Disorderly Content

2005-05-06

"Isn't it ironic?"

It's probably ironic that none of the supposedly ironic things Alanis Morisette has to say in her song Ironic are in fact ironic. For a proper example of irony (which isn't like bronzy except made of iron, no matter what Baldric may have thought), we turn our attention to Gizmodo, which tells us about an amazing tool for opening those hard to open blister packs. But (and here comes the irony part) guess what kind of package this wonder tool comes in? Yep, according to Boing Boing, it does indeed arrive in a blister pack.

And that, Ms. Morisette, is what we mean by irony. Rain on your wedding day, indeed!

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2005-04-28

Engrish 101

I was wandering around Cost Plus today, looking for bits and pieces for a little creative project I'm working on. And among the candy stuff I spotted this foil envelope of something called Muscat Gummy, which are candies made from muscat grapes. When I hear "muscat" I always think of muscatel, favorite of television winos and Kermit & Piggy in The Muppet Movie. But what grabbed my attention was the description on the package:

"Its translucent color so alluring and taste and
aroma so gentle and mellow offer admiring
feelings of a graceful lady. Enjoy soft and
juicy Kasugai Muscat Gummy."

D'you think that made more sense in Japanese?

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2005-03-22

But why would you want to?

Thanks once again to Boing Boing for introducing me to the Hand Shredder, proof that the Japanese are way ahead of us in catering to small niche markets. (As if I needed proof of that.) Do they make different sizes for people with variously-sized appendages? Will it work for other protuberances than hands? Are the results covered by major medical plans?

Oh, wait! Is it possible that this is all a misunderstanding? Yet another example of Engrish in action? How disappointing if it is...

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2005-02-26

Turning Japanese (I really think so)

I do love the web. And I hope you'll forgive the immodesty with which I admit to enjoying my own little part of it. Which took the form tonight of some links from a couple of Japanese bloggers (or one blogger with two blogs) who mentioned my iTunes Music Store blog. You can find the writeup here; I hope your system can handle Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana. Or you can try Google's beta quality Japanese translator, which did surprisingly well:
    This " iTunes blog " link share (the LinkShare) participating in the <Katakana sequence removed>, the iTunes Music Store of the apple (the icTms) has introduced the music inside. It is the Bu log which combines hobby and actual profit. When it clicks ahead linking, the iTunes starting automatically, the mechanism which it flies to the tune. Such we would like to try doing, don't you think? is, - Regrettable, in Japan the icTms is not open and, the Japanese link share (the LinkShare) there is no either this program. During this year it becomes possible kana? However, it meaning that music unit cost is low, you cannot expect large amount remuneration, don't you think? (laughing)
I can't argue with that.

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2005-01-11

This could be taken two ways

I had a quick "double take" moment just now. Catching up on RSS feeds with the wonderful NetNewsWire, I came upon the following headline at Slashdot:

Microsoft Releases Malicious Software Removal Tool

Ah, the challenges of writing unambiguous English...

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2004-11-28

It's a small(er) world

A few days ago I posted links to some of my Farscape convention pictures on a couple of web forums I frequent. Because I host the pictures here, I can see how many people have accessed the pages. What I didn't expect, not that I mind at all, is that other Farscape fans would post the picture links on other sites. It's fun to see how far and wide this information goes. Especially when it gets to places like Moscow, where I presume this site is located. I just find the idea of Russian Farscape fans appealing.

Apologies if your web browser can't display Cyrillic.

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2004-11-10

Why don't we have a word for that?

I love words. I love unusual words, especially the ones that express an idea perfectly. And even better when you have to steal another language's word, because your own doesn't have a way to express it. I loved discovering defenestrate, which I first encountered in an Arthur Clarke short story called, memorably enough, The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch. And I marveled at the Germans who gave us schadenfreude, a concept we all recognize but only they were clever enough to name. But my hat is off to the Congolese, who, according to an article at BBC News, have the hardest word in the world to translate. The word is ilunga, which is, and I quote, "a person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time." Now there's a word we need in English.

And a tip of that same hat to Gadling.com, which provided this bit of wisdom, as well as the next nine most untranslatable words. Although shlemazl as number two? What's so hard about that?

(As a child, I was told that a shlemiel was a clod who's always spilling soup. A shlemazl is the one he's always spilling it on. Seems clear enough to me.)

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