Saturday 9 September 2006

LOWERING THE LANGUAGE BARRIERS

Victor Borge, the great Danish musical entertainer, used to say, after some mangled mispronunciation: “It’s your language - I’m only trying to use it!”

In Greece - as just about everywhere else abroad - the British continue to laugh uproariously at the garbled translations of their foreign hosts such as taverna menus offering such exotic dishes as “minge meat”, “crap salad” and “lamp stew” or which invite you to look out at the view and enjoy the “GOOD SEANCK”…

Naturally, whilst having our fill of condescending laughter, we make little or no effort to speak - let alone read or write - the language of the country we are in…

It was ever thus and will, doubtless, never change. Meanwhile, we can - without too much guilt-wracked soul-searching - enjoy the names of local products that are either delightfully inventive or utterly unlikely…





1 comment:

Unknown said...

There's a whole website in this - I shall dig out my pictures of Bonka Coffee, Crap Chocolate and, best of all, Shitt Lemonade!