Another mistranslation

[Robert Holmes]

Here's another mistranslation that I came across on the BBC just yesterday. The commentator was talking about Robert Burns's "Address to a Haggis"—traditionally read at a Burns Supper—which starts:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

The story goes that a gentleman in Germany wished to host a Burns Supper and hence asked a friend in England for a translation of the poem. At which point—and it's not clear why—someone translated it back from German to English. The second line came out as:

"Mighty Führer of the sausage people"

I do hope that's a true story :-)

-- R

P.S. I heard this on a program called "QI", hosted by noted Twitterer Stephen Fry. Worth finding!

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[Douglas Roberts-2]

Stephen Fry is a delight.

--Doug

On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 at 10:55 AM, Robert Holmes <[hidden email]> wrote:

Here's another mistranslation that I came across on the BBC just yesterday. The commentator was talking about Robert Burns's "Address to a Haggis"—traditionally read at a Burns Supper—which starts:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

The story goes that a gentleman in Germany wished to host a Burns Supper and hence asked a friend in England for a translation of the poem. At which point—and it's not clear why—someone translated it back from German to English. The second line came out as:

"Mighty Führer of the sausage people"

I do hope that's a true story :-)

-- R

P.S. I heard this on a program called "QI", hosted by noted Twitterer Stephen Fry. Worth finding!

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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[Eric Charles]

You know, if the friend was going for the spirit of the quote, rather than a transliteration, this might be a very nice job!

Eric



On Sun, Dec 5, 2010 12:55 PM, Robert Holmes <[hidden email]> wrote:

Here's another mistranslation that I came across on the BBC just yesterday. The commentator was talking about Robert Burns's "Address to a Haggis"—traditionally read at a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_supper" onclick="window.open('http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burns_supper');return false;">Burns Supper—which starts:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

The story goes that a gentleman in Germany wished to host a Burns Supper and hence asked a friend in England for a translation of the poem. At which point—and it's not clear why—someone translated it back from German to English. The second line came out as:

"Mighty Führer of the sausage people"

I do hope that's a true story :-)

-- R

P.S. I heard this on a program called "QI", hosted by noted Twitterer Stephen Fry. Worth finding!

============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org

Eric Charles

Professional Student and
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Penn State University
Altoona, PA 16601

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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
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