Friday, January 2, 2009

Lost in translation

Happy 2009!

It's a new year so we all have clean plates but there is no reason to keep the plate clean too long. It's time to make fun of something. Today let's make fun of China, or at least the Chinese trying to speak or communicate in English.

First let's talk about "doomp-rings". A friend of Hubby's was led to believe for years that this was the correct pronunciation for the popular Chinese dish "dumplings". BTW, thank you Wikipedia for this appetizing photo. I don't know about you but that plastic fork doesn't add much to the dish, does it? How about some chopsticks?

Anyway, back to Hubby's friend. Poor thing. Her co-workers kept the joke going for awhile and then someone finally let the cat out of the bag. She was good-natured enough to laugh with them. I would have died from embarrassment. I'm good at doing silly things and getting embarrassed.

The rest of the story needs some setup. My mom plays poker slots at the casinos in Louisiana. This is about a 4 hour drive from her home so she goes fairly often. I'm convinced she does this to mess with my mind (make me worry). She enters tournaments and they nearly always have some sort of "prize" just for entering. For the most part, many of these "prizes" are next to useless and are usually pawned off to some hapless family member (meaning me). Some recent examples:

Wine and cheese picnic kit: This is a soft cooler that will hold a bottle of wine. It comes with 2 glasses, cutlery and a small cutting board.

Not too bad.
Sure Mom, I'll take it.

Martini kit: Comes with a shaker, measuring glass, and a martini glass in a carrying case with the Casino logo on the front.

Hum....sounds like next year's White Elephant gift.


Red Serving platter shaped like peppers with silver leaves. YIKES! Yes, I do like bold colors but uh.....well....see for yourself:

Photo: ReformingGeek


Mp3 player: OK, now we're talking.

And then Hubby reads off these directions:
Battery is full on 3.7V. As time goes on, capacity indication will monish.

Indicator shows blank when battery almost ran out.

The player cannot be charged in case of power off.

It takes about 4 hours for the player with fully charge.

When connecting Earphone, The player FM Radio start working.

Um.....do what? Huh?

Gee, I hope I can figure out how to use it......


Please let me start the new year off with some smiley votes over at humor-blogs.com.

12 comments:

Ed & Jeanne said...

You should have asked for the MP2 player. MP3 is just too complex!

ReformingGeek said...

@Ve - I thought I would wait and find an old MP1. Maybe that will make more sense!

Da Old Man said...

My local Chinese restaurant features a noodle dish "with aromatic smelling."
I usually order that because that is my favorite kind of smelling.

:)

Chat Blanc said...

oy! my attention span always monishes when trying to decipher Engrish. ;)

ReformingGeek said...

@Da Old Man - Glad it didn't say "with bad smelling."

@Chat Blanc - Maybe they should just add 'monish' to the dictionary!

Marvel Goose said...

Directions? You read directions? What kind of Geek are you?

,)

ReformingGeek said...

@Marvel - I guess that's why I'm reforming. Ha!

Deb said...

Imagine being a medical transcriptionist for a staff of Chinese radiologists. I don't know how I survived as long as I did, let alone the patients.

ReformingGeek said...

@Deb - I think I would have pulled my hair out or maybe I would have started to talk like them.

Bee said...

You should give the gifts out as prizes to other hapless souls. I really love the pepper dish... ::hint hint:: ;o)

Unknown said...

LOL...I was going to say the exact same thing as Bee!!! sounds like great bloggy giveaways who says white elephant is only for christmas LOL

ReformingGeek said...

@Bee & georgie - I guess I'll have to retrieve from the innards of what little storage I have here and come up with a cool contest! Thanks for the suggestion. ;-)


"1.00s, 1.50s, 1.75s for the short arms. If you know what I'm talking about, you're probably old, too."

"Boomer brain fog: What was the last, middle, and first part of what you just said to me?"