometheus. 68 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 2: That's the yeah. 69 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: Yeah. The idea here is that someone had a slight 70 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:02,039 Speaker 1: translation error and then it launched all these other ideas. 71 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: This concept of ancient, hyper intelligent alien engineers inspired so 72 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 1: many science fiction writers. 73 00:05:12,400 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 2: HG. 74 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: Wells in the War of the World describes an invasion 75 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: of Earth by deadly Martians and also spawns an entire 76 00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: subgenre of science fiction that continues today. You can also 77 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: see Edgar Reis Burroughs, who was a big deal back 78 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: in his time. He writes a novel called Princess of 79 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: Mars in nineteen eleven that also shows a dying, super 80 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: intelligent Martian civilization and uses get this, all of our 81 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: buddy Giovanni's nomenclature for features on Mars. 82 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 3: Yeah, and it kind of stuck around, capturing the imaginations 83 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:55,039 Speaker 3: of space enthusiasts the world over to the point where 84 00:05:55,279 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 3: NASA has actually had to spend a little bit of 85 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:01,000 Speaker 3: their pr budget dispellings some of these rumors. 86 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 2: We've actually got a really great quote from NASA themselves. 87 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 1: The Network of criss crossing lines covering the surface of 88 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: Mars was only a product of the human tendency to 89 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: see patterns. Even wind patterns do not exist. When looking 90 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,000 Speaker 1: at a faint group of dark smudges, the eye tends 91 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:21,400 Speaker 1: to connect them with straight lines. 92 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:26,479 Speaker 3: That came from our buddy at NASA named texts. Yes, 93 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 3: and the fancy word for that is apophenia. So shout 94 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 3: out to our pal aj Bahamas Jacobs who taught us 95 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 3: that one. 96 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it makes sense. 97 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 3: We do tend to look for patterns and speech and rhythm, 98 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 3: even you know, when we hear like windshiel wipers syncing 99 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 3: up with the song on the radio. 100 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 2: It's just something that the human mind kind of strives. 101 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: For, or watching traffic or watching blinker lights exactly. 102 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 3: There are, of course visual ones and auditory ones, but 103 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:00,160 Speaker 3: the fact is human beings are patterns seeking creature. And 104 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,160 Speaker 3: of course, this was far from the first time that 105 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 3: a well meaning scientist had their words twisted into something 106 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 3: of a hyperbolic headline. 107 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, history does rhyme. We also want to 108 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: go to another one, a cold war Shenanigan. Now, not 109 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: to be ageists, but some of our fellow ridiculous. Historians 110 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,880 Speaker 1: may recall that in nineteen fifty six, a guy named 111 00:07:27,160 --> 00:07:30,640 Speaker 1: Nikita Khrushchev, who was a pretty big deal in Russia 112 00:07:30,640 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: at the time, he said something that was interpreted as 113 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 1: him saying we will bury you, slamming his shoe on 114 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: the desk, we will bury you to Western shoe on 115 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: the desk to Western ambassadors at a reception at the 116 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: Polish embassy in Moscow. 117 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,200 Speaker 3: Why did you take a shoe off. That's pretty aggressive. 118 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 3: I would have thought he was saying we will bury 119 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 3: you too. This speech and this misinterpretation had serious repercussions 120 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 3: outside of the event itself and made headlines around the world. 121 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,200 Speaker 1: Oh and let me correct this. Khrushev was quite a 122 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: public figure. I just want to step back for a second. 123 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,800 Speaker 1: He says we will bury you to Western ambassadors in 124 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty six. The alleged shoe banging incident is a 125 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: separate thing that happened in New York City in nineteen 126 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 1: sixty but still got it. He's making waves. And if 127 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: you want to understand why we consider this a mistranslation, Noel, 128 00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: can we give everybody the English translation of the entirety 129 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: of his statement in nineteen fifty six. 130 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it does kind of read like a malapropism, 131 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 3: you know, like where it's someone trying to approximate English slang, right, 132 00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 3: but mixing it up a little bit. And then you also, 133 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 3: of course have the extra game of telephone hiccup of 134 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 3: it being a translation, you know, and not even him 135 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 3: attempting to say it in English, but I can totally 136 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 3: picture him trying to say this in English. 