fun with translations

My Chinese cigarettes tell me they have "Scavenging Free Radical Tech." Yesterday on a German beer menu I was offered "Lager Hell."

The first one is just nonsense. The second is a word existing in two languages with two different meanings. Both make the product seem vaguely sinister to English speakers.

on the news...

Caught this Bush quote on the BBC the other day:

"North Korea has defied the will of the international community and the international community will respond."

It's been fun to watch how the administration has started to care about the will of the international community when it suits them.

mobile frustration

I bought an Orange cell phone in London so we'd have a phone as we traveled across Europe (our NZ phone won't work outside NZ). You'd think they`d want to make it easy for me to give them money. You would be wrong. I'm in help-line hell just trying to get them to let me use a credit card to add credit to my account, since there`s no other way to do it in Germany.

Overheard during a drinking session

"There, the outfit has tough street cred. Here, it just marks you as a bottom gay."