137 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 2: Essentially, what he said was, whether you like it or not, 138 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 2: history is on our side. We will dig you in. 139 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 3: Which I think he's meaning to say like we are 140 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 3: digging in our heels, right, something along those lines, or 141 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,199 Speaker 3: we are going to lean in to the version of 142 00:09:21,320 --> 00:09:23,400 Speaker 3: history that we see as being on our side. 143 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, he's really attempting to convey his ideological belief that 144 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: communism will outlast capitalism, which is what you have to 145 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,000 Speaker 1: say if you're the leader of the Soviet Union at 146 00:09:35,080 --> 00:09:40,719 Speaker 1: this time. His entire phrase translates roughly to if you 147 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,920 Speaker 1: don't like us, don't accept our invitations and don't invite 148 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 1: us to come see you. Whether you like it or not, 149 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: history is on our side. 150 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 2: We will bury you. 151 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:51,719 Speaker 1: Or as you said, Nol, we will dig you in 152 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:58,360 Speaker 1: This was a reference to Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. Karl 153 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:00,480 Speaker 1: Marx was a guy from back in the day who 154 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:01,840 Speaker 1: was super into communism. 155 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, I heard of him. 156 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:09,040 Speaker 3: The Communist Manifesto argued thusly, what the bourgeoisie therefore produces 157 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:14,160 Speaker 3: above all are its own grave diggers. Yeah, so, I mean, 158 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:16,719 Speaker 3: he's he is kind of saying we will vary you, 159 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 3: but it is referencing a specific work that might have 160 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 3: been I mean, seems to have definitely been lost on 161 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 3: a lot of people listening. 162 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:34,319 Speaker 1: What we're saying is he was not directly threatening the 163 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: United States in a way that many Americans in the 164 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:42,360 Speaker 1: media and in public life sort of assumed. It's not 165 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: a call mean phrase. It's definitely agro to your earlier point, 166 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: but it's not trying to immediately attack America and Khrushchev himself. 167 00:10:54,480 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: In years following he will clarify his statement there on 168 00:10:59,120 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 1: more than one a case, but he doesn't do it 169 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: until years have passed. In nineteen fifty nine, so like 170 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: three years later, he's at the National Press Club in 171 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: Washington and he tries to make not quite a male kulpa, 172 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: but let's call it a clarification. 173 00:11:16,280 --> 00:11:18,599 Speaker 3: What does he say, Well, he says, the words we 174 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:22,559 Speaker 3: will bury capitalism should not be taken literally, as is 175 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 3: done by ordinary grave diggers. Carry a spade and dig 176 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 3: graves and bury the dead. What are you doing, Khrushev. 177 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,199 Speaker 3: What I had in mind was the outlook for the 178 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:37,559 Speaker 3: development of human society. Socialism will inevitably succeed capitalism. 179 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:41,880 Speaker 1: Okay, so we're we kind of get the context there. 180 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: He also, yeah, I mean still agro, Still agro, for sure. 181 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:50,920 Speaker 1: He later expands on this in a speech in Yugoslavia 182 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,719 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty three, and this time he says, I 183 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:56,480 Speaker 1: once said we will bury you, and I got into 184 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,079 Speaker 1: trouble with it. Of course, we will not bury you 185 00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you. 186 00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:07,439 Speaker 1: Still not great, still not great, but not a direct threat. 187 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 2: No, not a direct threat. It's true. 188 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 3: The damage was, though done, and even today a lot 189 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,920 Speaker 3: of Americans will not have bothered to read the retraction, 190 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 3: as is usually the case when something is misprinted in 191 00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 3: a newspaper, a publication. 192 00:12:21,320 --> 00:12:24,559 Speaker 2: Of note, or in a speech that goes wide like this, 193 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 2: taking it. 194 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:30,600 Speaker 1: Too far, which reminds us, of course, of another infamous 195 00:12:30,679 --> 00:12:34,719 Speaker 1: translation error. A lot of this, a lot of the 196 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 1: funniest or most ridiculous mistranslations occur not in the world 197 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,959 Speaker 1: of state craft, but in the world of private business. 198 00:12:43,720 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: The American Dairy Association launched a campaign back in nineteen 199 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: ninety three called got Milk. It's just it's not an 200 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: advertisement for a specific brand for like Ben and Jerry's 201 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: or Bluebell or whatever, just the idea of milk. 202 00:12:58,600 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 2: Just the idea of milk. 203 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:00,719 Speaker 1: Do you have it? 204 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 2: Or are you a loser? And people of a. 205 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:07,200 Speaker 3: Certain age would have seen this plastered everywhere on billboards, 206 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 3: there were TV commercials, and honestly, even people that didn't 207 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:12,360 Speaker 3: live through it, it really did have a lot of 208 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 3: staying power because it's a pretty damn memorable little catchphrase. 209 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:20,719 Speaker 3: But translating this in as is the case often with 210 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 3: things like slogans that need to be very pithy and 211 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:30,559 Speaker 3: rely on cultural context shout out a million percent, sometimes 212 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:33,079 Speaker 3: there's a little bit of tricksiness when it comes to 213 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 3: translating these in a way that has the same oomph 214 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 3: as intended, but also like means the right thing. 215 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: Right the same context, you know. And I'm of the 216 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: mind that most people living in the United States. Even 217 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:51,199 Speaker 1: if they say they don't speak Spanish, they know a 218 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:54,439 Speaker 1: little bit more Spanish than they might assume. You know 219 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:56,840 Speaker 1: what I mean, Oh, for sure, I know that leche 220 00:13:56,960 --> 00:13:57,360 Speaker 1: is milk. 221 00:13:57,640 --> 00:13:58,839 Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I do know that. 222 00:13:59,160 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: And we know that the literal Spanish translation for got 223 00:14:02,679 --> 00:14:06,920 Speaker 1: milk translates to something like are you lactating? 224 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 3: This is the kind of question you might get if 225 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 3: you got a phone call from the Japanese governments if 226 00:14:12,240 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 3: you're a young a woman. I'm not joking. We've talked 227 00:14:15,800 --> 00:14:18,000 Speaker 3: about this recently on stuff that I want you to know. 228 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 3: There's a huge issue with birth rate declines in Japan 229 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 3: and other Asian countries as well, to the point where 230 00:14:25,160 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 3: I believe representatives from the government are calling up women 231 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 3: personally and asking them if they are with child or 232 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 3: planning on becoming. 233 00:14:33,040 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I think that's a Chinese one in 234 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,040 Speaker 1: the government of Japan, also to your point, pitched the 235 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 1: idea of just removing uteruses from every female after the 236 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:46,000 Speaker 1: age of thirty. 237 00:14:46,320 --> 00:14:48,920 Speaker 2: Which is totally whack on so many levels. 238 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:51,760 Speaker 3: But also like, if you're a woman that wasn't planning 239 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 3: on having kids anyway, isn't that just kind of a 240 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 3: free hysterectomy. It's very strange. I think we mandatory for histor. 241 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 3: It's not a good guys. 242 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:01,440 Speaker 2: I'm just saying. 243 00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 1: It just doesn't seem very functional, is what I'm getting. 244 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: And it also doesn't seem to help the case that 245 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: they're trying to argue for, which is increasing the birth rate. 246 00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 1: But that is ridiculous history. I think we unanimously can 247 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,880 Speaker 1: agree we don't want that to pass. Just human beings 248 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 1: don't want that to happen. Absolutely not so Luckily for 249 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: our pals at the ADA, the American Dairy Association, they 250 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:31,400 Speaker 1: figured out their got milk snafu pretty quickly. They immediately 251 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: changed the messaging and thank goodness, learned a little bit 252 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: more about Latin culture and the Spanish language. However, another 253 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: group didn't do their homework and didn't pay attention. I'm 254 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: not too familiar with these folks, but Noel Parker Pen. 255 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 3: I don't know Parker penn On, assuming they make pens, 256 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 3: and I am glad to report that you are correct. 257 00:15:57,960 --> 00:16:02,200 Speaker 1: The Parker Pen Company was founded in Wisconsin in the 258 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: late eighteen hundreds and they make a bunch of pens. Yeah. 259 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 3: Maybe because of the NAFU or maybe they had other 260 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:09,720 Speaker 3: pr debacles. 261 00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:12,240 Speaker 2: I don't really know them as a household name. Maybe 262 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:12,960 Speaker 2: they're still around. 263 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 3: But when Parker Penn's decided to move their business into Mexico, 264 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 3: they had a slogan that in English read it won't 265 00:16:20,200 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 3: leak in your pocket and embarrass you, which, unfortunately, in 266 00:16:26,280 --> 00:16:31,480 Speaker 3: a remarkable translation fail In Spanish, the way they translated. 267 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 2: It read as it won't leak in your pocket and 268 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 2: make you pregnant. 269 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:42,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, because in bras are a false cognate in Spanish, 270 00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 1: which means to be pregnant better. It's also they're different 271 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: versions of how this slogan went wrong. But because in Spanish, 272 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 1: in the Spaniel the word embarrassment is a homonym for pregnancy, 273 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: it sounds like like you said, it won't leak in 274 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: your pocket and make your pregnant or to avoid pregnancy, 275 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: use a Parker pen. Just very weird vibe from your 276 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:16,119 Speaker 1: pen company. Pretty bold claim from running pen prophylactic. 277 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:17,000 Speaker 2: Here. 278 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: Now, we're keeping this kind of a short one today 279 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: because we have more on the way. But here's the 280 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: one I was teasing that I know you will love 281 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: dudes and do debts. Ikea is yes, yes, known for 282 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:39,000 Speaker 1: all sorts of things easily assembled furniture, surprisingly, kick ass 283 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: cafeteria like the splarf or the flipped Yes yeah, and 284 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: also the fun names which are positively hogan DAWs to 285 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:52,640 Speaker 1: most Americans. Hogandas, by the way, is a made up word. Yeah, 286 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:56,960 Speaker 1: that's just a marketing thing from an American company. So 287 00:17:57,480 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 1: instead of using product codes to label the stuff they sell, 288 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:06,359 Speaker 1: Ikea uses Swedish names that are meant to emphasize or 289 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:10,439 Speaker 1: highlight a key feature of the product. So the names 290 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: for everybody doesn't speak Swedish. They're just cool names, you know, like, oh, 291 00:18:15,040 --> 00:18:17,040 Speaker 1: look at that two o's next to each other. 292 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,360 Speaker 2: What a world? Yeah, starfandorth Yes. Yeah. 293 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: They came out with a children's bench toy kind of thing. 294 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,920 Speaker 3: Vehicles for working with their hammers, their tiny hammers and 295 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 3: things like that for kids. 296 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:32,160 Speaker 2: It's it's a cute thing. Ikea is great with kids. 297 00:18:32,640 --> 00:18:36,879 Speaker 1: The name of this noel was fart for faar t 298 00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:39,480 Speaker 1: f u l l fart full. 299 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 4: Yeah. 300 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:43,680 Speaker 3: And it's funny because you know the German word farfignugen 301 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:45,800 Speaker 3: for example, which is a funny one just means a 302 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 3: love of traveling to drive is fart, like I fart. 303 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:53,680 Speaker 2: Whatever. 304 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:57,320 Speaker 3: I'm sorry, my German is rusty, but it does mean 305 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,919 Speaker 3: to drive or to travel farvig being like the love 306 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 3: of travel. It's really funny too. There was another great 307 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:06,720 Speaker 3: mistranslation that works. It's not a mistranslation honestly though. It 308 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 3: really isn't like. It just means something that is inherent 309 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:15,720 Speaker 3: in the love of traveling. The movie Speed in I 310 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,320 Speaker 3: Believe in Europe or in Germany Sweden perhaps was translated 311 00:19:20,400 --> 00:19:21,119 Speaker 3: to just fart. 312 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 2: Nice to remember there was a bomb on the bus. Yeah. 313 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:30,159 Speaker 3: If you see the posters for these iterations of branding, 314 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 3: it just says fart. 315 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 2: That's great man. 316 00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 1: We also know look the work bench, the children's work bench, 317 00:19:37,520 --> 00:19:41,200 Speaker 1: fartful was not a bad idea. It's a pretty deep 318 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: little design. 319 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:43,560 Speaker 2: Was it made of farts? 320 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:49,240 Speaker 1: It was made of you know, love particle boards. Probably 321 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: someone farted while they were making it. 322 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:52,480 Speaker 2: It's entirely possible. 323 00:19:52,640 --> 00:19:57,160 Speaker 1: So this hits the United Kingdom first. That's the first 324 00:19:57,240 --> 00:20:02,159 Speaker 1: English language or Anglosphere nation. This product is unveiled in 325 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:06,840 Speaker 1: and Ikia gets so embarrassed because everybody's laughing about it. 326 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:07,640 Speaker 2: Fartfull. 327 00:20:07,800 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: Probably just the awkward mistranslation probably helped sell this product, 328 00:20:14,359 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: but Ikia said, you know, we don't want to. 329 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 2: We don't want to. 330 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:23,159 Speaker 1: Look like we're a company that says children are constantly farting, 331 00:20:23,760 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: so they pulled it off the market. 332 00:20:26,119 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 2: But everybody's not untrue though. 333 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:32,439 Speaker 1: No, the average human farts seventeen to twenty three times 334 00:20:32,800 --> 00:20:36,440 Speaker 1: per twenty four hours. Check out our episode for stuff 335 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: they want, you know on fecal transplants, the future of poop, 336 00:20:39,880 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: please do. 337 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,480 Speaker 3: It's not grossed at all. But that then would be 338 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 3: like kind of involuntary farts. If kids they just love 339 00:20:46,119 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 3: farting so much. I bet you could double that number. 340 00:20:49,119 --> 00:20:50,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, I bet you could. 341 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: Let's get our numbers up. 342 00:20:58,560 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 2: You could. 343 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: At this point ridiculous. Historians reasonably assume that a lot 344 00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: of this hilarity is due to good old fashioned human error, 345 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:12,639 Speaker 1: and therefore assume maybe technology will save the day. That 346 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 1: may be the case in the future, but for now 347 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:20,200 Speaker 1: we know computers have caused translation problems all on their own, 348 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:23,440 Speaker 1: especially in the case of Facebook. Oh this is a 349 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: sad one. 350 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 2: Oh for sure, there was sadly, as their often is 351 00:21:28,240 --> 00:21:29,080 Speaker 2: in this part of the world. 352 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 3: A very serious and deadly earthquake in Indonesia in twenty eighteen, 353 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:35,879 Speaker 3: and a lot of people took to social media to, 354 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 3: of course, you know, mark themselves safe from this disaster. 355 00:21:40,520 --> 00:21:43,400 Speaker 3: A lot of folks, however, were a little shocked when 356 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 3: Facebook added the little kind of emote feature of balloons 357 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 3: and confetti to some of these posts. 358 00:21:54,600 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 2: Oof. Yikes. 359 00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: It's kind of like when people were still figuring out 360 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 1: how to respect bond with emoji. Two different statements, and 361 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,040 Speaker 1: you would see someone who said, you know, a post 362 00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:09,480 Speaker 1: about losing a family member or a loved one, and 363 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: then at the bottom where you could see the compilation 364 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: of emoji reactions, you would see a laugh emoji. And 365 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,120 Speaker 1: surely they didn't mean to laugh at it, right, it's tough. 366 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 2: Surely not. No, it might have been a slip of 367 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 2: the fat finger. 368 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:27,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, Facebook's uh, spokes folks, said spokes folks, I like 369 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:32,000 Speaker 1: like it. Yeah, they said, look, our company regrets this 370 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:37,920 Speaker 1: celebration of disaster appeared in this unfortunate context, right. 371 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 3: Because the Indonesian word selamat, which would translate to survive 372 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 3: or be safe, was mistranslated interpreted as being congratulations. 373 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:54,720 Speaker 1: Yeah, so the algorithm all hailed. The algorithm misinterpreted the 374 00:22:54,880 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: comments and automated balloons in confetti. One is saying, hey, 375 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:05,200 Speaker 1: my family died in this earthquake, or hey we've lost 376 00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:09,680 Speaker 1: the house and everything, or hey I'm I'm doing my 377 00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:12,400 Speaker 1: best to be alive, and then all the comments would 378 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:13,280 Speaker 1: have balloons. 379 00:23:12,920 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 2: Would get that yay, your house is bad anyway, it's 380 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 2: a little rough, you know. 381 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 3: It reminds me of you know, there are a lot 382 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,639 Speaker 3: of these types of mistranslations that are based around computer 383 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 3: stuff these days, especially with auto correct. 384 00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and it's. 385 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 3: Gotten a lot more machine learning e you know, so 386 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 3: it starts to It can be a little better. It 387 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,280 Speaker 3: can predict breaks in your sentences and commas and things 388 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:42,960 Speaker 3: like that. But sometimes there are some pretty funny mistranslations 389 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 3: and potentially not funny. I saw a quite funny story 390 00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,600 Speaker 3: delivered by Tom York of Radiohead the other day where 391 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,520 Speaker 3: he was reading a text sent to somebody as part 392 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:55,960 Speaker 3: of some series where he was reading different letters celebrities 393 00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 3: are reading different letters and messages from you know, English City, 394 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:02,680 Speaker 3: And this was a story where a guy was talking 395 00:24:02,680 --> 00:24:04,680 Speaker 3: about how he was helping a sixteen year old daughter 396 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 3: with their homework and got a text. 397 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 2: From mom saying what do you want from life? 398 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 3: Question mark, at which point he really he and the 399 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,120 Speaker 3: child puzzled over this, and we're working on Oh my gosh, 400 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 3: Mom is really in an intense mood. We should respond 401 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 3: and then we better think this through. We don't want 402 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 3: to disappoint her. But before they had a chance to 403 00:24:23,400 --> 00:24:26,200 Speaker 3: send it back, she responded, ah, autocorrect, I meant what 404 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 3: do you want from leedal. 405 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: Right, I'm passingly familiar with that on my closest brush 406 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: with this kind of awkwardness and is a dumb story 407 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,960 Speaker 1: was I was texting my mom one day and I 408 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:46,480 Speaker 1: said what I sent her was, or what I meant 409 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: this set was I'm thinking of growing a mustache, and autocorrect, 410 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:55,359 Speaker 1: in its infinite wisdom, changed that to I'm thinking of 411 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 1: growing a moist ache, at which point my mom said, 412 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:02,679 Speaker 1: I should a doctor. You probably should if you got 413 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:07,439 Speaker 1: a moist steak mustache, the moist steak come on, Oh. 414 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:08,280 Speaker 2: Man, God only knows. 415 00:25:08,320 --> 00:25:08,399 Speaker 5: Well. 416 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:11,120 Speaker 3: I'm glad you guys made it past that potentially awkward 417 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:12,040 Speaker 3: familial moment. 418 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: It's a moist steak and history's big translation cringe moments 419 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: aren't just from the past. They're not just from the 420 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: Cold War or Jimmy Carter trying to sleep with all 421 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: of Poland. As recently as twenty sixteen, we saw this 422 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: go wrong in state craft when Canadian politician and leader 423 00:25:32,320 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: Justin Trudeau was at the White House. Is speaking French, 424 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,800 Speaker 1: and if you watched him as an American, you would 425 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 1: see him on ABCTV praising things like radio stations in 426 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: Motorola or Nazi innings. 427 00:25:48,080 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 3: Oh no, yeah, isn't he also the guy that got 428 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:53,400 Speaker 3: in trouble for wearing black face that like a Halloween 429 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:56,520 Speaker 3: party and I think, oh man, this guy can't can't 430 00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 3: keep from stepping in it. 431 00:25:58,359 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 2: But this was not his fault and I did not 432 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,399 Speaker 2: intend to say Nazi innings. What even is that? Did 433 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 2: Nazis even play baseball? 434 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:07,879 Speaker 1: No, they weren't that cool, according to the According to 435 00:26:08,000 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 1: ABC later in the aftermath, the mistakes that were made 436 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:17,439 Speaker 1: in translation came from a computer program that was automatically 437 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: translating Trudeau's words from French to English, and because it 438 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:25,679 Speaker 1: was a machine and not a person behind the translation, 439 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,120 Speaker 1: it didn't get the context of what Trudeau was saying, 440 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: and it couldn't read his accent correctly. 441 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:33,680 Speaker 2: Well that's the thing, man. 442 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,840 Speaker 3: This was back into what twenty sixteen, and with all 443 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 3: the advancements in machine learning and all of that stuff. 444 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:41,120 Speaker 2: It's still pretty bad. 445 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:46,400 Speaker 3: If you ever watch auto translated like British comedy on YouTube, 446 00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 3: the accents absolutely seemed to perplex these algorithms. Because there's 447 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 3: some of these like Monty Python or whatever where they 448 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 3: have really heavy accents or use some serious British slang. 449 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 3: It is unintelligible when you read the subtitles that are 450 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 3: auto generated. 451 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, absolutely, and it could happen with pretty much 452 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 1: any dialect of a language, right If I love this 453 00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:14,760 Speaker 1: example of watching a streaming service with a show from 454 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:19,880 Speaker 1: maybe rural Australia or something, and you can understand as 455 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: a human English speaker what these folks are saying, but 456 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:28,400 Speaker 1: the subtitles are downright confusing because they're missing things due 457 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,960 Speaker 1: to pronunciation of words, and the human mind can sort 458 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:33,640 Speaker 1: of connect the dots on its own. 459 00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 3: Well, And you got to wonder too, are they training 460 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 3: these algorithms with English or are there ways to pivot 461 00:27:41,040 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 3: to an algorithm that is trained with the actual language 462 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 3: that's being translated, that's being you know, transcribed, because you 463 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 3: would really need to the algorithm would need to be 464 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:52,960 Speaker 3: familiar with the way these things. 465 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:54,879 Speaker 2: Are spoken and not just on paper. 466 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: Otherwise it's moist steaks, all moistakes. 467 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 5: We want. 468 00:28:01,240 --> 00:28:04,080 Speaker 1: We wanted to add the second part of our famous 469 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:10,639 Speaker 1: mistranslation series with one of the trickiest things in the 470 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:14,879 Speaker 1: world of marketing, naming a car. Do you guys ever 471 00:28:14,960 --> 00:28:17,359 Speaker 1: think about how weird car names are? 472 00:28:18,040 --> 00:28:19,879 Speaker 3: Well, it's like they're running out of them, you know, 473 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,480 Speaker 3: it just seems like they're just getting more and more absurd. 474 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: Some are pretty clearly conveying the brand or the emotive 475 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:31,639 Speaker 1: quality they wish to signal, you know, the Spider, the Viper, 476 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: the Mustang, but others are not quite words. 477 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,480 Speaker 2: What the hell is a tourag to eg? How do 478 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:39,160 Speaker 2: you even say it? 479 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:51,000 Speaker 1: The Yeah, the tourag from Volkswagen or Wolfswagen. Yes, it's 480 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 1: tough because you know, cars are part of a global 481 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 1: industry now, and the car market itself overall stretches around 482 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:03,560 Speaker 1: the world. But even the best car names of one 483 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: language can be confusing or downright ridiculous in another. This 484 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: is where we have to shout out our good pals 485 00:29:11,600 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: at Ford. Yeah, they get a double ridiculous award for 486 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: this one. Ben Wishoe coined, which we should definitely make 487 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:21,800 Speaker 1: a thing. First, they've got the slogan. 488 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:27,479 Speaker 3: Again, slogans are tricky because it's like translating Bible versus. 489 00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,320 Speaker 3: There is so much license that can be taken that 490 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 3: can really change the vibe of something that's meant to 491 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:36,000 Speaker 3: be very pithy and to the point. 492 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:36,320 Speaker 1: Right. 493 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:40,320 Speaker 3: That's why people whose jobs it is to translate historical 494 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:45,080 Speaker 3: texts or works of literature, the nuance is everything, and 495 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 3: individuals like the King James, for example, can kind of 496 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 3: steer the narrative of how something will be interpreted for 497 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:55,520 Speaker 3: generations based on the way they choose to translate something. 498 00:29:55,440 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Also, Toreg for Volkswagen is a misspelling 499 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 1: slash homage to an ethnic group from northern Africa called 500 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:08,640 Speaker 1: the Tareg people. 501 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 2: Okay, but that's cool, I guess, But why would you. 502 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: Why would you say with your buide to Volkswagen. 503 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 2: You know, again, I think that I think they're just 504 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 2: running out of words. But every car has a high 505 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 2: quality body. 506 00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:25,160 Speaker 3: Which is one of the most boring slogans I could 507 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:26,080 Speaker 3: possibly imagine. 508 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 2: I think they've moved on from that one. But also 509 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:30,520 Speaker 2: the word body. 510 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:32,720 Speaker 3: Guys, I'm pretty sure we're going to run into some 511 00:30:32,880 --> 00:30:34,080 Speaker 3: problems with body. 512 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: Yeah, it turns out that over in Belgium would be 513 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 1: Ford consumers ran into a slogan that said every car 514 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,360 Speaker 1: has a high quality corpse. 515 00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:45,960 Speaker 2: Yeah. 516 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 3: I mean that, And it makes sense because I can say, man, 517 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:51,400 Speaker 3: you've sure got a hot body, or what what are 518 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 3: you doing with a body in your trunk? Or I'm 519 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,280 Speaker 3: taking my car to the body shop. Like it is 520 00:30:57,440 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 3: all about the context and the nuance. And we as 521 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 3: Americans do have single words that often can mean nine 522 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 3: different things depending on where you emphasize it or what. 523 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:07,920 Speaker 2: We're just rounding. 524 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:09,560 Speaker 3: I'm sure that's true in other languages too, but I 525 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 3: do think that we may be the worst at it. 526 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,200 Speaker 1: I think we're neck and neck with several other languages. 527 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 1: It's just the thing is, you're not wrong. We could 528 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,360 Speaker 1: just argue no one's doing it particularly well at this 529 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: point in twenty twenty four. I think of the Pinto, 530 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:31,520 Speaker 1: the Ford Pinto. It's not the most impressive car. 531 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 2: You know what I mean? What about the Nino and 532 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:39,120 Speaker 2: the Santa Maria. Yeah, what happened to it was great? 533 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, the Ford wanted to sell this thing they saw 534 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 1: as an economical car, not top of the line. It's 535 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,560 Speaker 1: not meant to be for the one percenters. It's meant 536 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,320 Speaker 1: to be for the working class, the folks who have 537 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:58,040 Speaker 1: a job, they need dependable transportation. The Pinto is not 538 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,200 Speaker 1: too showy. It seems like a good fit. 539 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 2: The bottle. 540 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 3: Well, it's a stand in for kind of a cheap car. 541 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:05,600 Speaker 3: People talk about the Pento now and it sort of 542 00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 3: becomes this like catch all for like a shitty car. 543 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 2: Yeah. 544 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: And the boffins at Ford are looking at international markets 545 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 1: and they say, you know who's gonna love the Pinto 546 00:32:16,920 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: the nation of Brazil. 547 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 2: And so they deploy this. 548 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: They're surprised because they're not selling this very well, what's 549 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 1: going on? Yeah, that's when they learned. They finally did 550 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 1: the research they should have done, and they said, oh, Brazil, 551 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 1: you know, the dominant language is Portuguese. Pinto is local 552 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,200 Speaker 1: slaying for a guy with a small. 553 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 2: Yeah. 554 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,480 Speaker 3: I mean it's typically a guy with a small penis 555 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:48,760 Speaker 3: would buy like a Mustang or a Lamborghini or a yeah, 556 00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:51,720 Speaker 3: a hummer. Indeed, it's the whole compensation thing, right, A 557 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,040 Speaker 3: Pento would probably be the last choice of a man 558 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 3: with a small penis. And they were not speaking to 559 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 3: their audience at all and or nobody wanted to drive 560 00:32:58,680 --> 00:33:01,480 Speaker 3: around a vehicle and ploy that they had a small penis. 561 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 2: Yeah. 562 00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: This is way before the success of the hip hop 563 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:08,840 Speaker 1: phenomenon Little Dicky, right, which was owning that kind of stuff. 564 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: So forward to their credit. 565 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 2: As soon as they find this out, they should have 566 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 2: been a pivot. Yeah. 567 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:19,320 Speaker 1: They they they pivoted their Pintos and they replaced all 568 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: the insignia and advertising. They renamed it the Corsello, which 569 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: means horse like. 570 00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, they're doing a little compensating themselves. 571 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,120 Speaker 3: Oh yes, a big strong like horse, you know, like, 572 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:37,960 Speaker 3: oh man, all you people that were offended by the 573 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,640 Speaker 3: Penso now we're speaking to you guys just to jump 574 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,840 Speaker 3: in here, because the Pinto is a joke amongst my 575 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:45,719 Speaker 3: family very much. 576 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:47,360 Speaker 2: Being from Detroit, weh, what's a joke? 577 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:47,600 Speaker 4: Car? 578 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:49,080 Speaker 2: Kind of? I mean, because it was a bit of 579 00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:50,840 Speaker 2: a lemon, wasn't it. Well, do you guys know what 580 00:33:51,120 --> 00:33:52,960 Speaker 2: the flow with the Pinto was? That was what I 581 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:53,520 Speaker 2: was wondering if. 582 00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 5: Yeah, the gas tank in the rear, so if you're 583 00:33:57,520 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 5: ended a Pinto, there was a chance you would explode. 584 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,360 Speaker 2: That's no good. Yeah, And it happened a couple of 585 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 2: times too. 586 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:04,960 Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, very badly designed. 587 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 2: It reminds me, uh in some ways. 588 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:12,280 Speaker 1: You know, these cars acquire personality as part of their brand, 589 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,279 Speaker 1: and it reminds me of how the Miata is just 590 00:34:15,719 --> 00:34:18,480 Speaker 1: not popular outside of a. 591 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 2: Very particular group of people. 592 00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: And that's not translation error, that's that's just the vibe 593 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 1: of the Miata. 594 00:34:27,040 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 5: My buddy Ian, his h Mustang, was in the shop 595 00:34:30,160 --> 00:34:32,840 Speaker 5: recently and so he was driving his mom's Miada around 596 00:34:33,160 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 5: and I asked about of us, sowere's your opinion. 597 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,239 Speaker 2: He's like, I don't know, man, everyone hates these cars. 598 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:36,959 Speaker 2: This thing's fun. 599 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,200 Speaker 5: I'm like, yeah, you're in the minority then, man, well 600 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:40,440 Speaker 5: they are. 601 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:42,800 Speaker 3: I mean, if anyone hasn't seen the Miyata, they are dainty, 602 00:34:42,920 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 3: little petite convertible. 603 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:47,000 Speaker 1: They're special little boys, you know what I mean. 604 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:47,959 Speaker 2: They're special boys. 605 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: And this is our this is our episode on famous mistranslations. 606 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,800 Speaker 1: We have more on the way. We can't wait to 607 00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: hear yours. H be careful. There's a lot of scuttle, 608 00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: but some of this is alleged. Sometimes the marketing gurus 609 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:07,920 Speaker 1: tell the story with a little bit of on it, 610 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:12,719 Speaker 1: but visit us over ridiculous historians on Facebook and let 611 00:35:12,840 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 1: us know some of your favorite experiences. Shout out to 612 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,040 Speaker 1: our super producer, mister Max Williams. 613 00:35:18,600 --> 00:35:22,359 Speaker 3: Indeed, and shout out to Alex Williams who composed our 614 00:35:22,520 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 3: theme Boop. 615 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,160 Speaker 1: East, Jeffco, Chris Vassiotis here in Spirits, the one and 616 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:33,560 Speaker 1: only Jonathan Strickland aka the Quister. You may have heard 617 00:35:33,640 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 1: our recent news from an earlier episode this week. I 618 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 1: don't even want to. 619 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,439 Speaker 2: Do the jokes I was gonna do at this point. 620 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:46,239 Speaker 2: Now it's far too filthy. Yeah, far too filthy. Oh Man. 621 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:50,439 Speaker 3: Huge thanks to aj Bahamas, Jacobs the Puzzler, as well 622 00:35:50,719 --> 00:35:53,239 Speaker 3: as Chris Frosciotis and EEFs Jeff Cos here in spirit 623 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:54,280 Speaker 3: Big big. 624 00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:56,719 Speaker 1: Thanks to Gave Lucier. If you like this show, check 625 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,680 Speaker 1: out Ridiculous Crime featuring the Rude Dudes themselves, Zarin Elizabeth 626 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: and super producer Dave and Noel. You know, beyond any language. 627 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:11,680 Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Love in any language, straight from 628 00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:13,760 Speaker 2: the heart Ben. We'll see you next time, folks. 629 00:36:20,760 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 3: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 630 00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:26,760 Speaker 3: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.